electron

My Feedback: (1)

Strange I wonder why your CG balanced different then mine... I used hitec 425 ball bearing servos and the same REC with the batteries under the tank up front with an OS FX 46 and it’s CG was 5 inches for mine...

I flew it that way and it would fly, but was way tail heavy and performed as such....

I am really not that happy with the 80 either as it want to torque roll now if I don’t handle the throttle right… Of course once it is up to speed it fly great and fast…

L.R.Rip

I have been breaking in my Magnum XLS-52 in the Magic Extra and have noticed some twitching at certain rpm's that goes away when I press on the throttle arm. I think I will replace the rod with something else before going airborne. Mine balances at 4 3/4[sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

sledman

My Feedback: (2)

I had interference with my throttle cable also, which as I recall had a Z bend on the end for the throttle arm. I replaced it with a metal rod that had a plastic clevis on the end, and the problem vanished.

L.R.Rip

Thanks that is allot easier to do than the plastic one's. I was thinking I would put in. That will get me in the air this weekend if not sooner!!! eeeccclllent very good.

electron

My Feedback: (1)

FYI if I were you I would make sure and field test that airplane radio at the field with the engine runing.......


Just the standard leave the antenna down and walk a 100+ feet away and make sure it is not glitching any......

sledman

My Feedback: (2)

Electron has some very sound advice, as my glitching ONLY showed up when the engine was running, and was the most noticable the farther away from the plane I walked. And it started well before I was 100 feet away, more like 35-40 feet........

L.R.Rip

It's glitching when I am standing right next to it with the motor running and it is real funny some times it goes ape with the motor reving up and down.[sm=drowning.gif]
I have JR 662 it's a real nice radio and I like it alot. I have an SPCM receiver I could have put in it but I put in a 700 instead. Why idonknow.[sm=stupid.gif]
So I will go to the hobby shop tomorrow and pick up a long 2-56 rod. I have a Hayes clevis I will use with it. it should work great. I hope I look like the purple smiley face when I fly it [sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

electron

My Feedback: (1)

Hope that solves the problem... Probably will... Make sure your receiver antenna is routed away for all the other electronics also that helps sometimes as well...

sledman

My Feedback: (2)

AND do this. Just DOUBLE CHECK that your crystal is ALL the way in it's little slot. I had one back out a little once, causing similiar glitching. They now all have tape around them, to keep them from doing that.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I have a question for all of you Magic Owners:

How was your wing mounted to the Fuse?

Did you have to drill the holes yourself, and add blind nuts? Or was this already done for you?

The reason I ask, is that I am currently reviewing this plane for RCU Magazine, and on mine, the instructions say to do the drilling yourself, but the wing hold-down block was predrilled with blind nuts installed, yet the wing was NOT drilled. This caused the only assembly problem as I could not drill holes in the wing that would line up correctly with the existing nuts (I solved the problem by simply removing the nuts, plugging the holes, and redrilling them).

But I am curious as to the state that other models were in pre-assembly.

(Note: My firewall and Landing Gear blind nuts were also pre-installed)

sledman

My Feedback: (2)

Mine were NOT drilled, the blind nuts WERE installed, but I wanted larger nylon bolts anyway, so I replaced the cheezy, soft blind nuts with larger, better quality ones, and they worked fine. I also replaced the engine mount blind nuts,which were already installed, and used larger bolts there, as well as my own larger allen head bolts to mount the engine to the engine mount. I used the existing landing gear nuts/bolts, and they weren't a problem. One thing I do on ALL ARF's, is add glue in all the joints I can get to, and sometimes I had wood or glass cloth. In this case, just glue and some wood. The aileron control rods were to short, so i replaced them with 2-56 rods, and used the new heavy duty Dubro plastic clevises with the built in keeper. One thing that I hated about mine, was the poor quality covering. It is the absolute worst I have had on a model. The plane flew very well, however, and was about the easiest landing plane I have ever had. I also added tail wires (nylon braided sturgeon fishing line) as a precaution, based on other's experience of breaking horizontal stabs. I traded it and $60.00 for a Goldberg Extra 300, with an OS .91 FS. Best plane trade I have ever made.....
I doubt I will rush out and purchase another Modeltech brand ARF, unless or until they start using better quality materials and covering. I buy ARFs because I don't have much building time, so I certainly don't have recovering time!

glowplug

My Feedback: (1)

Mike,
On mine, the LG blind nuts were pre-installed, but the wing hold down blind nuts were not, and holes were not drilled in the wing, so I was able to drill straight through the wing into the wing hold down block. I think mine was one of the early versions of the plane, since I had all of the problems on mine that people complained about early on (which Modeltech assured me have been corrected on newer production versions). The only reason I can think that they would have pre-installed the blind nuts in the wing hold down block is because they were VERY difficult to install......not much room in there, and the blind nuts were thicker than the wing hold block itself. They SHOULD just drill the holes through the wing at the same time as they drill the holes for the wing hold down block.

