You guys are nuts. Once you increase powerplant to a point, the performance will just get worse due to nose weight, torque, and vibration. Well, each to his own...

Why install a heavy KB engine on this plane when a TT46 is enough. Performance will suffer quite a bit. The only thing you will be able to do is fly around and and hover but there is more to 3d besides flying around and hovering. Come on a 91 FX on a Magic. Thats just rediculous but to each is own. If you want more power than get the 50 sx
or a YS 45 or build a mousse can muffler for a 46 fx or a TT 46. Or build one for the 50sx or YS 45.Plane will be considerably lighter and fly better

WOW-OOPS ; Did your wing get destroyed in you hard landing ? I have a ME I got for my birthday & the wing got destroyed when I accidentally knocked my radio over & it went "hauling balls" through the pits & hit one of he posts on our pilots station . Anyhow, I would love to find another wing for it, & if yours is not damaged I would be willing to buy it from you. Thanks, Rob

Roadhor;
No, I might fix my MX and use it as a trainer. I am surprised that only the wing was destroyed as weak as that section of the fuselage is.

Gene

rlt55,

Did you make your belly pan removeable? I'm using 1/4 20 bolts identical to yours. I'm considering trying to enlarge the holes. But that could comprise the pan's structure. It would be nice to make it removeable, and cover the holes. I'm also considering making a hatch.

Thanks for any help.

I bought the combo. Got all the control surfaces hinged and glued last night. My belly pan doesn't fit well, but Modeltech is sending me a new one. I figured out a slick and easy way to mount it without gluing, as I also opted for nylon wing bolts, and don't want to have to cut the holes larger in the belly pan. Has everybody been using the supplied bolts for the engine mount? They seem a little small in diameter. I also had to plug the bottom holes and redrill, as the were too far apart. The engine will fit, but barely. And has anyone used 1/4" nylon wing bolts for the landing gear? I'll start installing servos tonight. I think I will try to mount the battery pack above the fuel tank. So far, this ARF has gone together fairly well. I did use some Titebond glue to reinforce the servo tray mounts and other areas throughout the fuselage. The tail feathers lined up nice, wing went together good, can't wait to fly it!

Have a magic 3d and have flown a magic extra. Quite frankly the only simmilarity is the magic in the name. My magic 3d with a tt pro 46 and a macks pipe can do anything (knife edge sucks couples badly, but does it). The magic extra on the other hand will not float like the magic 3d. Plus to get a decent power to weight ratio on the magic extra you need to use a 60+ size motor. All in all get the magic 3d youll be very happy. One word of caution the magic 3d is built from twigs, so be gentle. I also suggest chopping the wing tips off, I did this after my 3d flight and havent looked back. You can see pics of it on my site.
http://www34.brinkster.com/allenpenner/

Hmmmm......those are interesting comments. Not quite along the same lines as what I've read on this thread. And without the radio gear and engine, this plane feels like it weighs nothing! I think my new Magnum .52 XLS will do just fine, considering I have been flying only a little more than a year, and this is my first 3D model.

1 last thing, i had to relocate the battery to a former placed above the back of the servo tray to even remotly get the cg even close. This plane( magic 3d) flies much better with the cg in the back, and a hell of alot easier to hover with it slightly back.

Allen, on which plane, the Magic, or the Magic Extra 300?

3d

I have been flying mine with the Magnum 52 XLS. It hovers solid at 5-10 feet at half throttle. What a blast to fly. Do not need anything more than the 52 with the baffle removed. Loooottttssss of power. Swinging an APC 12.25X3.75. Perfect. Battery is mounted below the servos in the tail.

Willh - Where did you balance yours at? And how are it's "normal" (not 3D) flight habits? I have my servos mounted now, ran the elevator control rods last night, and am trying to decide where to mount my switch & charge jack. If I put the receiver in front of the servos so the servo wires reach without extensions, it doesn't leave much room for foam padding. I'm wondering what other people have done there. I also mounted the battery above the fuel tank after some milling of the underside of the tank hatch cover, maybe I shouldn't mount it that far forward? Remember, I'm new to 3D.........

