mordib
Feb 19, 2005, 02:00 AM
!Introduction
| spec2
| @911050
|> <b>Wingspan:</b> |< 69.5" (176.5cm)
|> <b>Wing Area:</b> |< 1108 sq. in. (71.5 sq dm)
|> <b>Weight:</b> |< 8.1 lb. (3.7kg)
|> <b>Length:</b> |< 68.5" (174cm)
|> <b>Wing Loading:</b> |< 18.2 oz/sq. ft.
|> <b>Servos:</b> |< 6 (5 Hitec HS5625 digital and 1 HS81 throttle servo)
|> <b>Transmitter:</b> |< Futaba 9C
|> <b>Receiver:</b> |< Hitec Supreme 8
|> <b>Battery:</b> |< 2100 mah 5 cell
|> <b>Engine:</b> |< Saito 100
|> <b>Prop:</b> |< APC 15x6
|> <b>Manufacturer:</b> |< <a href=http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/ByCategory/Product/Default.aspx?ProdID=HAN2675>Hangar 9</a>
|> <b>Available From:</b> |< <a href=http://www.horizonhobby.com>Horizon Hobby</a>
A year or so ago I purchased a new offering from Hangar 9, the Funtana 40. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the manufacture and the performance, so when the Funtana 90 was announced I knew this was one I’d have to take a closer look at. This review isn’t meant to be a step by step building tutorial, but rather cover the main points and especially anything you need to keep an eye out for or consider potential mods. <a href="http://www.horizonhobby.com/ProdInfo/Files/han2675-manual.pdf">Click here for the complete manual</a>.
!Kit Contents
@911051:The Funtana 90 arrived in perfect condition and with the transparent blue covering on the bottom, it was easy to see that the wing structure was solid with no damage.
First let me say that this plane looks great in the pictures, but in person looks even better. It was apparent that Hangar 9 put every bit of attention to quality and detail as they had with the .40 size. In fact, having owned over a half dozen of their offerings, each and every ARF I received has been of top notch quality.
The manual is exemplary of the perfect manual. Concise with plenty of pictures and illustrations. A newer builder would have no problems following along and building the project. So let’s get started shall we?
!Assembly
!!Hinging Tip<p>
@911052:First was installing the ailerons. Pre-slotted, they CA hinges simply slid in place.
@911053:I made sure that the end of the aileron was even with the tip of the wing by placing a straight edge across the two.
I first installed the root and tip hinges, then the hinges in between. This little tip prevented the surface from creeping out on one end, as could have happened had I glued the hinges in order.
!!Wing
@911054:Excellent quality hardware was included, like these ball links. My minor complaint here was that the screws were a little short so that the nylon lock nut barely bit into the nylon. I say minor because I drilled the hole through the horn a little small and the screw threaded tightly into the horn.
@911055:The control horn was aligned with the edge of the bevel and the screws installed. The balsa blocks here were fairly soft and really required CA application to the holes to harden them.
@911056:My tube was snug, but not overly so, through the fuse and in one wing. The other wing was a perfect fit. While we are looking at this picture, notice the clean build of the laser cut components.
Funtana 90 is obviously VERY lightly designed, it’s easy to see that this plane was designed to fly awesome 3D… perhaps at a cost of being more fragile. The large surfaces on this plane could be prone to flutter if not properly setup or if the plane was flown too fast.
@911057:The signature feature of the Katana/Funtana is the winglets that protrude down from the root of the wing.
The winglets were missing from the Funtana 40, but to the delight of many, were designed into the .90 size. They were glued into place, but first I taped some plastic “shields” onto the fuse where the glue joint touched to keep excess glue off of this sweet looking plane.
!!Tail
@911058:Having marked where the fuse meets the stab, I used a soldering iron to gently “melt cut” the covering inside the line about 1/16”. I greatly prefer this method over just using a knife because if I cut even a little into the stab with a razor knife, I would have weakened the stab at that point significantly.
The manual suggested epoxy to glue the stab in place, but the fit was SO tight that I chose to seep thin CA in from both sides, top and bottom.
@911059:I pinned the stab for added security. (See text for details.)
@911060:Last stab step was to install the carbon fiber rods used as flying wires. (See text for sizing tips.)
I drilled 3 fine holes in the fin slot through the stab and pinned it with toothpicks cut to length. I stuck a toothpick in the holes and pressed it down till it was snug, marked it, removed and cut it and replaced with a couple drops of CA. This locked the stab in place and along with using CA to glue the stab in, which kept me from getting epoxy all over the place.
