Galaxy/Pegasus Magician - Lotus inspired extra lightweight Mod's

[Tony H]

Hi Guys,

It begins here, I bought the Magician from Pegasus Models and have been thinking about what I could do with it. I originally thought I would build it as standard using a SC52, after taking lot's of advice from the forum and reading Lee's review, I have decided to take the Colin Chapman (Lotus) aproach to the build "to get better performance build in lightness"

So I have decided to go with the SC36 (same weight as a .25), I'm using three Mini 26g Digital Servo's (Aileron,Elevator,Rudder) and a 12g MG Analog throttle Servo (this should be less than half the weight of 4x Std Servo's). I am also ditching the Nimh Rx in favor of a much lighter Life Rx 1100mah battery (less than half the weight of the Nimh). I'm using a 7oz fuel tank. I am also going to cut out 3-4 3inch holes through each TE part of the main wing and some 1-2inch Holes on the tail and down the fuselage sides (hopefully not sacrificing too much strengh), I'll also carve about 40-50% of the foam out of the Top deck. Hopefully all of this combined will save me lot's of weight, I'm hoping the AUW will be between 3.5-4Lbs

The Magician will be finished using Solarfilm in Lotus 7 Colours Dark Green and Yellow with a Yellow nose and Lotus Decals. I decided to build the airframe with the Elevator and Rudder Servo's enclosed hopefully around half way down to the tail (direct coupled) and use the original centre servo for the Ailerons to protect all the servo's from engine oil and to reduce the drain on the Rx Batt using 4 rather than 5 servos.

I will update with photo's soon, so far I have only spray painted the Nose (Cowl) Yellow as Specta paint takes weeks to be fully cured. I will be glass clothing the inside of the ABS Cowl as this has proven to be very strong on my Wizard.

Any thoughts will be most welcome.

Edited By Tony H on 11/07/2012 05:09:23

Edited By Tony H on 11/07/2012 05:31:21

Edited By Tony H on 11/07/2012 05:32:01

[Concorde Speedbird]

Lots of weight saving! If you can get it down to 4 lbs then the 36 will fly it brilliantly, as long as the wing section is not too thick. I like the colour scheme, should look a bit like this...

Yep, that's Lotus green and yellow! The green is Solarfilm polyester covering.

CS

[Tony H]

Here is what you get in the box (not including the ASP36 engine), I changed the tank for the 7oz as the 6oz one which comes with it I used in my Sig Wonder instead.

Includes full sized plans, tank, hardware bag, U/C, Engine mount and Glassfibre wing joining strip. You'll need Covering, Wheels (why aren't they incuded?), Wheel Collets, Spinner (why is it not included?), Engine and Radio setup.

Also notice on the (adequate) instructions it says for 30-40 sized ic engines so my modern 36 should be spot on!

[Tony H]

Here's some inspirational Lotus paint schemes.

 

 

 

 

Edited By Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 12/07/2012 16:01:20

[Tony H]

I think maybe I should have gone a shade lighter with the Yellow Solar Film and paint

[Concorde Speedbird]

I like the fact that wheels are not included! This is because you can choose the size to suit yourself, so it is good for if (like me) you fly off a rough strip. You can also get yellow centred ones to match the colour scheme if you want!

This looks like a nice kit. 30-40 was more of the engine size I expected, so 36 will fly it brilliantly. A 45 four stroke would be my personal choice. In fact, I may get one (from Galaxy if I can, from Pegasus if not) for my Dad (birthday). Hmmm, decisions.

CS

[Tony H]

True about the wheels depending on your strip. I will spray my wheel hubs yellow i think. A 45 four stroke would be a fair bit heavier and a little hard to come by unless second hand I think.

[Concorde Speedbird]

Got a Saito 45s! Not too heavy, I reckon it would be alright. Plenty of power.

CS

[Tony H]

I'm sure it would be fine, Saito's are fairly pricey so I discount them

[Concorde Speedbird]

I like Saitos, they run very well (and they sound nice!) I don't mind saving up a bit longer to get a more expensive engine, and that Saito was a bargain at a show, so Dad snapped it up! FA62A going on the Domino (Ebay buy) and after some bench running that was great!

Hmm, Magician for Dad and his Saito? Decisions. See how your build starts off first.

CS

[Tony H]

I'm also going to include full Telemetry, LiFe RX Bat Volts, RPM, GPS, Engine Temp and Fuel level. This will fall in line more with a Lotus F1 Car with all the Telemetry Gubbins, granted a lot cheaper and less Hi-tech.

[Concorde Speedbird]

This will be the most technologically advanced Magician ever! Look forward to the start of the build.

CS

[Tony H]

I'm hoping to start it this weekend, but I still have a couple of planes that need a little attention first ie The Bi Fly 25

One day this summer I might actually be able to fly!!

