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

[Tony H]

I've been busy with the dremel again, this should have saved around 60% of the weight of the top deck. I have drawn accross where all the formers for the fuselage will come to maintain it's strength and for something to glue to.

Edited By Tony H on 22/07/2012 20:41:51

[Concorde Speedbird]

Nice work, as long as it is still strong. I assume it is.

I would have probably not used that altogether, some formers and planking, simply because I like wood. It would take longer though.

Keep up the good work!

CS

[Tony H]

Yes it's still fairly ridgid due to me leaving the areas where the formers will glue to. It is veneered so it does have some wood on the other side.

[Trevor Crook]

Tony, I built one of these last year and it flies great on about 400W of electrickery. Haven't weighed it, though. Putting servos near the tail is a good move, it tends to come out nose heavy (I used to have a glow one). It's probably worth making provision for the Rx pack behind the wing, too.

I remember on my present one that the block supplied for the tips was pretty solid - if yours is the same, it may be worth replacing. Having said that, you carve and sand most of it away!

Good luck with it - they are a great flier, I must weigh mine as it will be an interesting comparison with its electric setup.

[Concorde Speedbird]

I went to Pegasus models today to buy some wheels for my Domino and a plane for Dad's birthday. Brilliant shop, friendly shopkeepers who were very polite and helpful.

My favourite part of the shop was the upstairs room, with all the Pegasus kits hanging from the roof. I simply fell in love with the Jester with so many fond memories, and very nearly bought one, but I resisted (just!). There was the Magician as well, very nice, the Wizard, Mystic, Wasp and more. They were all brilliant, a very wide range of kits.

I'm considering getting a Magician after my Domino. Or an Acro Wot. Or a DB Tiger or Cirrus Moth. See thread called 'What next?' for info, and help please! I've no idea what to get now, maybe even a Jester, even though it is practically a smaller Domino!

Right, time to try and forget about the lovely little Jester and get on with it's big brother, my Domino! I feel pleased I have helped out my now local model shop, and Dad will be thrilled on his birthday!

CS

[Concorde Speedbird]

Any progress Tony? This is a very interesting build.

CS

Sorry I'm bored.

[Concorde Speedbird]

Posted by Tony H on 22/07/2012 22:00:21:

Yes it's still fairly ridgid due to me leaving the areas where the formers will glue to. It is veneered so it does have some wood on the other side.

Any progress Tony? I reckon this will fly oh so well with all the lightening you are doing, should be an absolute cracker!

CS

[Concorde Speedbird]

Any progress? I know I have asked this 3 times... My Domino is coming along nicely (go to my thread for more details)

CS

[IanN]

Posted by Tony H on 22/07/2012 18:48:30:

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

I think this one's a moot point. Never tried it myself, but from many and various articles read over the years it seems to be received wisdom that cutting out holes like this - be it in foam or in balsa sheet - generally gives surprisingly minimal weight saving

Mind you, if you saved 1oz on one panel then that's 2oz over the whole wing which is not to be sniffed at

If you really wanted to cut weight you could always make a built up wing

[Steve Roberts 4]

Just bought a Magician myself on ebay. Complete with switch and servos and seems well made and finished.

No engine though.

I have fitted an Irvine 36 in it and will test the engine in the airframe today.

Seems to balance well with this smaller motor, but will it be powerful enough?

Does anyone know who designed the magician?

[Simon Webb]

Posted by Steve Roberts 4 on 03/11/2012 07:48:34:

Just bought a Magician myself on ebay. Complete with switch and servos and seems well made and finished.

No engine though.

I have fitted an Irvine 36 in it and will test the engine in the airframe today.

Seems to balance well with this smaller motor, but will it be powerful enough?

.........

I have a Magician with an Irvine Q40 in it, and it is nice and quick. I did have an OS 40FP in it and as you can imagine it was underpowered. Your 36 might struggle, but should be forgiving and a tadge more docile.

