When I was a lad
The old Sagitta is an aircraft that I remember from my childhood days. I always wanted one but
my pocket monet would not stretch that far. Twenty years later and my childhood dreams are
fulfilled. Whilst in Dorset for the Arenaline review I had seen a local chap flying what I
assumed to be one of the original Sagittas. It was very fast and was giving some of the more
expensive moulded stuff a run for its money. Chatting to him revealed it was one of the new
Sagittas. The new Sagitta Project 2 as it is called is an entirely different aircraft that
retains the looks of the original but with more modern constuction and aerodynamics. I thought
it might be an ideal sports model - a little bigger than the 60 inch pylon racers but smaller
(and cheaper) than a full-house model. When I got home I ordered one from my local model shop.
The new Sagitta Project 2 as it is called is an entirely different aircraft.
First Impressions
The kit comes packaged in a strong cardboard box with a colour label on the front depicting the
model finished in the supplied graphics. Inside the box everything is well packaged, the wings
being wrapped in cardboard and all smaller items in plastic bags.
The fuselage retains the same aggressive shark-like looks with its unusual triangular cross
section but unlike its predecessor is moulded from white epoxy/cloth rather than the plastic of
the older version.
This moulding is very good with all the fairings for the control rods moulded in. The holes for
the tail joiner wires are pre-drilled and the tubes already fitted. The moulding appears to be
joined wet in the mould and has a fairly minimal join line. The fuselage unfortunately on my
example had a small fault near one of the pushrod fairings - a small part of the fairing appea-
red to have broken off in the mould and was missing - a small but annoying fault.
Finishing off the fuselage is one of the sexiest canopies I have ever seen. Finished in high
gloss carbon fibre it is a perfect fit in the fuselage reccess.
The wing is excellent - two part and almost totally finished. Simprop have a special method of
producing their wings which results in a wing that has all the joiner assemblies and reinforce-
ments already installed in the wing. The servo boxes are pre-cut and the ailerons are already
routed out - just needing separating from the panel. Thw wing tips are amazing - they are swept
back and curve downwards - all pressed into the wing panel!
The trailing edges on my example were not as straight as I would have liked but they are thick
enough to allow them to be sanded straight.
Tail parts are all pre-cut from balsa and already shaped to the correct section requiring just
a final sanding. Finally all linkages, horns and pushrods, servo box covers are supplied. There
is a reduced scale plan and a set of instructions translated into English.
Decisions, decisions
The First decision to be made before building is whether to have a two or four servo wing. The
plans show the installation of both, although if you want to fit flap servos you will have to
cut the servo boxes yourself. I chose to build the two servo wing first and if it proves to be
difficult to land without crow braking the flap servos can always be fitted later.
Building It
Or rather assembling the components is a very straight forward task as the majority of the dif-
ficult stuff is done for you.
The fuselage requires the fin post and the servo tray to be fitted. The servo tray is assembled
from four pre-cut plywood parts and is soon glued into the fuselage using five minute epoxy as
is the fin post and the wing retaining plate. Using the wing, the holes are then drilled for the
wing retaining bolts. A thread is then cut into these holes using a 5mm tap (not supplied). The
holes for the tail retaining wires are pre-drilled and just required a little easing on my
example.
The ailerons are released from the wing panels and the exposed ends are faced with thin ply - a
light sanding and it is ready for covering.
The tailplane is a two piece arrangement with plug-in halves, each with a seperate elevator.
The tubes are glued into each tailplane half, the tips are added and when dry sanded to a finish.
The elevators are ready profiled to shape and chamfered ready for top hinging. The rudder is also
supplied redy shaped and just requires a light sanding prior to covering.
The plan shows the installation of an aerotow release (not supplied) and as a local club is very
heavily into aerotowing, a flair tow release was fitted.
Covering
The wing, tail and rudder were finished in profilm and decoration applied using the supplied
stickers. It is a long time since I finished one of my own aircraft in film normally preferring
glass cloth and epoxy resin. I found the Profilm to be very easy to apply once I had read the
instructions. It requires a different technique to Solarfilm being ironed on rather than shrunk.
