AirHead256

A bud and I are trying to find the easiest combat wing to start out with.
We need tough, since we both have serious crashes on a regular basis w/ our existing gliders. We'd gladly trade agressive abilities in combat for ease of keeping up with the flight characteristics of our wings.
Does anyone have experiences to compare the zagi to the XR or other wings?
Thanks,
DerCheeseHead, eh?

Ollie

Either one is relatively easy to fly when properly adjusted but a Highlander is easier yet to properly adjust and fly. One little mistake like not having the holes in a control horn line up with the hinge line is all it takes to result in frustration. The opportunities for such mistakes are numerous.

The catch 22 is that: Until you can fly you probably can't dependably adjust the plane for easy learning and until the plane is properly adjusted, it will be difficult to learn to fly. The solution is to find a competent pilot to trim the plane before you try to fly it. You can learn to adjust and fly on your own but it usually takes about ten times longer than with a competent instructor. It also takes an attention to detail and a desire to "do things right" that is lacking in many people.

Think of it this way. If you didn't know how to shoot a rifle or adjust the sights but bought a rifle. Then, expected the factory to have sighted it in and not have the sights upset during shipment. Then went out to hit a small target at a distance, what would be your chances?

Delta-RCU

I learned to fly with a wingwarrior Raider.
www.wingwarrior.com
It has a longer cord and is very stable.

I was able to learn to fly inverted last weekend.

Marty at wingwarrior was very helpful on the phone walking me through the building process. Took me a while it was my first build.

This wing is all EPP.

Delta for ever

rhino

I'm a huge fan of the XR combat wing. I've flown against a few other models... Zagi, Boomerang, and 2 others (don't remember the name). I like it so much I wrote a testimonial that they ended up using on the XR site. It says it all.

Hank

AirHead256

Thanks for the info everyone. Keep it coming.
So Hank, to what would you attribute the better flight characteristics of your choice?
Seems like the basic materials are identical w/ EPP & balsa controls.
I see wingwarrior site above has models w/ 12" & 15" wide wings. I'd think that would provide a wider / more stable platform.

Same for other recommendations, why do you think your model of slab-o-foam flies better?

rhino

I'm not knowledgible when it comes to flight characteristics, Ollie understands these things much better.

I noticed the plane was lighter, more symetrical and with a longer chord than the Zagi's, hence the greater lift and inverted flight stability. The boomerang is very close, but the XR has a greater sweep as well as some extra wing area.

Althogh there are differences between the planes, I don't think thay are that great when it comes to learning to fly. I am very excited to see how my plane performs, but it didn't take any shorter amount of time to get the hang of my plane then any of the other wings. The flight characteristics are similar enough that you could move from one to the other without issue.

If you were really into combat, then picking the plane that matches what you want in characteristics would be important, but just haveing an indestructable plane, you could go with any of them and be happy. I do beleive the XR and boomerang stay aloft in lighter wind than the zagi's do, but you could probably build a zagi light enough where it wouldn't be a big issue. There are also many EPP made "standard" planes. The wings certainly fly different than a tradition plane (Fuse, wing, tail), so if you just want to get stick time without lots of repair time and aren't planning on a lot of combat, you might look at the EPP cousins of the standards.

Check out some of these sites:
http://www.aerofoam.com/
http://www.bowmanshobbies.com/
http://www.davesaircraftworks.com/
http://www.djaerotech.com/dj_product/
http://www.madaircraft.com/

And many others... A huge list of links can be found here: http://www.fatlion.com/sailplanes/links.html

And most of all, have fun... I know I do.

Hank

KeithB

My Feedback: (1)

Hank,

I read your testimonial on the XR. It sounds interesting and I would like to compare it against the Zagi myself. The price is certainly a lot better

But I do have to question a comment you made in your quote. You said, "The Zagi's couldn't really fly inverted...".

I'm not sure why you think this is the case, I just purchased a Zagi last week and I've flown it inverted with no problem.

What did you mean by that statement? Were you unable to fly a Zagi inverted?

Keith

KeithB

My Feedback: (1)

Hank,

After further studying the XR I realized that it has no motor. My Zagi is the 400X which has a 400 electric motor.

If you were talking about a plain Zagi with no motor then that explains why I can fly mine inverted and you had trouble :idea: .

Keith

rhino

Yep, just the plain ole glider, no motor. The Zagi "could" fly inverted, however it was sinking and required a lot of stick control to keep it, it wasn't something the other pilots wanted to keep doing. The Boomerang held its own, but needed a lot of stick input. The XR really was flying as well upside down as it was right side up. The bommerang pilot literally combatted while inverted to the chagrin of the other pilots.

I'm really not trying to start a religous war, I bought my XR for these reason, and I'm happy that it turned out as good as the marketing materials.

Hank

AirHead256

So is anyone flying those wide wing models?
I see the Zagi LE and XL combat wing seem to have a bit more wing area, and I'd be interested in if that slows / eases the flying for us low-visioned senior dinizens.