For what it's worth, I'll attached a few pics to illustrate how I installed my radio gear. I basically used a 4-cell flatpack and this was mounted directly below the cockpit floor (towards the front). Wrapped in foam, it is held in place with a plywood brace. This also allows you to slide the battery fore or aft, to your flying likings. The receiver (a cheap-o Futaba ) is also wrapped in foam and is also held in place by a second ply brace. This is also mounted directly below the cockpit floor but more towards the back of the flooring. The servo wires exit out the receiver towards the tail end. Be carfult that these wires are not pinched when installing/tightening the wing bolts. I also opted to replace wingbolts with nylon 1/4-20 bolts and blindnuts.

Flying characteristics? This thing is a real floater! It's not a fast flyer. Fly it fast and the covering will peel off slowly (trust me, I know). Depending on your engine size/weight, you might want to move that battery more aft. People at the field can not beleive how slow and stable it flies. Hovers are even easier than the GP U-Can-Do. Knife edges are eh... quite a bit of coupling, more than I like to see. Nevertheless, a cheap/great 3D practice plane. Hope the following pics help.

Another pic of the RC install... (the rcvr is a cheap Futaba R127DF)

A few had asked about installing flying wires on the stabs. Here's a pic of them installed (using left over pull-pull cable). I'll attached another blow-up in case you can not see them.

Last pic for day,.. promise.

Thanks for the reply! I think I will mount mine the same. What engine did you use? What bolts did you mount your engine mounts with? AND.....it looks like you have two seperate servo extensions for the ailerons? For flaperons maybe?

The wires look VERY nice and clean. How did you attach them, and are the attached solid at the wings, or do they go through a small hole? Send more pics!

if you want to can go buy some kavalr and drill a small hole in each surface and run your wire thur each hole and put in a wood doll rod & ca it into place.

hope this help's

dennis

I usually always replace the engine hardware provided in ARFs. I did in fact use the motor mount, as much as I did not want to (I simply did not have anything else that fit!). As some had previously mentioned, my engine mount holes were pre-drilled but did not match up with the mount holes. I simply added another 1/4" ply plate to the back of the existing firewall and redrilled, adding 8-32 nults/bolts. I mounted an OS 46fx and this does great! I'm sure an OS50sx would do a bit better. I also use a Zinger 12x5 prop and hovers are stable and the engine is responsive when needed. It does pull out but not with great authority (not too good for beginners). And YES, I do use separate aileron extensions (I don't see how you can get away from this without installing a Y-harness inside the wing). As you guessed, this is for harrier and other programming. You don't need flaps for slowing down,... actually, sometimes you need to drive the darn thing to the ground.

I simply drilled small holes in the surfaces, fed the wire through, pulled them tight on the bottom (like tightening a shoe lace) and then CA them in place. Be sure to use thin CA around the holes to stiffen wood. Simple and efficient.

OK, I'm with ya to the point of fastening the two wire ends. How and where did you do that?

The forst thing you need to do is measure and drill small holes in the stabs. Apply thin CA to stiffen holes, then redrill. (see pic for approx. where I drilled holes).

Looking at the plane from the rear (as shown in pic) I basically fed the wire through the bottom portion of the rudder (l to r), then fed it up through the right portion of the elevator, then fed it through the top portion of the rudder (r to l), then fed it down into the left portion of the elevator, then finally, I fed it back through the same hole located on the botton portion of the rudder (l to r). You then pull evenly on both ends of the wire (one exiting out from the left, the other exiting from the right). Be sure not to over tighten. When you are happy with all the alignment (be sure to check perpendicularity of rudder to elevator), apply med/thick CA. As you can guess, it's helpful to have some one else help with this. You could always tack one wire "via" at a time, adjusting as you go along. Hope this helps!

OH! One other mod I did was to physically attach the elevator halves. I simply used a leftover peice of 2-56 wire, bent it, drilled small holes in each elevator half and epoxied. Even though each half is controlled by a separate pushrod, I wanted to assure myself they are always aligned.
(pic attached)

Nice. Thanks for your help. I'm going to use some of your ideas. For sure I will be removing the engine mount bolts & blind nuts, and installing larger ones, and utilizing some glued in pieces of wood for the radio and battery. I'll probably also wire the stabs. I usually pack my fuel tanks in foam, then glue a piece of balsa to hold them tight. I also switched to 1/4" nylon wing bolts.
One more question....what type of switch did you use, and how did you mount it?