Edited By Tony H on 11/07/2012 23:02:53

[Tony H]

The weight of the LiFe Rx batt is 65g and the Weight of the NMIH Rx is 95g a good 30g saving there. I reckon I will be able to save almost a lb in weight around 12oz in total.

Servos= 110g approx saved

Rx Batt = 30g saved

Airframe = 140g saved (hopefully)

Engine = 70g saved (over a 40 sized)

Total = 350g (11.83oz)

 

Edited By Tony H on 11/07/2012 23:13:37

[Concorde Speedbird]

What is the weight of the standard built Magician, if it says in the manual?

I look foreard to seeing that Bi-fly fly, that will be a great little plane.

CS

PS. Am I invading the thread, since I am the only other user posting?

[Tony H]

I'm happy you are posting on my thread at least someone is! anyway the AUW weight of the original I believe is meant to be 4-5lbs but it doesn't say in the instructions. I think Lee's Smalley's review turned out at 5lbs using the heavy Irvine 46 and 5x Std Servos and a heavy 6v 2100 Nmih Rx Batt.

My Wizard (the smaller version) weighed in a around 3.25lbs from memory which for it's size was quite heavy using Std Servos, Nimh Rx and a 32 size engine. As it has a small wing area for the weight it takes a while to take off from my rough grass strip, it's almost on the edge of stalling when I have to pull up (not so bad with a head wind), but it does fly well once up to speed in the air.

You can Check out my old build blog on the Wizard if you like it's still on here from last year.

Edited By Tony H on 12/07/2012 15:37:54

Edited By Tony H on 12/07/2012 15:40:33

Edited By Tony H on 12/07/2012 15:43:20

[Richard Wood]

Mine weighs 5lb with OS40LA, standard radio & a heavyweight Glosstex/

Solartex covering, so it can be made lighter even without taking a fretsaw

to it.

It'll be very interesting to see how much weight you save with the holey wings etc.

I'm building another Magician at the moment for electric power & the quality

of the kit is very good - great shame about the situation with Galaxy.

Do check the accuracy of the wing cut-outs in the fuse & doubler sides however.

They'll probably need trimming.

[Tony H]

Thanks Richard, I'll check the wing cut outs when I start the build this weekend (hopefully). I'm Supprised how heavy yours came out with the fairly light weight OS40LA, it must have been the Std Servos, Nimh Rx batt and Heavy Covering that made the difference.I reckon being realistic I should get it around the 4-4.5lbs mark any less will probably be a miracle!

[Concorde Speedbird]

Our Mystic (the bigger one- 74 inch span) is around 8 pounds, which is light for a plane of that size. And that flies beautifully. Hmm, will a Magician be suitable for Dad. Hmmmmmm.

CS (Hmmmmmmmm!)

[Tony H]

 

Hi Again,

I've just made a start on the wings and I have found lightening them without weakening them too much quite tricky. I went in 13cm from the centre of the wing using a 64mm hole cutter to remove the foam and then on the last two down to a 50mm hole with 1" 1/4 gaps between them and 1"1/2 up from the TE. See Photo's

 

 

Sadly after weighing the material removed I have only managed to save around 30g (1oz). Probably because the wing area isn't that large in the first place.

 

Edited By Tony H on 22/07/2012 18:50:22

[Concorde Speedbird]

I saw a lot of Lotus cars at Silverstone classic, Elans, Elites and the 50's and 60's F1 cars in Green and Yellow. Absolutely beautiful, we even got to go right up to them to look at the engines and everything. The 50's and 60's F1 cars are beautifully simple. Fantastic.

Wings look good. It will be fine so long as you do exactly the same on the other side. Looks like they are nicely made as well.

If this is half as pretty, light and fast as the Lotus cars I have seen in the last 2 days, it will be superb! I'm sure it will be!

CS

[Tony H]

Thanks CS, I was hoping the reduced weight on the wing would be more than that, however I may be able to save a little more making the wing tips extra thin.

Good to here about Silverstone, Goodwood also paid tribute to Lotus this year too. I'm off for a Porsche testing day at Silverstone in August I get to test drive new 911's around special tracks and terrain to test them, should be fun!

Edited By Tony H on 22/07/2012 19:16:53

[Tony H]

I might change my servos choice to a 22g Metal geared centre servo and the rest 12g Metal geared servo's to save a bit more weight, as this plane is supprisingly small, not a huge amont bigger than the Wizard.

[Tony H]

See what I mean the Magician's wing is underneath and I haven't sanded the wing tips yet, it will look a bit wider when the ailerons are on, still not much bigger than the Wizard wing on top.

[Concorde Speedbird]

That little bit makes a huge difference! I've heard the Magician flies better than a Wizard, so don't be too worried. More Domino building coming tonight- Ply doublers!

CS