A tip here was that the holes in the stabs were longer than they appeared, so I measured the length needed by adding ½” to what I thought I would need. If there was a little too much length and it pressed on the surface, I could always cut it a little shorter and try again. It is important that there is not put pressure in the stab bending it up.
@911061:I used epoxy to mount the fin because I wanted it to fill any minor gaps there might be between the bottom of the fin and the slot.
@911062:When mounting the tailwheel bracket into the rudder, I like to drill a larger hole than needed and glue in a plastic sleeve that just fits snug over the wire. This makes it easier to remove if (gulp) I ever need to.
Time to install the tail servos. One hint… of the three left, the longest and shortest pushrods are for the elevator. The middle length one is for the rudder.
!!Engine and Radio
The Funtana 90 was designed around the Saito 1.00, so engine mounting was as easy as pie. The firewall was pre-drilled and the mounts bolted on with some threadlocker. The engine was bolted to the mounts. The carb needed rotating to place the high end needle upward and allow access to the throttle arm.
@911063:To ease fitting the cowl, I marked the valve cover locations on a piece of clear plastic. Then I placed the cowl in position and transferred the cut outs to the cowl.
@911064:Similarly, I marked the holes for the cowl by taping strips of plastic material over each cowl mounting hole. The hole marked, the cowl was then placed in position, aligned with the spinner, and the holes in the plastic transferred to the cowl.
!!Working to Balance Funtana
Reading up a lot on the experiences of other Funtana 90 owners, it was apparent that I needed to get as much weight up front as possible to balance.
@911065:First, I installed the throttle servo on some hardwood rails epoxied to the existing formers and sides to create a place to install it.
@911066:The receiver ended up being installed on the existing throttle servo location with a piece of foam underneath. (I set up each elevator and aileron in separate channels and used a computer radio to mix them together.)
@911067:The battery represented the greatest amount of movable weight. To get it as far forward as possible, I epoxied a 1/8” aircraft ply stick to the side of the firewall, stabilized with a piece of triangle stock. The 2100 mah 5 cell (6 volt) pack was attached to the stick with foam on both sides to insulate it from vibration.
@911068:It was getting late, so I decided to glue the canopy on with RC56 canopy glue. The canopy was pre-painted and fit like a glove. Definitely the nicest canopy job I’ve ever done thanks to the perfect fit.
Just a few minor things were done to finish up… the tank install, gear and wheel pants. Here is how she looks ready to fly… sweet!
!Flying
@911069:"I'm ready, let's get in the air!"
Central Ohio in December is a tough place to find flight time. Winds, cold weather and even snow are the norm, but occasionally a nice day pops up and that's exactly what we were waiting on. One particular Saturday, the forecast was showing 7-9 mph winds and temps of around 35 degrees. It's go time! We headed to the field and noticed the trees swaying a little more than we expected, but with even colder temperatures and high winds in the next week's forecast... we were determined to make this day happen.
The Funtana was assembled in about 3 minutes and performed a range test. Here we ran into our first problem... it failed. The Funtana has a nice antenna tube installed in the fuse and I opted to use it. Still, at about 25 paces and at certain angles the surfaces would start to jitter. I removed the antenna from the tube, drilled a small hole in the rear turtle-deck and pulled the antenna through. It was long enough to reach the fin and I used some tape to hold it in place with just a little slack. This time the range test was good out to 35 paces... all was well. I mention this because in certain cases, an antenna installed inside a fuse can cause reduced range, and should you experience any problems, the first step is to lay the antenna outside the fuse and see if it helps. If it doesn't, then you have something that requires close attention back at the shop... do NOT attempt to fly a plane that does not range test!
Earlier in the week, I test ran the engine with a tank of 15% fuel. But today I fueled the Funtana up with 30% fuel. A while back I switched to it for the power difference, and was pleasantly surprised at how well a new Saito ran on it. Keeping it fairly rich, the Saito 1.00 started immediately and ran like it was well broken in. The APC 15x6 was spinning somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,900. That equates to almost 15 lbs of thrust... quite respectable on this under 9 lb plane. Saito recommends 30% fuel and once you've tried it, you won't go back. It's a little more expensive, but the results greatly outweigh the cost.
There has been a lot of talk about whether the Saito 1.00 is enough engine for this plane. One look at the video and the takeoff will show that the 1.00 has plenty of punch. (Of course it was cold and here in Ohio we're not too high above sea level. Higher altitude flyers might not get the same performance.)
