choppercopper

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Airtronics Aquila 99" vs Sagitta 900

Two classic gliders from the 70's and 80's. Any thoughts on which is the better glider?

Both similar in size and look, but what about performance?


Cheers Roger

Melbourne Australia.

FLYBOY

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They are both good. The Aquila is a little more of a floater, but you want to do a mod on the wing. If you build it, email me and we will talk about it.

The Sagitta is a little bit faster and a little more high performance, but won't go up in as light of lift as the aquila. It will take a bit more wind though. The center of the wing is not designed very well. If you build that one, you need to do a little work to beef up the center where the wing rod glues in or you will eventually tear the wing off on Launch. thats the way both of mine came apart. I still have a couple of Aquilas.

Depending on the performance you want, both are great planes.

choppercopper

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Thanks FB...
I have just purchased an original Aquila kit and will be building it soon. I also have just purchased a Sagitta but it is the original 600 kit not the 900. If it works out well i will blow up the plans to take them to 900 specs and build that too. I love the look of both models and I know the Aquila is a great flyer but I have never seen the Sagitta (600 or 900) fly. I was also curious about the Aquila Grande. What is the difference between the normal 99.9" Aquila and the grande?

Cheers Rog.

soarrich

My Feedback: (98)

[/quote]

The 900 came before the 600. The 600 is a 2M the 900 was a Standard class. I've never heard of anyone scaling it up to a 900. The only mods I say to do to either is get rid of the counter-balanced tail and put a little carbon in the boom just in front of the vertical fin.


The Aquila is a slower floater. The Saggitta had more range.



The Grande had a longer fuse and wing. The airfoil had Philip's entry, and was a stronger wing. It was halve way between a Aquila and a Saggitta, not as good as either of the others.

choppercopper

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Guys...It appears a mod to the wing on both is required for hi start use.....can anyone detail the mod?

Cheers Rog.

soarrich

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Miine is stock, never had a problem. The only reason I remember them strengthing the wing box for was Dork landings.

AMA-69405

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In my experience, if the Aquila wing is built as designed, there are absolutely no problems using a high start. The 1970's Olympic II had the exact same wing box design; while flying in too much wind with a lot of ballast, I once bent the wing rod in my Oly II approximately 30 degrees on an overly zealous launch. The wing itself was undamaged. Sure looked weird on the way back down (and boy... was it coming DOWN!) with the outer wing sections literally closer to vertical than horizontal. [X(]

I currently own an Aquila I built in 1981 that has over 1200 high start launches behind it. I have flown it very recently in more wind than I should have (15 mph gusting to 25)... that 28-year-old stock wing will still shrug off a stout high start launch.

Taurus Flyer

Post deleted

Jack Womack

The Sagitta had a piece of wood that the wing tube went into. That should be wrapped with Kevlar tow, unwaxed dental floss, or something, to keep it from splitting. Sagitta 900 plans are available from RCM plans. This would be much better than trying to scale up the plans for the 600. The Sagitta is the better model and in the right hands, will thermal with any Aquila... I say this having had a 35+ year love of Aquilas...

Enjoy,

Jack Womack

TexasThermalKing

Ken Womack has it right, a little reinforcement goes a long way at the spar. It may not be on the plans, but new tricks help the old birds get it done.
If this is the same JACK WOMACK that flew at Soaring League Of North Texas, Placing 11 th overall for 2009 in Unlimited, and 3 rd overall in RES... well, listen and smile . You
have some good help.

