shomenda

My Feedback: (2)

Dean,
As far as I know, "roughing it" at the site is permitted. There are no hookups and there are no facilities except for the customary port-a-potty. Try Leesburg, FL, for accomodations. It's a half hour drive south of the field. Good luck.

Steve

handglider

My Feedback: (23)

just daydreaming ...

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

Ok, love it or hate it, here it is. The first of a matched pair of V2s for 2006.

Engine: OS140RX
pipe: Es 140m80
Servos: JR digitals all around

WEIGHT: 9 lbs 8 ounces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! Pay up Frack! LOL j/k

With any luck, she flies this weekend. More detail pics to follow.

-Mike

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

More.......

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

There, that's enough.

I'm not really happy with the yellow around the canopy. It lost some of it's vividness when I sanded and cleared it. But I'm NOT repainting.

Say whatcha want, it's definitely different!

9.5 lbs......wow

-Mike

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

True fire on the front end....then that'll work!

-Mike

rcpattern

My Feedback: (45)

Mike,

Those are SWEET!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM IN PERSON NEXT WEEKEND, AND I'M EVEN MORE EXCITED TO GET MINE GOING.

Arch

gandelin73

Hi,
your black magic is definitely beautiful!!!!! The paint is really nice [8D] and I would like to know how you have produce the net effect in the black zone. It look like carbon in fact!
Thanks for all building picture and have good flights!

Guillaume

patternflyr

My Feedback: (17)

If you guys are on the fringe of whether or not to build one of these, do it! Mike and I made it out the the flying field today to get in some practice with our Black Magics. Mike put his first flights on the plane yesterday and my first flights were today. These things really fly great! I have never had a plane that flew this well right off the block. It has no roll coupling and only 4% positive elevator in knife edge. Mike really did his homework on this one!

I started an electric Black Magic thread that lists all the electric information and what I chose to put in the plane...
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_40...tm.htm#4026519

I'll get some pictures soon.

Emory.

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

Both the glow versions and electric versions have flown, and they have FAR surpassed my best expectations. WAY past anything I've ever had my hands on, EVER. I'm tired and not too much to say right now. Plus is probably just isn't my place to say TOO much on this subject anyway, all I can say is fly one if you get the chance, build one or have one built if you can.

But...........WOW.

-Mike (very very VERY sleep deprived right now)

Magne

No, can't really say I hate it.

It actually looks very, very nice. Congratulations.

Interesting with the electric set up.
Would you consider offering an alternative canopy/cowling version for electrics, with no bellypan, but better access for the motor/regulator/batteries?
(i.e. a longer canopy. My own electric model has just a one-piece canopy going all the way to the spinner, this gives excellent access to all the equipment, and no need to turn the model upside down.)

Again, a very nice looking model.

Regards,
Magne

shomenda

My Feedback: (2)

Beautiful airplane, Mike. Can't wait to see it out doors on the flightline in Ocala.

Steve

HuaChu

Beautiful plane Mike !!!
Excellent job !
Mike

handglider

My Feedback: (23)

Hi All,

Here are some pics on the second fuse I am building for a customer. These are pics from the fitting this morning. Things lined up with very little triming or sanding. I have a little fitting to do around the firewall stringers then just run the glue... she is ready to go. I am building this fuse stock except for 1 - 5" x 2.75" verticle grain 1/8 blasa doubler from the landing gear doubler to f -3 on each side, it's like a 1 g piece of wood. I'll run the glue tonight and do the flooring weds morning. I need to deliver this at the Ocala meet. she's almost done...

I am also making a few improvments on the jig, smoothing out the slight bow between f2 - f4. I'll have more photos and a write -up once the dust settles a little round here.

I have also been caping my wing, stab and fin cores I sheeted last week. My stuff is coming along now... I've got my two main fuses to go into the jig next. I am waiting for more .007 x 3" carbon to come, I am going to run this on my fuse sides on the doublers. either 1/2 wide strips or a full 3" wide strip - running from the firewall to the rear alignment doubler. I am also running verticle grain 1/8 balsa doublers from f2 - rear alignment doubler.