 

 

 

Edited By Simon Webb on 03/11/2012 12:18:15

Edited By Simon Webb on 03/11/2012 12:26:09

[Richard Wood]

Steve - are you sure that's an Irvine 36 & not a 39?

The 39 should be a superb match for a Magician.

I found even an OS 40LA had adequate power for reasonably

good performance.

The model was designed by Bill Esposito back in the seventies -

he designed many of Galaxy's models.

 

 

Edited By Richard Wood on 03/11/2012 17:50:52

[Steve Roberts 4]

Definately a 36. It"s stamped on the side of the engine case.

I bought it very cheap fitted to a Fair Baronette.

I sold the airframe and it has sat in a draw ever since (it has a slightly broken exhaust inlet that I have glued with chemical metal).

I think it might have been popular as a Heli engine.

There is a video here of one (not mine);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh2JBvzUFyc

It has a metalic pink head and fits the magician a treat being a bit smaller than a Irvine 40.

Ran it up yesterday and it seems very powerful (and noisey with an after market silencer).

Just need to sort out it cutting out when I hold it vertical. I've tried all mixture settings and it cuts.

I think I need to rearrange the tubing.

Sounds like a buggy engine!

[Tony H]

The bench is back in working order again and the Magician build will continue shortly. I've made a start lightening the Tail by hole cutting the fin and stabilizer. I will update with photo's soon.

[Simon Webb]

My Magician has had over 1000 flights now, and I built it standard out-of-box with no lightening holes drilled anywhere.

The only modification i did was install independent wing servos in each wing (I used Hitec HS-81 mini servos in home made housings). These give better control of the ailerons and allow for increased movement as the aileron chord is very slim on this design.

The all up weight with an extra servo on board and no holes drilled is 4.5 pounds. My ball-raced Irvine Q40 copes with it superbly well, it has a very wide speed range ranging from nice and quick with a faster than standard roll rate to walking speed, allowing for gentle "plops" onto the grass for landings.

A wonderful design, and not too heavy in standard form either!

[Tony H]

Hi Simon,

I'm sure the Magician is perfectly fine in it's standard form, probably better than the Wizard. I found my Wizard in standard form a little too heavy for the wing area (not by much), mainly because of the smaller wing area and the standard size servos and rx (Nimd) battery used (as standard).

However because the Magician's has a larger wing area using much the same setup as the Wizard I would expect the wing loading to be lighter as standard and probably glide/fly better than the Wizard.

I have decided to make it as light as possible to make it's flight characteristics even better and because I have decided to go for the less powerful than standard .25 based .36 ASP engine, which means the fuel should last a bit longer too.

I use a fairly short grass strip which can be difficult for my Wizard to take off from if its a bit long so the lighter the plane the better for me.

I'm thinking about extending the rudder for better knife edge what do you think? how is yours at knife edge?

Edited By Tony H on 19/11/2012 13:19:40

Edited By Tony H on 19/11/2012 13:21:44

[Simon Webb]

The ASP.36 is a nice engine, I have one fitted to my HOTS fun fly......well suited for that model.

I have a Wizard with a ball-raced OS 25 in it and it is lovely and quick. Again no lightening holes. I opted for Hitec mini servos all round for the Wizard to give the fuselage a bit more room as it is very cramped in their with standard sized servos. I also have hi-torque metal geared micro servos in each wing of the Wizard for the same reasons as my Magician.

Knife edging doesn't come naturally to this design. It will do it but you must be ready to keep those wings vertical with aileron correction. You may find an extended rudder works well and you will be able to correct the loss of elevation when it is in the knife-edge attitude. Good luck!

[Concorde Speedbird]

Aha, brilliant and I am looking forwards to more progress!