Here we go... I lined the Funtana up onto the runway, got the nod from the cameraman, and slowly added throttle. It tracked very well on the ground and as soon as the tail went up the wings quickly followed. I pulled up into the 12-15 mph winds and the plane went vertical. Straight up and no signs of stopping... no doubt I have plenty of power on the nose.
A few clicks of down trim and the plane was tracking as well as I could tell in the wind. Surprisingly the plane wasn't buffeted about much, but when I cut across it, I could see the winds slide the plane a good bit.
Even under the conditions I had to work with, the Funtana was impressive. It harriered beautifully with little wing rock. In fact the video shows a harrier landing. The plane flew VERY light and showed no sign of snapping unexpectedly.
Initial thoughts are that this plane is yet another high quality offering from Hangar 9, has all the makings of the "hit" plane that it already is, and in my first opportunity at the sticks, showed impressive promise. Unfortunately, the weather won't let me delve deeper until later. I can't wait to get it in some calmer winds with the CG set around 6.5"... I may mod the plane to use a pull-pull rudder and if so will share that in an update to this review.
!!CG
I kept giving it down trim as I flew because it kept wanting to rise in the wind. I performed the basic maneuvers and felt the plane to be tail-heavy. Now I like my planes pretty tail-heavy, almost always ending up with my CG at the rearward (and sometimes more aft) of the suggested range. The Funtana 90, built as I have outlined but without the wheel pants, balanced about 1/8" behind the 7 1/8" suggested setting. It was hard to tell how much of the flight was effected by the wind and how much by an aft CG, but I'd have to say that it would be wise for less experienced pilots to set it conservatively... maybe around 6" and then ease their way back. A little nose weight can be added, then removed in small increments until you find your own sweet spot.
!!Video
+911070:A brief flight video showing some of the impressive precision and 3D aerobatics capabilities of the Funtana 90/Saito 100 combination.
+911071:Same video, lower resolution for dial up users.
!Conclusion
Based on my somewhat limited but impressive flight time and the myriad of extremely happy Funtana 90 owners, I have to give the plane a great rating. Quality in manufacture, lightweight design and impressive slow flight ability makes this a plane you'll be glad you bought.
Stay tuned... I'll have updated video and an in-depth flight report coming soon! When it is added, this article will move back to the top of the RCPower home page, with a note in the description. A note will also be added to the discussion thread. Be sure to watch for it!
| spec2
| @911050
|> <b>Wingspan:</b> |< 69.5" (176.5cm)
|> <b>Wing Area:</b> |< 1108 sq. in. (71.5 sq dm)
|> <b>Weight:</b> |< 8.1 lb. (3.7kg)
|> <b>Length:</b> |< 68.5" (174cm)
|> <b>Wing Loading:</b> |< 18.2 oz/sq. ft.
|> <b>Servos:</b> |< 6 (5 Hitec HS5625 digital and 1 HS81 throttle servo)
|> <b>Transmitter:</b> |< Futaba 9C
|> <b>Receiver:</b> |< Hitec Supreme 8
|> <b>Battery:</b> |< 2100 mah 5 cell
|> <b>Engine:</b> |< Saito 100
|> <b>Prop:</b> |< APC 15x6
|> <b>Manufacturer:</b> |< <a href=http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/ByCategory/Product/Default.aspx?ProdID=HAN2675>Hangar 9</a>
|> <b>Available From:</b> |< <a href=http://www.horizonhobby.com>Horizon Hobby</a>
A year or so ago I purchased a new offering from Hangar 9, the Funtana 40. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the manufacture and the performance, so when the Funtana 90 was announced I knew this was one I’d have to take a closer look at. This review isn’t meant to be a step by step building tutorial, but rather cover the main points and especially anything you need to keep an eye out for or consider potential mods. <a href="http://www.horizonhobby.com/ProdInfo/Files/han2675-manual.pdf">Click here for the complete manual</a>.
!Kit Contents
@911051:The Funtana 90 arrived in perfect condition and with the transparent blue covering on the bottom, it was easy to see that the wing structure was solid with no damage.
First let me say that this plane looks great in the pictures, but in person looks even better. It was apparent that Hangar 9 put every bit of attention to quality and detail as they had with the .40 size. In fact, having owned over a half dozen of their offerings, each and every ARF I received has been of top notch quality.
The manual is exemplary of the perfect manual. Concise with plenty of pictures and illustrations. A newer builder would have no problems following along and building the project. So let’s get started shall we?
!Assembly
!!Hinging Tip<p>
@911052:First was installing the ailerons. Pre-slotted, they CA hinges simply slid in place.
