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Get ready for a pleasant surprise - the new generation of DLG is here...
If you liked Taboo XL, you will like Taboo XT even more. If you have been thinking about purchasing a high quality discus launch glider for serious contest flying or simply for everyday soaring enjoyment, now you have even more reasons to get one.
Keeping the best qualities of the well proven design of its predecessor Taboo XL, Taboo XT takes a step forward in the development of DLG. Same basic construction: molded fiberglass/carbon fuselage pod, extremely strong and stiff carbon tailboom, durable kevlar skinned wings, live hinged full span flaperons, fiberglassed tail feathers of contest balsa. These are just some of the good features of the
previous design that were carried over to Taboo XT. No compromises here, you
can still expect the same strength, reliability, and ruggedness that you have
become used to see in a serious contest DLG. Same great airfoils from Mark Drela that
revolutionized the development of hand launch gliders.
But it wouldn't be called the new generation of DLG without several important improvements. First, the wing shape. It is no longer necessary to put up with the broken lines of the double tapered wings that you normally see on a vacuum bagged competition DLG. Taboo XT gets a beautiful curved wing shape that can be rivaled only by the CNC machined molded wonder ships that also usually cost quite a bit more. The payoff of the smooth wing shape is a slightly
improved lift distribution along the wingspan, and not the least, a great
feeling of possessing and flying a beautifully crafted model.
Next come the external pushrods that are becoming more and more a standard in the DLG world. Using thin walled tubes of bondable teflon as the pushrod guides allows Taboo XT to have straight, stiff pushrods which makes for a positive, "no slop" control system. This is especially important for the high speed discus launches when the speed of the model can reach extreme levels. Using external pushrods with light teflon tube guides not only improved the functionality of the control system but also allowed to save 1-2 grams of weight at the tail of the model. The saved tail weight was used to increase the size of the vertical tail.
Increased vertical tail area helps with damping the altitude robbing yaw oscillations that are inevitable during a discus launch. Both theory and experience agree that increasing the vertical tail area has a definite positive effect on the launch altitude. Taboo XL already excelled in launch department. You can expect even higher altitudes from Taboo XT.
A few other changes are related to the structure of the fuselage deck and the attachment of the tailboom to the fuselage pod. A new design solution in this part of the model allowed to simplify the manufacturing process and at the same time to stiffen and strengthen the attachment of the tailboom to the fuselage pod with the help of the light plywood fuselage deck inserted into the tailboom. This created a reliable joint between the pod and the tailboom and also allowed the pushrods to be routed on the surface of the tailboom.
Taboo XT is available only in flaperon/aileron version. The model can be built as a 4 servo plane with flaperons or as a 6-servo plane, with flaps and ailerons. The polyhedral version of Taboo XT is not available.
Please, bookmark this page and check back often. More pictures and building tips will be posted here when time permits.