I do have a small repair job on the Focus before I can leave for Ocala, My Focus has a modifed "top loader" canopy built by the original owner. Well to make a short story even shorter, the canopy blew off, and thank god came down without smashing to bits. I've got it taped on and it survived about 8 practice flights on sunday. But I guess I'll need to run a little epoxy on it too!!

Really looking forward to see Mike's and Emory's planes in Ocala. I hope the weather is great down there, we had a little bit of early spring weather this past weekend. Warm and a little wind.

cya, Dean

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

Some flying observations:

I'll concentrate on the glow version (mine) and just barely touch on the E version, I'll let Emory go into detail there.

First, this plane is HUGE......the biggest wood plane I've seen around here. The fact that it can be built so light really opens up some possibilities.

I have mine set up with the CG on the front edge of the wing tube, and i like it there for now. It tracks up and down lines like a missle, and stall turns like a wet dream. I can't MAKE the tail wag (pendulum) no matter how hard I try, I haven't been able to do it yet. So since that's a point if it does, that's good news [8D] I also haven't flopped one yet. Now after saying that, watch...at Ocala this weekend I'll probably flop 5.

it rolls like it's on a rail. Not too much input is required for slow rolls, point rolls and knife edge. It did pitch slightly to the belly, but that mixed out at about 6%. I did some rolling horizontal 8s from P-07 and it grooved right through it, making me look good (and I suck, believe me). It will do knife egde loops, but I don't have the sack for that last 1/4 loop yet.

I flew it in very gusty wind and dead calm and everything in between. it tracks better than any other plane I have flown. It reminds me a lot of a Lazulite in many respects. It flies very light feeling, and I'm still adjusting to a lot of it. Actually I'm having to unlearn some very old bad habits; I need a lot of fuel to stop screwing myself.

At this CG, snaps take a little more attention than I'm used to giving them. I usually run my planes a little more tail heavy, and at that point it would snap as effortly as you could imagine, but it would give up some of the other things it does so well. It's all a balancing act and I'll be playing with it over the next few months. It does snap dampen almost too well; when you let go, it STOPS. So if you're used to having to wind one up and stop early to let it settle back to level, it will bite you....you'll under rotate. it simply takes more elevator throw than I'm used to if you want to please the snap nazis.

Spin breaks have thus far not been an issue, even down wind. And of course, it stops rotation instantly and draws straight down, no correction needed.

Speed seems to be what I have to pay the most attention to. it's exttremely stable and will fly at almost a 3D speed, and of course requires more input if you don't keep the speed up. All other planes I've flown simply wouldn't fly that slow, so this one suckers you in. you start slowing down, it grooves even in a wicked cross wind, then you go into a slow roll, don't use quite enough input, and let the nose drop too much or something. of course if you're ready for it, you just dig a little deeper and it REALLY looks slick. But I'm not used to that yet.......

The electric version is balanced a little farther forward, and uses almost no mix at all so far. Very minimal. It will fly slower than slow and not start going into high alpha flight, so you can do the pattern in almost slow motion and it looks incredible. it really looks good, I almost wish I had built mine electric. but, that's too rich for my blood.

bottom line, it has exceeded my best expectations and I can't think of a better all around plane right now. All I can say is fly one if you get the chance, and build one if you're sitting on the fence, you'll hate yourself for waiting. I garauntee that.

And I'll see all you D3 guys in Ocala in a few days! (Don't laugh at how bad out of practice I am, I've been stuck in the shop).

-Mike

Ryan Smith

My Feedback: (25)

Hey Mike,

Your airplanes look great. I can't believe how nice they turned out and the fact that they are under 10lbs for a widebody roach is amazing. Would you say that the fuselage has the same volume as say, a Partner? Again, your new rides look fantastic and I can't wait to see them in person. Take care.

