As I said, I am reviewing the model for RCM&E in the UK (Radio Control Models & Electronics) This is a part of it.

Fitting Out:

As I said, I put in '3' 3001 servos for the ailerons and throttle control with a 9303 for the rudder and a 9204 for the elevator. The servo array is powered by a 4.8V 720Mah NiMh rx pack for 'Overlander' and a Futaba 129DP receiver, with a 'S.M Services' 4 cell battery checker fitted so it can be viewed from the outside of the model under the wing. The CG with this engine and R/C set-up was bang on 115mm from the Leading edge of the wing as recommended, the only addition of weight was 10 grams stuck to the underside of the left hand wing tip to achieve perfect lateral balance. The AUW of the model without fuel was 4lbs exactly. I set the throws as indicated in the instructions for the first flight. After that I increased the throws a smidge - about 45 degrees on the ailerons, 50 degrees on the elevator and as much as humanly possible on the rudder. (loads of expo though)

Flying:

As with any review that I have been fortunate to have been asked to do by our editor and chief, I always try to wait for ideal weather conditions to get some pictures and to evaluate the model. In this case the weather was absolutely bloody marvellous. It's first flight was during the 2 week Christmas break away from that four letter word . . . W O R K ! ! To get some good flying shots I had to head half way up the island to the Midlands MFC, so that 'Bouncer Bob' could do the honours with his new 'Brownie Box'. As this is my umpteenth fun-fly model, I was well prepared for any trick it might have up its sleeve. As I said earlier, the control throws were set as recommended but were a bit dull for my taste. However they would probably be lively enough for a first timer on a model of this type. All the controls were crisp as was to be expected with the closed wire system, 3mm push rods to the ailerons and gap sealed surfaces. To the OS 32, I had fitted a 10" x 6" prop for the first flight because it was all I had in the workshop at the time (lack of stock after a lot of flying in 2002). The performance was in a word, RUBBISH. Lots of noise but wouldn't pull the skin off the custard on the Christmas pud. Sure she prop hanged well enough, but she did so at 3/4 throttle and just had enough ummph to get out of those sticky situations while seriously disturbing the other members of the club by waking them up with the shrill tones of the piston hitting mega serious RPM's. Still I flew her for the day - 4 hours and got through 1/2 a gallon of 5% Model Technics in the process. Usually I fit a 12.25" x 3.75" APC prop to the 32 for funflying. However on day two of testing I fitted and APC 13" x 4" prop with the normal OS 8 plug and the same 5% fuel. Now she was transformed beyond belief. She prop hanged on 1/2 throttle and had loads of grunt to get out of the bad gravity sucking situations and was ultra quiet. . . . . So day two saw the remainder of the first gallon vanish into the air over my flying site at the back of my house in somewhat windy conditions (see Gale). Day three, back up to the MMFC and the day was a bit cold at 3 degrees C, but there was zero wind. Perfect for a full 6 hour day on the field. Scratch another gallon of juice, two ZAP tranny packs and very nice chicken salad roll. . . .and some chocky bickies.

Conclusions:


Well up to this point in time I have flown the 'Magic' for over 20 hours and she has seen the best part 3 gallons of nitro mix go up in smoke. Do I like it? What do you think? The only thing that I was worried about was the firewall and after this time on the sticks, my concerns were unfounded. One thing I have noticed though, is the tail skid is a bit long and this causes the model to sit on the ground at a shallow angle on the take off run, thus requiring fairly long take off runs. This could be also due to the Carbon U/C being a bit shorter that the wire version. But I counteracted this by adding in a mix of 30 degrees of flap with elevator to shorten the take off run to 2 feet. The 'Magic' will do the book. And is particularly good at the inverted flat, I mean FLAT, spin. Torque rolls are a dream with the big 13" prop but suck with the 10" version. You can hang it all day if you want and it's Breitling colour scheme is stunning it the air on a clear, sunny, winters day like we had at the beginning of this New Year. What I like most about this model is that I retains lightness but is made from harder/stiffer wood than most ARTF fun fly's out there. Some of them are made from sponge and break up in the air or flutter themselves to death. In a word I would have to say that 'Modeltech' have designed and produced and very good model which has a solid feel to it in the air and looks good too. MAGIC !