Somebody mentioned how these things glide, well yesterday Dad and I took out his Mystic (74"- the big one!) for the first flight in ages (and some minor repairs carried out). Flew like a dream as always, the Enya 120 four stroke ran perfectly, the plane flew amazingly, rock steady, the best stall turns I have ever seen- perfect. Flew like a warbird but with none of the vices, slow speed handling is superb

But then it came to landing. And the simple fact was- it wouldn't! There was no wind, and the plane with flaps up (Dad made some mods when he built it, flaps included) she just sailed on and when flaps were down, it would not come down! The throttle setting was a bit too high so he could not cut the engine, so Dad flew it till it ran dry and then landed it, using all the strip and a bit of field (which was flat anyway).

Admittedly our strip is not that large, and with some wind and more flap angle it should be better, but the plane glided tremendously and is a simply glorius flier. I am sure your Magician will be excellent, especially being nice and light. It would be fun to race it against my Funfly! I look forward to some progress!

CS

PS Pegasus models is a superb shop for anyone around the area, went there recently- And they have the Jester- which I love!

[Steve Roberts 4]

Flew mine last Tuesday and this Sunday.

Bit nose heavy to start with (although balanced between the correct points. First take of it went strait nose down and the prop dug in the ground). I stuck some weight on the back and it flew nice (although it still needed a few clicks of up elevater trim to keep it from diving). I've since added more weight, but not much difference made to it.

Managed to dead stick on the first flight and it just kept gliding, only stopped by long grass.

Lovely plane, very quick with the Irvine 36 motor and flies where you point it.

Very pleased with my £35 purchase and an engine I had kicking around.

[Tony H]

Hi All,

I've just got back to work on my Magician, I have now filled and shaped the main wings and tips, this time I have made the tips extra thin and streamlined to aid the overall weight rather than cut another hole out as I fear it would weaken the wing too much (Photo's coming soon).

I have also decided to extend the rudder by an extra inch to give it a better knife edge performance (time will tell - Photo's soon)

I will hopefully take my 'B' test with this plane next year and enter it into our masters competition. We'll see how it performs first.

[Tony H]

As thin, light and streamlined as I could make the wing tip blocks

Stabilizer and Elevator

Rudder extended by an extra inch - awaiting lighting holes

[Hugh P]

Hi all

Just to add my thoughts, I have built my 2nd Magician (the first was over 20 years ago), powered by a SC52FS on a 12x6 master and covered in Solarspan she flies a treat. On this version I modified the U/C to use blocks in the wings. I found that the piano wire kept bending around the leading edge on my original. This mod is well worth doing and I think stronger and better looking than the original. If I built another one I would add flaps and increase the size of the ailerons to compensate for the reduced length. Also rudder cold do with a little extra area for stall turns etc. There are other photos in the album. Have fun.

Edited By Hugh Philps on 25/11/2012 21:08:32

[Tony H]

Hi Hugh,

Thanks for your input. I actually looked at your website build before I bought this magician, nice work by the way.

I liked your undercarriage idea but I decided to keep mine a little more simple, hopefully the original undercarriage will hold up better with my lighter version.
I noticed your using the 52fs that must make it a fairly nose heavy plane. I reckon your overall weight will be a lb to a lb and a half more than mine. If I can make mine 4lbs or under I'll be chuffed.
I have extended my rudder I hope its enough,I like your flaps and extended alierons idea, i may have a think on that.

Cheers for your thoughts

Edited By Tony H on 25/11/2012 22:06:09

[Tony H]

I have just read on the plan a warning about epoxying the foam core wings together. It says not to let the epoxy contact the foam otherwise it will melt it?? I've never known this and have always joined foam core wing with epoxy on the joining profile and a epoxy bandage outside. Have I been doing this wrong?

[Simon Webb]

Not sure what epoxy you were using Tony. The 2 part stuff that reinforces glass fibre bandages does melt the foam as the plan says.

I always use PVA for joining foam wing cores, plus I always have 2 x 8 inch dowels (4 inches in either wing panel) glued in with PVA in addition to the epoxy bandage. I tend to fly fast and pull high G forces in tight turns.

I then dilute PVA with water and paint it on the entire outer veneer after the wings have been joined but before the bandage goes on, to seal the wood against any epoxy ingress.