I have a fondness for the Sagitta 900 going back 20+ years. I flew it in thermal duration contests and did well. I could ask it to go on out and look for lift , and was pleased, it
did a better job of finding it, than me back on the sticks. Ballasted up it lapped in distance, within 2 laps of a new fangled fully molded Muller Comet, it was a great day. I still
have the plane.
Go light on the tail when you build it...(always a good thing) mine needed 5 oz of lead in the nose, to balance out. But it really did ok, with 4 aa battery pack, standard servos, and standard reciever, flying in the often windy, muggy Texas Coastal flatlands. The Sagitta is a beauty in the air, and still my favorite keeper now that I'm down the road.

kzimmerm

The 900 came before the 600. The 600 is a 2M the 900 was a Standard class. I've never heard of anyone scaling it up to a 900. The only mods I say to do to either is get rid of the counter-balanced tail and put a little carbon in the boom just in front of the vertical fin.



I had a friend of mine who did several things. First he stretched the 900 by adding a total of 2 bays on each wing panel. This made the 900+ a bit "floatier"... Next he scaled up a 900 to have 118" wing.. This was his all-around best flying plane. I've seen it fly and I can tell you it was really sweet.


The Aquila is a slower floater. The Saggitta had more range.



The Grande had a longer fuse and wing. The airfoil had Philip's entry, and was a stronger wing. It was halve way between a Aquila and a Saggitta, not as good as either of the others.

[/quote]

I had a Grande and I don't recall it having a longer fuse. The airfoil was modified making it more semi-symmetrical (aka philip's entry) as also referred as the "Miller Mod". This mod was to add additional strength to the wing by adding sheeting along the bottom of the leading edge of the wing. Nothing fancy there. The Sagitta had a "modified" E205 airfoil. The reason for it being modified was to simplify mass production allowing Airtronics to incorporate stock TE stock.

Sorry to wake up this thread which started so long ago.

Kurt

FLYBOY

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The grande wing is longer, the fuse is the same, only glass.

There is a mod for the Aquila. Its not for launch its for getting down. I don't remember what they call it, but you build the plane per plan, including all the cap strips. When you are done, you put a piece of 1/16 sheeting from the leading edge to the back of the spar full length of the wing. Round it at the leading edge after you put it on and taper the tail before you put it on to make it easier.

What this does is it keeps the plane from "Dancing" when you speed it up. It makes it fly faster without the wag that the original wing produces. it doesn't hurt the lift or anything else. I wouldn't build it without the mod.


On the Sagitta, make sure you get the center section very strong. The wing tube is very short. I built 2 and both blew up on a winch launching in the wind in contests. I have another kit, when I build it I will modify the center, but I haven't thought about that in years so I would have to look at it good to see how to do it. Keep the tail very light. You will have to add lead to the nose no matter what you do. A little longer nose would be advisable if you can do it.

Both are great planes. They are both gorgeous in the air. The sagitta will handle wind better, and I thought the aquila used lighter air better. I still have an aquila or two in the shop too. Fun birds.

Antares100

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    Flyboy, is the sheeting added to the top or the bottom of the wing of the Aquila? Thanks.

AMA-69405

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The sheeting is added to the bottom of the airfoil... in stock form, the top of the wingis already sheeted from LE to spar. As mentioned above, addition of the lower sheeting is called the "Miller mod", after Skip Miller, who won the 1977 world championships with an Aquila. But you need to do a little research before you do the mod, IMO: from a performance standpoint, you might screw up a good flying airplane if this is not done correctly. The mod also included a reshape of the leading edge, creating a "Phillips entry" airfoil.Google is your friend...

Antares100

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Thanks again for the clarification. Finally got an Aquila off eBay for less than what they usually go for. Looked complete in the picture. Can't wait to get it and start building. Off to Google I go!

juggler-3310

I have short kits for the Sagitta and the Aquila 900 that were both enlarged 20% to wingspans of approximately 120" each. I can't wait to get them built and in the air. From what I've read, enlarging them results in a better flying airplane. Has anyone else here done this? What was your experience?

juggler

FLYBOY

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I haven't done longer wings on those 2 but it can't hurt. I made the wings on my last 2 windrifters longer and they both fly great.

The miller mod I talked about made the plane not dance when you are coming down fast. If you don't do it, the wings walk back and forth at the tips and it dances when you get the speed up.