@911053:I made sure that the end of the aileron was even with the tip of the wing by placing a straight edge across the two.
I first installed the root and tip hinges, then the hinges in between. This little tip prevented the surface from creeping out on one end, as could have happened had I glued the hinges in order.
!!Wing
@911054:Excellent quality hardware was included, like these ball links. My minor complaint here was that the screws were a little short so that the nylon lock nut barely bit into the nylon. I say minor because I drilled the hole through the horn a little small and the screw threaded tightly into the horn.
@911055:The control horn was aligned with the edge of the bevel and the screws installed. The balsa blocks here were fairly soft and really required CA application to the holes to harden them.
@911056:My tube was snug, but not overly so, through the fuse and in one wing. The other wing was a perfect fit. While we are looking at this picture, notice the clean build of the laser cut components.
Funtana 90 is obviously VERY lightly designed, it’s easy to see that this plane was designed to fly awesome 3D… perhaps at a cost of being more fragile. The large surfaces on this plane could be prone to flutter if not properly setup or if the plane was flown too fast.
@911057:The signature feature of the Katana/Funtana is the winglets that protrude down from the root of the wing.
The winglets were missing from the Funtana 40, but to the delight of many, were designed into the .90 size. They were glued into place, but first I taped some plastic “shields” onto the fuse where the glue joint touched to keep excess glue off of this sweet looking plane.
!!Tail
@911058:Having marked where the fuse meets the stab, I used a soldering iron to gently “melt cut” the covering inside the line about 1/16”. I greatly prefer this method over just using a knife because if I cut even a little into the stab with a razor knife, I would have weakened the stab at that point significantly.
The manual suggested epoxy to glue the stab in place, but the fit was SO tight that I chose to seep thin CA in from both sides, top and bottom.
@911059:I pinned the stab for added security. (See text for details.)
@911060:Last stab step was to install the carbon fiber rods used as flying wires. (See text for sizing tips.)
I drilled 3 fine holes in the fin slot through the stab and pinned it with toothpicks cut to length. I stuck a toothpick in the holes and pressed it down till it was snug, marked it, removed and cut it and replaced with a couple drops of CA. This locked the stab in place and along with using CA to glue the stab in, which kept me from getting epoxy all over the place.
A tip here was that the holes in the stabs were longer than they appeared, so I measured the length needed by adding ½” to what I thought I would need. If there was a little too much length and it pressed on the surface, I could always cut it a little shorter and try again. It is important that there is not put pressure in the stab bending it up.
@911061:I used epoxy to mount the fin because I wanted it to fill any minor gaps there might be between the bottom of the fin and the slot.
@911062:When mounting the tailwheel bracket into the rudder, I like to drill a larger hole than needed and glue in a plastic sleeve that just fits snug over the wire. This makes it easier to remove if (gulp) I ever need to.
Time to install the tail servos. One hint… of the three left, the longest and shortest pushrods are for the elevator. The middle length one is for the rudder.
!!Engine and Radio
The Funtana 90 was designed around the Saito 1.00, so engine mounting was as easy as pie. The firewall was pre-drilled and the mounts bolted on with some threadlocker. The engine was bolted to the mounts. The carb needed rotating to place the high end needle upward and allow access to the throttle arm.
@911063:To ease fitting the cowl, I marked the valve cover locations on a piece of clear plastic. Then I placed the cowl in position and transferred the cut outs to the cowl.
@911064:Similarly, I marked the holes for the cowl by taping strips of plastic material over each cowl mounting hole. The hole marked, the cowl was then placed in position, aligned with the spinner, and the holes in the plastic transferred to the cowl.
!!Working to Balance Funtana
Reading up a lot on the experiences of other Funtana 90 owners, it was apparent that I needed to get as much weight up front as possible to balance.
@911065:First, I installed the throttle servo on some hardwood rails epoxied to the existing formers and sides to create a place to install it.
@911066:The receiver ended up being installed on the existing throttle servo location with a piece of foam underneath. (I set up each elevator and aileron in separate channels and used a computer radio to mix them together.)
@911067:The battery represented the greatest amount of movable weight. To get it as far forward as possible, I epoxied a 1/8” aircraft ply stick to the side of the firewall, stabilized with a piece of triangle stock. The 2100 mah 5 cell (6 volt) pack was attached to the stick with foam on both sides to insulate it from vibration.
@911068:It was getting late, so I decided to glue the canopy on with RC56 canopy glue. The canopy was pre-painted and fit like a glove. Definitely the nicest canopy job I’ve ever done thanks to the perfect fit.
