Mini Kiwi 1.33m

Product Code: MINI-KIWI

(1 review)

Price: $118.25 save 10%

Description

The Mini Kiwi is a pocket sized rudder elevator glider that weighs less than 250g ready-to-fly. Although designed for hi-start launching it also works well as a light wind slope soarer.

The kit is very complete with a good multi-colour plan, beautifully laser cut balsa and ply parts and all accessories, including pushrods, control surface horns, tow hook, decals and 3D printed parts. Also included are separate tail surface plans for convenience (there is no difference between A4 plan sheets and the larger plan).

The wing is of conventional construction with spruce spars and riblets. The tails are quick build lightweight built up surfaces. The narrow fuselage is all wood construction with ply front sides and a balsa and spruce rear.

The Mini Kiwi is ideal for Canadian fliers who need a model weighing less than 250g. All the models we have are X tail gliders. Note they will not be easy to convert to electric as the fuselage is only 14mm wide. No instructions are currently available but the manufacturer is in the process of creating a photo build log that he will put on his website.

Mini Kiwi 1.3m Specifications
Wing span	1.33 m	52 in
Wing area	21.1 dm2	327 sq in
Length	97 cm	38.2 in
Flying weight from	200 g	7.1 oz
Wing loading	9.5 g/dm2	3.1 oz/sq ft
Aspect ratio	8.4
Wing airfoil	AG Mod
Dihedral angle (EDA)	10.5º (tip panels are 15º)
Centre of Gravity	70-78 mm from wing leading edge
Controls	Rudder, elevator

Recommended R/C-nano gear only
Elevator & rudder servos	Blue Bird BMS-101DMG, Hitec HS-40, KST X06, CHA DS06, CHA LV06, PowerHD 1370
Receiver	Orange compatible, Lemom compatible, Jeti Duplex R4 & R5, Multiplex Mlink RX-6-DR Light*, FrSky D4R II
Battery	Bonka HV LiPo 1S 550mAh, Bonka LiPo 1S 450mAh, HyperFlight 150 mAh 4.8V NiMH, Gaoneng HV LiPo 1S 650mAh

Mini Kiwi 1.3m Typical Weights
Total structure	160.0 g	5.6 oz
Receiver	5.0 g	0.2 oz
Rudder servo	4.5 g	0.2 oz
Elevator servo	4.5 g	0.2 oz
Battery	21.0 g	0.7 oz
Noseweight	5.0 g	0.2 oz
Flying weight	200 g	7.1 oz

Reviews 1

26/07/2023 17:21

Review by: Neil

Good looking kit

I received this kit as a birthday present to give me something more traditional to build and it certainly looks pretty. Opening the box gives a good first impression with lots of laser cut sheets of balsa and ply with part numbers marked. There's a well printed plan and a couple of extra sheets just for the tail and fin/rudder. Everything is organised logically on the sheets.
I started building yesterday with the tailplane sections which all fitted together nicely and were very quickly completed.
Started pinning down the wing tip parts today and came upon the first problems: there are no building instructions so I've spent a lot of time going over the plans to try and figure out the best building sequence but there are a few areas where it really isn't clear what's the best way to assemble everything and there are also a couple of places where it's difficult to figure out which parts you should be using as the loose bits are not numbered. There's also a little note on the wingtip plans indicating -4mm washout, which I would interpret as +4mm washout and it's not clear whether this should be included by warping the structure, which is not easy with such well fitting parts, or incorporated when the tip is glued on to the centre section. There are a few other sections where the parts fitment is not obvious too.
I know the model webpage says there is a build guide coming on line but at the moment there is nothing there and although there are a couple of QR codes which purport to take you to an online collection of assembly photographs, there's next to nothing there either! This is the only bug in what otherwise looks to be a well turned out model.
I see it's now sold out so if anyone else is in the building stage I'd appreciate any construction advice anyone has available!