THSS REVIEW
SIG's "SAMURAI"
Specifications:
Wingspan: 67"
Weight: 38 oz.
Wingloading: 11 oz./sq. ft.
Airfoil: RG14
Radio: standard receiver, 2 high torque servo 70 oz. or better.
Skill level: Advanced

Why the Samurai. For my third plane, I really wanted a nice one with a fiberglass fuselage and non-balsa wings. I picked the Samurai because it fit that criteria, the price is really good in comparison to similar quality planes, it got good reviews, and it looked really cool. This is a pivoting wing glider can be built in two forms, as a wingeron* or as a pitcheron* plane. Since I didn't have a computer radio* at the time, I decided to build the wingeron version, as opposed to going out and spending $300 on a computer radio so I could build the pitcheron version.

Building the Samurai. Construction is divided into three distinct parts, the fuse, the wings, and the v-tail. Each of those three require different building skills. The fuse, being fiberglass, required some drilling, sanding, installation of the radio equipment and wingeron controls, filling of the pinholes and painting. I used Krylon primer and true blue to paint it. The wings were another new experience for me. They're made of foam core which required sheeting*. Sheeting was easier than I thought it would be, maybe because the sheets were pre-cut. The V-tail was also pretty easy since it was a basic balsa construction. The wings and v-tail had to be covered (this time I used Ultracote), and as I mentioned before, the fuse had to be primered and painted. All in all, it was a heck of a lot easier and took a lot less time than making a complete balsa kit. Working with the new materials made me a bit nervous, but they weren't hard to work with.

Flying the Samurai. I went to a local flat field to dial in the Samurai before I went to a slope. One word of advice if you ever test out a Samurai... thow it *hard*. Light thows will get you nowhere. My aileron controls were reversed on my first toss (yeah, I'm a doofus) and I cartwheeled my brand new plane which I had spent hours of sweat and tears building... to my astonishment, it survived. I was stoked. Nothing was even dented, which says a lot about the toughness of the wings (an opinion I would change after one wing eventually got messed up after a decent landing in some bushes). The next toss was more successful, but I couldn't tell what controls needed adjustment since the flight was so short. I decided to chuck it as hard as I could (not very easy since there just isn't a good place to hold it from) and it sailed about 100 yards nice, smooth, and fast. I was stoked again. On the first windy day after building it, I took it to my local slope and tried it out. This is where I crashed for the first time in my non-illustrious slope flying career. I couldn't seem to get it to go up. It kept wanting to go down. I tried to hunt for some good lift to keep it up, but I only succeeded in planting it right into the side of the hill. Luckily, I didn't hurt it. I figured I needed some more wind, so I called it a day. By the next time out, I had developed a theory. I figured that I was just too used to going slow, and I was trying to fly the Samurai slowly, which caused it to stall out and go down instead of up. So, I tossed it over the edge and tried to build up some good speed... voila! It flew! It was fast and once I got the hang of it, it could thermal pretty decently. I got it up high and I decided to go for my first real speed run. Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!!! Right by everyone, fast! It was great. I was loving it. Snap roles? Really fast for a plane this size. However, do to the fact that only one servo was contolling the movement of the two wings, it was kind of sloppy. After flying the Samurai for a while in the wingeron version, I decided that I would convert it to the pitcheron version. Big mistake. It flies a lot better in the wingeron version. I messed up a turn and crashed the Samurai pretty good. The fuse broke pretty badly and I decided I didn't want to bother fixing it. After flying some other planes in the same class as the Samurai, I have come to the conclusion that Samurai's SUCK.

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