Katana Giant W-Smoke

About

The Katana is part of the Hangar 9 sport-aerobatic ARF family from Horizon Hobby, in a giant-scale balsa-and-ply construction that has been a staple of the intermediate-and-advanced RC market for years. This W-Smoke variant carries an installed smoke-oil system — an extra fuel tank dedicated to smoke oil, plumbed to inject oil into the engine exhaust at the pilot's command, producing the long white smoke trail that has been part of competition airshow display flying since the early days of jet aerobatics.

A smoke system on a sport-aerobatic ARF transforms the visual experience of the flight. Slow rolls leave a corkscrew of smoke at altitude. Hammerhead stalls draw a clean vertical line. Tight loops trace circles in the sky that an audience can watch develop. For competition or display work, smoke is the difference between abstract figures performed by an aircraft at altitude and concrete shapes drawn on the sky for an audience on the ground. The trade-off is weight: the additional smoke-oil tank, plumbing, valve, and pump add several ounces to the airframe, with corresponding effects on flight performance and endurance.

The Katana Giant airframe with a smoke system is the kind of model a club pilot brings out for airshows, demonstration flights, and special-occasion flying — the rest of the time it shares the same handling character as the smoke-free Katana Giant in this pack.

In the simulator

The same handling as the Katana Giant in this same pack — large balsa sport-aerobatic ARF, generous control authority, predictable stall behavior, and the kind of in-the-air presence that makes 3D figures read clearly. The smoke system in the simulator is a visual addition for display-style flying. Use it for the same intermediate aerobatic vocabulary as the standard Katana Giant: knife-edge, slow rolls, hammerheads, and inverted figure-eights — but with the airshow-style smoke trail behind. Pairs well with grass strips and aerobatic-box landscapes.