FunXtra

the best wing around is the raider, its the best wing i ever tried.
and the guys that make the wings (Tom, Paul, Marty, an Lee Roy) are the best to deal with, if u live around surf city you'll probably see their marketed wings, and even prototypes.
Best of all, they can teach you how to fly and u may even borrow the wings for a test fly (that helps a lot choosing a wing, maybe not all of them fly great).
click here to get in their site u wont be disappointed once u fly one of these.
PD: forget about zagis boomerangs and XR's these guys are the best :greedy:

StormGald

Hi is that big orange for sale I love it is it a highlander? Name a price I may take it if its resonable.

CactusJackSlade

Well, I have owned and flown:

Zagi 3C
Zagi THL
Zagi 400X (400 electric and as glider)
XR Combat wing.

I can tell you this:

If you build up your Zagi (like a THL with a spar in it) it will fly better (ok, not "better" - but easier) than the XR because it will float better and weigh 2 oz less... but if you build the 3C which is more comparable weight wise than I'd say go the XR.

In general I think the XR is less suseptable to tip stalls and the ol' death spiral. Don't know why, maybe the slightly larger cord at the tip???

If you are interested go here to see some mod's I did with my XR:
http://hobiehawk.com/ZEXR.html


Some might disagree with me but i have many hours on all the above planes...

Thanks my 2 cents worth..

CJS

FunXtra

I still think Wing Warriors are the best.
The Raider (the one i have) has a 15 inch central wing chord (3 in longer then the usual 48" wing) and a beefy wing surface, which allows the pilot to be free to put heavier stanard gear without sacrificing slow stall speeds, etc. my wing with standard gear floats as well, if not better then a Zagi 3C, or LE with mini gear.
Besides all of that the winglets made by WW are the best looking ones ive ever seen

Skirmish

Greetings from Yorkshire, England. I'm new to this forum and just had a good read of some of the postings. Can anyone advise how to show a pic on here as I've designed a combat wing called, errrrrr, wait for it, a Skirmish and I thought I'd share it with the rest of the world!!! Oh, and while I'm at it my club website and details of my soaring country can be seen at
http://www.hdmac.co.uk

fprintf

If you get it you will love it. Sadly the Highlander is not going to be made anymore. I heard on another forum that the owner of MAD Aircraft is getting out of the biz and getting a full time job. So if you have a Highlander, keep it. It is a great design. If not, good luck finding one!!!

I have just stripped mine down to bare foam, reinstalled everything and it is lighter, stiffer (including CF arrowshaft in the tail) and the control surfaces are finally where they should be. Ollie is right about it being 10x the time to learn on your own than have someone show you - heck, I asked a gazillion questions here and elsewhere and still didn't get stuff right (like lining up control horn holes and hingeline).

Good luck!

lvspark

As far as durability and price ( $5.00 usd) a Mugi is a fun plane to fly and will last forever. It does tak a strong blow to fly with it, but is quite fun a virtually unbreakable. Build time is about 1.5hrs.
mugi site The standard plan size is about 32" span, but I have built ones up to 96" span that were a hoot to fly.

Another zagi like plane made from coroplast is the dazi. it is just a plastic zagi that cost less than $10 and 2 hours to build. Dazi website

Skirmish

Small World isnt it? I know Mr Mugi as he lives only a few miles away from me in sunny Huddersfield. They do fly very well considering how simple and cheap they are. They also do a superb flat spin when 'accidentally' hit by a SKIRMISH ! :-)

lvspark

Hehehe ...... Please say hi to morgan for me if you see him.... I just flew my mugi at lunch, and I can't thank him enough!

Skirmish

Will do!!

AirHead256

<That a highlander?>
Yes, that's a highlander, all right. Unfortunately I sold it last spring at a community flea market. The buyer was completely green so I said just call me and we'll go get you flying. Putz never called so I'm quite sure it's garage fodder. Wish I had his name so I could buy it back. The TG3 sucks, by the way. A bud & I have built the S2K, Gentle Foamy, and I just broke the cherry of my new DAW 1-26 2M ship. Since the highlander is no longer available, I'd recommend - 1st, the 1-26 2M, second, the Gentle Foamy from mountian toys.
My bud had the TG3 and we both worked hard at getting that POS to fly decent. No luck. I've talked to someone who knows about the design of the TG3. That design has major flaws. There's plenty of planes that represent better compromises. For mostly histarting, the Gentle Foamy is ok. For a 50% or more slope time, the 1-26 2M is hot. The highlander did represent a very nice mix of slope & histart potentials. Supposed to be available again this summer I hear.Gluck.

StormGald

Anyone know of a good HLG Or Wing thats slow and can fly on flat land lol I am to cheap to get into gass or electric aircraft.

lvspark

check this site
good luck!

LWThompson

My Feedback: (2)

I saw your post and wanted to show you my new flying "wing"? It is not for combat but this bad boy rocks. It tracks like it is on rails and penetrates wind like nothing I have flown. It is call a GULP and the site is www.SteveDrake.com

Probably not a good first wing but add this to your list .