It is to say the least the dead of winter in Ohio with snow this past Friday and more on Tuesday, like maybe a foot or so total. So what else do you do, you assemble an airplane. About a week ago I got a Tragi 801 Cluster from Tom Copp at F3X.com. This installment today will cover the basic pretty pics of the ship clean, empty weights, and it's packaging. You ask, packaging, yap, cause the guys at Tragi package aircraft as well as anyone I have ever seen. The ships cost is $1999.00, no it is not a cheap one, but have you really looked at Tun products compared to other folks work?

Most of us here have gotten ships from lots of folks around this business, I would have to say that Tragi and Samba probably top the list, but Tragi I think edges Samba by a nose. When I look at a ship, ya, the eye candy is first to shine, is the finish smooth, no chips at edges, no paint defects, fully engineered, all needed materials in the kit, and what is their build quality. The 801 appears to be top of the line.

The first thing opening the box is just how they get the much airplane in that little space. When Jo Ellen brought the box in to the house she called and asked if had bought a lead sled, well no, it is just their packaging. The box is lined in particle board, the wing and stab are in a seperate box and the fuse is secured via it's towhook so not to allow it to crush the rudder. The ballast is in a spot it cannot leave unless the Fed Ex aircraft crashes, and the parts bags are not in any contact with any other airframe componet. The first time I saw their packing was a friend's 705, and they have continued with the 801. How many of us have gotten a ship damaged from the distributor and just sank to the floor thinking of what it was going to take to get the replacement parts to make it right, not with Tragi.

Inspecting the parts and their fit is just top shelf, it is just a spectacular airframe, and the weights are pretty impressive as well, here you are:

Fuse-11 ounces (antenna tube will be removed an should take out 1/2 ounce)
Center Panel-21.5 ounces
Right Tip-8.6 ounces
Left Tip-8.7 ounces
Stab-2 ounces
Wire Harness-2.7 ounces (via replacing the signal wires could loose an ounce)
Hardware-2.6 ounces

Total empty weight-57.1 ounces

The servos I am going to use are JR 377HV(wing) and JR 388HV(fuse) giving a servo load of 4.2 ounces and an AR7600 reciever, which weighs .3 ounce. The High Voltage capable servos will use a TP1800 2S LiPo battery (about 4.0 ounces) straight with no regulator, one more part gone from the ship. At this point we are in the 65 ounce range finished depending on what it takes to get balance. The span is 140 inches, the airfoil is the HX 29, area is 1143 square inches, and max ballast load is 25 ounces. Very nice numbers from what I can see.

Here are some pics, just general stuff but enjoy.
Marc

you seem to be implying that Tun manufacture the tragi in some way or have some deeper involvement beyond selling it, unless I am miss reading you.

Tragis are made by, erm, tragi in Estonia:
http://www.tragi.ee/

They are well packaged if you buy them direct too.

Wow, luck Dog.

Love the colors. Better than "Perfect"

I have wanted one since Tom brought out the first. Fit n finish perfect. Strong as hell and a fine weight.

I have own a few moldies, flown many and seen alot. Still have my Tragi 705X and nothing avalible here in the US is like a Tragi.

subscribed

Jared

Marc, I think you have the TUN reference wrong. I used to get my Tragi's through TUN years ago, but they all come from Estonia. Actually, looking at Tun's site I don't even see any Tragi's listed.

looks great marc!

i'm building one now also, BEAUTIFUL!
these are the best quality, fit & finish i've seen in a model yet. (haven't seen them all though)
i'll try and get a pic, this has a custom paint job.

another nice touch on these is they install ribs on BOTH sides of the servo bays.

marc, my teflon harness came in at 49 grams, using the DB9. 24awg & 28awg signal.
stock harness is 74 grams, so you did good switching those signal wires.

dave hauch www.rc-builds.com

Sorry guys, I thought that Tun was the actual name of the company producing.

More to come next weekend.

Marc

Marc,

NICE..... the 801 is one of the fastest builds I have done, everything fits the first time. Heino has designed a winner Tragi is first class.

sj

Marc,

What a great looking sailplane! Love those white tips on the bottom.

Can't wait to here about the flight reports and the perfomance of the HX-29 airfoil......

I wonder if anybody will be flying one at F3J/SWC?

Regards

Jon

The packing implies that planes comes direct from Tragi Estonia. They have propably just written new address on it at Tun

What lamination this paticular plane is?

Are the UHM spars still an option like in earlier Tragi's?

Tragi Cluster is surely one of the the plane to buy for F3J

Tuomo, thisis a full carbon ship, not sure about the spar. Tom Copp puts together good packages for our TD/J environment we have over here. I have no doubt it is strong enough. Tom is who I got both the 3.7 Zeniths and they have held up very well.

Jon, I have not run any figures on the airfoil, and maybe someone more familiar could comment. Has a small cusp at the TE, midrange on thinckness but will find that out for ya.

And Joe is right, if you are in a hurry, this could be a day build for someone fast with no changes. No retrofitting or shop engineering needed here.

Marc

Good weight for full carbon

Tragi spars are allways very strong, but UHM carbon reduces flex a little. Anyway, not big issue...

We've had one here on an FAI winch and mono, in gusty wind, with no problems. Launched like a rocket. Right, SJ?

Tom

I have always dealed direct with Heino at Tragi for 10 years. We have a good relationship. Tragi packaging is well known. TUN is not in my loop for my Tragi models.
My F3X Tragis are full carbon wing skins, HM spar and 2.4 friendly fuses. They come equipped with ballast tube (installed,) brass and aluminum slugs and a HD wire harness w/db9 plug.
The servo bays are ribbed and basically all that is left is servo install. The rails are in the fuse and a little servo plate is included for your choice of servos.

Our weights with the same lay up are 67-68oz RTF. 3x 3421, 2x 368 6.0v 1500 2/3 A, rx.

They are worth a look for sure.

CU
Tom

I have what I believe is #01 of the Tom's/F3X Tragi 705X. I think Mark said he replaced the fuse with a newer lighter one. Tom, you should know.

Still going strong and the absolute hardest moldie I have ever even considered selling.

Price wise, it looks to me this new ship is only about a buck more or so than the 705 was even years past???

Looks like we all will be seeing you Marc, in the winners circle, soon.

Jared

I ran a quick thickness of the airfoil at the flap/aileron break, it was 8.59%, I was not in a position to figure camber. It appears the airfoils goes through a real blending from there out and it is really thin at the tip. Thanks Tom for adding some detail, can the guys at Tragi add some more info on the airfoil?

Marc