The smaller Magician was indeed the first Magician that Mr Silhavy made. It was kitted by another company and was different then the Midwest in other then size. It also had half ribs to prevent sag in the covering. The kit rights were picked up by Midwest and they did the redesign to enlarge it and did away with the half ribs. Frank Garcher the owner of Midwest did like many other kit manufacturers and had JS tweak the design to fit perceived wants of the day.
No matter which one you pick they are very good flyers and to be correct you never use movable flaps with this design. It was not designed with them and i don't think that they improve the flying capabilities of the design.
As to the recent availability of the smaller magician. It was origionally re introduced and rekitted by a well known cottage kit maker with Jim Silhavy's permission and he did indeed sign the kit boxes and plans of both the smaller and larger magician kits that were manufactured. The 15 sized magician was also kitted at the same time. If you find one of these 3 kits for sale buy it as they are superb in execution and wood selection. The kit rights were transferred to Brodaks a few years ago but only the origional is currently in production. It is ,as are all of Brodaks kits an exceptional buy for your modelling money.
Dennis