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The Art Hobby KASTOR is advertised as a High Performance Electro-Glider, 80% ready to fly high quality (multi-task) electro glider. It is made in Poland, sold by Art Hobby (USA).
Wing Span 1650 mm/65 in.
Length 880-960mm/34.6-37.8in.
Wing area 27,38dm²/424.4sq.in.
Glider weight 334g/11.7oz.
Wing profile HN1033 modified
Total weight for my Kastor is ca 800 gr. using:
MEGA 16/15/5 brushless, MPJet gear 3.3:1
10 x 500AR, 13x8 Aeronaut folder
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Everything is of top quality. The best veneer covered foam wing I have seen! All the necessary hardware and small items needed are there. Except the motor former. The size of this is of course dependent on your motor/gear/spinner choice. This time I used a glass fibre ready-made former (Höllein).
It was easy to epoxy glue the former, after I had drilled the necessary holes in it. I glued the former with the motor mounted and made sure to get the right 1 degree right/1.5 degree down off-set. It all ended with a perfect pod/former/spinner fit.
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There is an adequate building manual and a helpful overview drawing showing all measurements, CG position, etc.
Nothing difficult to build. I used all the supplied hard-ware, excellent control horns, linkages, etc. Two thicknesses of GF mat.
The only "modification" I made was a NACA type air inlet with outlets both sides at the end of the pod. The elevators are pre-hinged, but I did not like the gap between stab and elevator, so I put a strip of plastic film over the gap, on the underside.
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I doped all flying surfaces, the veneer is rather hard and too beautiful to cover with film or paint. It looks great in its "natural" finish!
I managed to get the CG right, without ballast.
Controls are: motor, ailerons, elevator and spoiler (both ailerons up - two positions).
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Test flight, 19 April 2003
The most undramatic test flight I have made. It is a stupid expression, but "it flew straight of the board"! No trim corrections, CG as I wanted it (a bit forward on this test flight), no bad habits.
It flew hands-off, fast and steady. It was very responsive on the controls, I could make very tight turns. I found some thermal activity on this first flight, and it was easy to stay in the lift. Landing was easy, the spoiler was not so effective, but helped to make a smooth touch-down.
I was expecting more or less vertical climb performance (promised by MotoCalc...) but this was not the case, only steep climb-outs ( 70 degrees?). Disappointing, but on the other hand, the current draw was only 12 A static on 10 cells, fully charged. I can use a bigger prop, going to 15/16 amps - that should increase the performance!
So - I am happy, very satisfied. This will be a good model to fly in the coming summer.
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