Gregg G

My Feedback: (7)

Mike,
You find a room in Ocala? I've been hearing that rooms are scarce due to all the stuff going on there this weekend/
Greg

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

Ryan, yeah it's about Partner size. A little bigger in some areas, a little smaller in others. on average, about the same. It seems to groove better than a Partner, but that may be just owner's bias.

Greg, yep I got my reservations at the Microtel last January as soon as the schedule came out. What I do is as soon as I see the schedule, I make all my reservations for the year at one time. it doesn't cost anything and it's easy enough to cancel if you turn out to not make it to one. You also get lower rates sometimes like that. For instance, I'm locked in at Ocala for $69 a night. Right now IF a room were available there it's over $100. but according to Steve, a little more down the road in Leesburg there may be some rooms. 30 mins isn't at all out of line I don't think. Especially for this one!

I hope all of you can make it down for my 1st contest on April 8-9. I'll have details by the end of the week, but the best places to look for a motel are in Canton, Woodstock, and that area.

-Mike

troyhm

HI Mike

We all want more pictures please ? Love some of servo setups, engine setups under the front canopy and some of the electric BM's as well

Troy

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

Allrighty, leaving for Ocala.....I'll see a lot of you there! And try to get some good pics while I'm ait it.

When I get home, I'll finish the build part of this thread and do a massive update on the web site.

-Mike

coloradoz

My Feedback: (38)

Fishnetting

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost....&postcount=450

..AJ

MHester

My Feedback: (1)

I'm in a very bittersweet position right now.

First, I'm VERY happy to report that these planes absolutely rock. Emory and I were both in practically tied battles for first place going into Sunday. That's pretty good with a plane that we've only had flying for a week. More on that in a minute.....

Jason Shulman flew mine Friday, and wrung it out. He seemed genuinely impressed with it, and used words like "solid" etc. if he wants to add more, he can, the good and the bad. Seems mine is set up a little nose heavy, and I use a lot less aileron throw than he does. We were discussing the rudder and the fact came up that I clipped mine almost 1/2" chord-wise from the plans, mine are only 78.25" total length. A hair more rudder might have helped some, but it didn't look lacking to me. the up and downline snaps looked very 10-ish, and again, I have no idea hw much was the plane and how much was Jason. he flew it past sunset, and it was so dark you could see stars when he landed.

Bottom line, it's definitely a winner. If Jason wants to add anything, good or bad, we're all eyes. [8D]

It is with a sickening feeling that I have to report that the electric Black Magic pictured earlier in this thread is now utterly deceased. Radio interferance is the best guess, Emory was on channel 11 and there was a huge spike 10khz below him. Jason got hit flying his the night before, and the next morning (Sunday) it went into full lock out....down through the trees across the road wide open. Nothing is left of the plane or the electric system. If he's lucky he managed to salvage some servos and hardware. The good news is 2 fold: he has another just like it, and I will be building him another one as time permits.

Needless to say, when that plane went in, the last thing I was worried about was the contest, so I just let it go. I was a great battle with Mike Constantine, and ONE DAY I'll beat him straight up!!!!!!! he's a very good pilot, I wish he and Steve Homenda would go to the Nats, they'd do very well.

That's all right now, I'll be updating the web site and finishing the building portion of this thread very soon.

Thanks,
-Mike

tommy s

My Feedback: (55)

Mike,

Have you read some of the threads about interference from the motor and ESC
themselves? Seems to have happened with some Futaba radios. I don't really
know any information other than what I've read here on RCU.
Man, I really hate to hear about the E-Black Magic. It's part of the hobby but it
never gets any easier. My condolences to Emory.

tommy s

gandelin73

Thanks a lot Colorados for the link on paint finish "fishnetting". I didn't know this technic, but I think that my next plane will get a similar paint.
Congratulations for the Black Magic II, he is beautiful!
Regards.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

My condolences go out to you and Emory. Hope all issues are resolved and he takes the 2nd E-woody to the top.


-mark

p.s. Congrats on the flying qualities.