Just a few minor things were done to finish up… the tank install, gear and wheel pants. Here is how she looks ready to fly… sweet!
!Flying
@911069:"I'm ready, let's get in the air!"
Central Ohio in December is a tough place to find flight time. Winds, cold weather and even snow are the norm, but occasionally a nice day pops up and that's exactly what we were waiting on. One particular Saturday, the forecast was showing 7-9 mph winds and temps of around 35 degrees. It's go time! We headed to the field and noticed the trees swaying a little more than we expected, but with even colder temperatures and high winds in the next week's forecast... we were determined to make this day happen.
The Funtana was assembled in about 3 minutes and performed a range test. Here we ran into our first problem... it failed. The Funtana has a nice antenna tube installed in the fuse and I opted to use it. Still, at about 25 paces and at certain angles the surfaces would start to jitter. I removed the antenna from the tube, drilled a small hole in the rear turtle-deck and pulled the antenna through. It was long enough to reach the fin and I used some tape to hold it in place with just a little slack. This time the range test was good out to 35 paces... all was well. I mention this because in certain cases, an antenna installed inside a fuse can cause reduced range, and should you experience any problems, the first step is to lay the antenna outside the fuse and see if it helps. If it doesn't, then you have something that requires close attention back at the shop... do NOT attempt to fly a plane that does not range test!
Earlier in the week, I test ran the engine with a tank of 15% fuel. But today I fueled the Funtana up with 30% fuel. A while back I switched to it for the power difference, and was pleasantly surprised at how well a new Saito ran on it. Keeping it fairly rich, the Saito 1.00 started immediately and ran like it was well broken in. The APC 15x6 was spinning somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,900. That equates to almost 15 lbs of thrust... quite respectable on this under 9 lb plane. Saito recommends 30% fuel and once you've tried it, you won't go back. It's a little more expensive, but the results greatly outweigh the cost.
There has been a lot of talk about whether the Saito 1.00 is enough engine for this plane. One look at the video and the takeoff will show that the 1.00 has plenty of punch. (Of course it was cold and here in Ohio we're not too high above sea level. Higher altitude flyers might not get the same performance.)
Here we go... I lined the Funtana up onto the runway, got the nod from the cameraman, and slowly added throttle. It tracked very well on the ground and as soon as the tail went up the wings quickly followed. I pulled up into the 12-15 mph winds and the plane went vertical. Straight up and no signs of stopping... no doubt I have plenty of power on the nose.
A few clicks of down trim and the plane was tracking as well as I could tell in the wind. Surprisingly the plane wasn't buffeted about much, but when I cut across it, I could see the winds slide the plane a good bit.
Even under the conditions I had to work with, the Funtana was impressive. It harriered beautifully with little wing rock. In fact the video shows a harrier landing. The plane flew VERY light and showed no sign of snapping unexpectedly.
Initial thoughts are that this plane is yet another high quality offering from Hangar 9, has all the makings of the "hit" plane that it already is, and in my first opportunity at the sticks, showed impressive promise. Unfortunately, the weather won't let me delve deeper until later. I can't wait to get it in some calmer winds with the CG set around 6.5"... I may mod the plane to use a pull-pull rudder and if so will share that in an update to this review.
!!CG
I kept giving it down trim as I flew because it kept wanting to rise in the wind. I performed the basic maneuvers and felt the plane to be tail-heavy. Now I like my planes pretty tail-heavy, almost always ending up with my CG at the rearward (and sometimes more aft) of the suggested range. The Funtana 90, built as I have outlined but without the wheel pants, balanced about 1/8" behind the 7 1/8" suggested setting. It was hard to tell how much of the flight was effected by the wind and how much by an aft CG, but I'd have to say that it would be wise for less experienced pilots to set it conservatively... maybe around 6" and then ease their way back. A little nose weight can be added, then removed in small increments until you find your own sweet spot.
!!Video
+911070:A brief flight video showing some of the impressive precision and 3D aerobatics capabilities of the Funtana 90/Saito 100 combination.
+911071:Same video, lower resolution for dial up users.
!Conclusion
Based on my somewhat limited but impressive flight time and the myriad of extremely happy Funtana 90 owners, I have to give the plane a great rating. Quality in manufacture, lightweight design and impressive slow flight ability makes this a plane you'll be glad you bought.
Stay tuned... I'll have updated video and an in-depth flight report coming soon! When it is added, this article will move back to the top of the RCPower home page, with a note in the description. A note will also be added to the discussion thread. Be sure to watch for it!