L.R.Rip

Hi I just received mine from Tower about two weeks ago and the saddle was drilled with blind nuts in it and the wing was drilled just had to remove covering on wing holes. Thought they could have designed the saddle a little better tho.
And an update on my assembly. The hobby shop does not have a long 2-56 push rod. Will ask the guys in my club for a 2-56 die Saturday. Hopefully some one will have one! Or She's going to get plastic![:-]

electron

My Feedback: (1)

Woops, read the reply below...

electron

My Feedback: (1)

My wing was predrilled just had to cut the covering out... In fact assembly of the Model Tech was easy and fast...

Like a lot of the other readers the hardware supplied was less then desired... That and the CG is way off from the suggested factory CG with any of the motors they list. These were my only two issues I had with the ARF...

It fly's well once you get the CG right, but there are a lot of other models in that same price range that perform as well or better...

If I were rating it I would give it 3 stars out of 5...

sledman

My Feedback: (2)

Mine was the combo kit, with the Magnum .52 XLS. It balanced with zero added weight at about 4-1/4", and flew just fine right there. I could have been shifted back quite a bit yet, really.

electron

My Feedback: (1)

Mine was a little more back then that maybe 4.75 inches'.... With an OS FX 46......

And yes it flew fine unless you wanted to go inverted then it was like half stick to keep it level.... Once I moved the CG forward more to the factory specs it will do inverted much better.

I don't mean to offend with my comments... I am just trying to give those that are buying one some foresight in to what to expect...

L.R.Rip

How was inverted? did you have to give alot of up like electron did? I have the 52 in mine and set the cg at like 4 6/8. Wondering if I should change to 4 1/2 sounds like the happy spot to me reading these posts.[sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

sledman

My Feedback: (2)

Inverted on mine with the CG at about 4-1/4" required just a little forward stick for inverted, not much though.

electron

My Feedback: (1)

Mine is great at 4" if you can get to that, is where I would set it..... That is where mine is set at..... and Inverted is almost no stick natural...

DeadintheHead

Mine is having irv. 53 - (lots of power and lighter than irv. 40 - ha ha). Using JR lightweight recierver, 600mah pack and 3 577 and 2 591 (elevator + rudder)

post weight when it is all together

L.R.Rip

Hi DeadintheHead I have had mine built for some time now. I have the Magnum 52 XLS with a 12x4 and hardly ever use 3/4 to full throttle. I also balanced at 4'' so inverted takes almost no up compensation. I am enjoying this plane allot. It is almost like a rocket! and hovers nicely. I still need to play with the radio tho so i can get knife edge a little easier it likes to roll out.[sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif][sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

sbstew

BOUGHT USED MAGIC EXTRA . CRASHED ON THIRD FLIGHT (AILERONS WERE REVERSED). PLANE FLIPPED OVER ABOUT A FOOT OFF THE GROUND. FUSE BROKE IN HALF AT THE FRONT OF THE COCKPIT AREA AS SOON AS IT HIT. VERY WEAK DESIGN, BUT IT IS LIGHT AND IT FLIES GREAT. FIRST FLIGHTS I REALLY LOOKED LIKE I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING. SETUP IS A SUPER TIGRE .51 , STANDARD SERVOS EXCEPT FOR A MICRO FOR THE THROTTLE GLUED IN RIGHT BEHIND THE TANK. BATTERY IS UNDER THE TANK. REPAIRED FUSE AND RECOVERED YESTERDAY. BE CAREFUL WHEN REPAIRING THE COVERING , IT IS SOLARFILM WHICH IS A LOW HEAT COVERING. CAN'T WAIT TO GET IT BACK IN THE AIR. G-51 SUPER TIGRE PULLS UNLIMITED VERTICAL.

hilleyja

My Feedback: (3)

Well, after beating mine half to death over the past season, she is finally relagated to the hanger for a badly needed recover job. I'm planning on stripping her this winter and recover with either Monocote or Ultracote. The graphic design will be retained but I might change the colors to make it unique.

I also need to redo my elevator pushrods. When I first put her together I had too much bind and could not get a good smooth deflection from both elevator halves. I solved this by replacing the standard HS-425BB servo with a high-torgue HS-605BB. It was laziness on my part and the 605 was available -- it worked and I had a blast with this bird for an entire season.

I'm still convinced the OS SX .50 is the engine for this plane and will retain it for next season.

L.R.Rip

I am in Florida and the flying season never ends so when some covering starts to come lose I wipe a little Zap on it and it is off to the field. I think before I cover it I will have gotten to cocky and smashed it. I sleeved the ele rods and soldered them. I too am an OS fan but this Magnun 52 has been very reliable it starts by hand every time and is smooth but a little louder than I expected it to be I never took out the baffle and it has more than enough power for me with a 12x4. It will hover, knife edge, waterfall, tail slide, and does a real nice hammer head,
Hopefuls when it goes in it will do it right and through so their is no repairing. you know just enough to not hurt the motor or flight pack. Then I will get a new one HEE HEE
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