Patxipt

I went to the hobby shop today looking for possible candidates to put my 10LA in. Just lots of balsa electrics or 40 size birds - and control-line stuff!
On the shelf there were several Multiplex planes - EasyGlider, ElektroGlider and a MiniMag RTF with no radio set, but servos already in place for a basic 3-channel plane.

I already had a contact with the MiniMag, with a brushless motor, in a pretty beaten up setup, which served to teach a young boy to fly. So it seemed the right plane for my conversion. Also, I love the Elapor foam it is made of, as I own an EasyStar (lovely relaxing model), and it is a fuel proof foam, used in their bigger trainer, the Magister, which can be electric or glow powered.

Getting home, this afternoon I started assembling the rudder and horizontal stabilizer and sticking the decals. Removed with an X-acto knife the top of the engine cowl, along with the glued in motor support and fit the 10LA in there for a general overview of the needed modifications and so on.

The electronics will be placed under the wing, in a nice large hole it has there, the fuel tank (100cc) stays under the canopy, which secures it perfectly. The bigger difficulty will be making the engine mount, most certainly out of ply glued with cyano to the foam (CA holds better to elapor than other glues, epoxy included, as they say).

I'm considering the engine positioning as on the last photos, more recessed on the fuse.

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Edited to change topic subject

planebuilder66

My Feedback: (8)

Kinda reminds me of sure flight planes, remember those? I say make a lite ply mounting plate for the motor and yellow glue it in place or use epoxy, it should be fine, but watch out for rough landings, the whole nose could break off where the gear plugs into the fuselage.

Patxipt

This baby is pretty tough! The one I mentioned got a huge full speed nose first encounter with Mother Earth and only had the canopy pop out![sm=what_smile.gif]

richg99

Having lawn darted my electric Mini Mag straight into some "soft "earth...I can attest that it is one tough plane. A little bit of low temp hot melt glue and a new prop and she flew again the next morning. Rich

Patxipt

Fabricated the engine mount this morning out of 6mmx6mm hardwood and 4mm ply. Cut some slots on the sides and the mount is a nice snug fit. I have glued it in place with thin CA and will give it a bit of coating with epoxy later this day, along with gluing the bottom piece of ply thats serves s bracing.
Seems like the MiniMag was made for the small OS!

richg99

One thing that I noticed was the provided "clips" that are supposed to hold the engine cowling/cover on. Mine bent and broke in the first two days. I now have a simple rubber band permanently attached and holding mine down. She won't come off now. Rich

Patxipt

Rich, yes I have seen that happen on the MiniMag, it seems the canopy clips are the weak point of the design. A couple of magnets holding it in place should also do fine

In the meantime... it's finished! I just need to put a receiver on it and go fly. CoG isn't much off, but still, pushing the fuel tank further inside the fuse, closer to the CoG and stuffing the receiver battery way back should be enough to balance it.

richg99

Wellllll...it looks great and will, no doubt, fly well. However, You might consider adding an exhaust deflector.... http://www.rcplanet.com/Dubro_Exhaus...o_p/dub697.htm ....

I have very little experience with fuel power, but would personally feel better if the hot exhaust gases were defected away from the foam fuse of the Mini Mag. The device also keeps some of slime from accumulating on the fuse. I put one on my only fuel plane, a SPAD debonair...(yet to maiden). regards, rich

Patxipt

Yep, the deflector is on my to-buy list. To think that I had one in front of me at the hobby shop yesterday

Patxipt

Took it out today for the maiden flight.
The engine, as seems to be with all small OSs, was a pain to hand start (I have to walk half a mile from the parking lot to the field, so a starter is out of the question), managing to drain 2 fully charged 2A glow starters, but not before a flight.

All I can say is that I have never EVER seen a MiniMag fly this fast![X(] Not even a fully hoped up brushless setup on 3S lipos one! It seemed more of a fast WW2 bird than a trainer; loops were made on a dime, super tight rolls (my first ones), simply WOW!

Still the OS will give way to my trusty ASP 12A, at least it's a decent runner and hand starter, or my PAW 09BR (still have to check if diesel will eat Elapor).
BR

microsprint9

Exhaust deflectors on small engines can sometimes really hurt performance, i lost 2000rpm on my Magnum .15XLS by adding one.