The ailerons were top hinged using Diamond tape and the rudder was hinged with the supplied
hinges.
Radio
The fuselage accepts two standard servos on elevator and rudder (a third can be fitted for
aerotow release) and all the components for the elevator pushrods and rudder closed loop are
supplied. Two JR 517 servos were fitted for rudder and elevator with a JR 507 fitted for the
aerotow release. A Simprop receiver and a 1400mAh battery (thanks again to Roger at Strikalite)
finished off the radio installation in the fuselage.
The wing takes two mini servos which need their leads extending. Two JR 341 servos were fitted
and the pushrods and supplied horns were fitted. The servo boxes were sealed using the suplied
covers. The model was balanced and required just a small amount of lead to balance it within the
recomended C of G range.
Flying
As is usual the model was finished at 9.30 pm the evening before it was intended to test fly it.
What was unusual in this instance was that the next day dawned bright and sunny with a 15mph
breeze on Pole Cottage at the Long Mynd - it normally rains!!
The Sagitta really is an attractive aircraft and it attracted quite a lot of interest on the
slope. Many present could remember the original Sagitta (they are obviously older than they are
letting on!!) and were unaware that there was now a new version available.
The lift was tested (and my nerves settled) using my Purbeck Adrenaline. A range check was done
and the model launched out into the lift. It flew straight out and up requiring just a few clicks
of down and no aileron trim. Cruising back and forth in the lift the model gained height easily.
The controls, set as per instructions were nicely harmonised. The rudder was very effective.
Loops and rolls were easily performed and with the effective rudder stall turns were very easy.
In the dive the model picks speed up very quickly and is capable of very high speeds. At the other
end of the flight envelope the model can be slowed up without any sign of a wing dropping.
Normally I am very fastidious when test flying a new model, climbing for height, checking the
stall and the slow speed handling before doing some shallow test dives, but the Sagitta felt so
positive to fly that I found myself throwing it around with abandon and doing fast high speed
passes across the slope. Not like me at all!! For landing both ailerons have been programmed to
come up at 45 degrees. Whilst not as effective as a full crow set-up, this does kill some of the
lift of the wing and it helps land the model more accurately. The model was flown around the
circuit, lined up into wind and the brakes deployed. By playing the brakes in and out the model
was easily landed at my feet. I have since aerotowed the model off the flat. It aerotows remarka-
bly easily and considering its obvious slope heritage it doesn't do too bad a job of staying up.
On one flight after a particularly high climb out I couldn't resist trying to beat the tug down!
A long steep dive was entered and the Sagitta accelerated to what can only be described as a
phenomenal speed. The most amazing aspect of this was that at this speed the model was totally
silent, there being no airframe noise evident at all. On another occasion whilst doing the same
thing half way down there was a loud noise and the left wing panel became a vibrating blur. The
model was slowed and landed. Examination showed that the supplied plastic aileron horn had pulled
out of the aileron. When fitting these I had been a little concerned about their security as
they only glue into a drilled hole in the aileron. If the aircraft is to be flown to its full
potential then a more secure aileron horn might be advisable and have now been fitted to my
machine. In fairness to Simprop I was pushing the envelope beyond normal limits.
Conclusion
Considering the amount of prefabrication and the quality, the model represents good value for
money. If you are a quick builder, just a few evenings will have the model ready to fly. The
supplied sticker sheet dresses the model up very nicely giving you a model that is gorgeous to
look at both on the ground and in the air.
In the air it can be flown both fast and slow with equal ease. I was amazed how at ease I felt
with the handling of this aircraft from the first launch - like a favourite slipper - it just
felt so comfortable
On the day of the test flight Simon Cocker arrived (by bike - no aircraft), admired the Sagitta
and asked what it was for.
My answer was, 'flying'. And that it certainly does with aplomb.
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