Patxipt

Mounted the ASP 12A on the MiniMag, just had to widen a bit the wood mount with an x-acto knife. The 12A has the width of a OS 15 and mounting dimensions of a OS 10, funny mix

Fire the engine up, by hand, and it didn't take much to start, considering it has been on the shelf for 5 months. Plenty of power, doesn't lug down like the 10LA when the nose is down, nor speeds up when pointing the nose upwards. Can't wait for the weather to clear up to give it a try.

Forgot to mention the landing gear support broke on one side on the last landing. The plane was perfectly aligned with the runway, but as I was a bit far from it, it missed the runway by 2 meters to the left side, hitting a drainage channel and soft ground. Nothing like a good old hand launch and soft ground belly landings won't sort out in the future

Patxipt

Bit windy today, great to fly my Easystar on without motor power, even had a seagull flying with me[8D]

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

After 20 minutes of relaxed flying, I was ready to let the little demon loose. All flying was perfectly done at 1/4 throttle, being maxed at 3/4 throttle one or two times only (hey, one hand was holding the phone, it's hard to fly 3-channels with the other hand!)

This engine is perfect for the MiniMag, easy to hand start, great response and with plenty of power. I'm turning a MAS 7x5 (or is it a 7x4? The markings are all flattened out) as opposed to the 7x6 on the 10LA to keep the speed down a bit. The plane is a bit nose heavy, at least according to the factory CoG, the fuel tank being under the canopy, but the plane flies straight with a click or two of trim needed. The engine can be mounted on this plane with no side thrust, no need for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBcFu6V1APQ

richg99

Well done...Looks like you are loving your conversion and the plane handled it well.

I love to fly my Mini mag with a brushless setup. I vacillate towards and then away from fuel.. I haven't yet even flown the .46 OS AX on her trainer yet. I wonder why I'd want to switch my MM to fuel. What are the advanatages..on this specific plane..that you see? thanks Rich

Patxipt

LiPos are expensive, and I only have a small charger. I can deal with that with the EasyStar, but the MiniMag is a bird that drains a LiPo or NiMH faster than the EasyStar.
I can get 30+ flying time on one 1.6A 2S LiPo with the EasyStar, but a MiniMag will do maybe 10 minutes on one pack. Besides just getting the plane down and refuel it for another 10 minute+ flight, I hate having my engines on the shelf And, rephrasing a known line, with greater power comes great flying on windy weather[8D]. Speaking of which, calmed down after lunch with a slight breeze and sun all over the place[:@]

Patxipt

I took her out for a flight today as it was a bit calmer wind wise. As before, flight is great, mostly done on 1/4 throttle, rudder setting is almost neutral with a tad of trim to the left, and - as I don't use the landing gear, prefering to land on its bandage tape reinforced belly due to the rough terrain - elevator was trimmed a few clicks downwards for level flight.
Although I still haven't bought the exhaust deflector tubing, I feel there is probably no need to, as the wing only gets some small residue and the horizontal stab, nothing a piece of rag won't clean for storage.

On deadstick landing, I don't know why, it ended up again on a drainage channel, but only the right side of the elevator got cracked, and immediately repaired with a few drops of cyano while assembling the Easystar for flight.

I can advise fellow flyers who may be interested on a .10/.15 glow sized airplane to make this easy conversion as you will be very satisfied with the flight characteristics (trainer/ aerobatic trainer), ease of transportation and its durability.

PeterC

I love my little MiniMag. E-power with a cheap BP21 and a 20Amp speed control. Juice comes from a 2200 mah lipo. It easily flies 20 minutes on one charge and get this, on floats. Prop is a GWS 8 X 4 orange. I used the Hobby Zone foam floats and modified the wire struts and mounted the bracket to the fuselage. It easily RoW's. All my electrics are cheap Chinese stuff and as of yet have had no problems.
I still really enjoy flying glow powered planes but the performance of this little unit makes one think, (WHY glow)?
Peter

Patxipt

Hey, I have both EP and GP. EP for a fast kick on the park and glow for the soul

Kostas1

Very nice Patxipt !

Could you please show us the servo arrangement ?

What servos did you use also ?

The stock ones ?