The stock Magister flies ok at the following weight:
[ul][*] Magister w/o battery = 64oz[*] 8-cell 1900mAh NiCd = 16.5oz[*] Magister with battery = 80.5oz (5lbs)
[/ul]

The AXI/Lithium hop-up dropped about 13oz off that so it is closer to 4lbs now. The video shows just how slow it can fly now, even when slightly nose-heavy.

Great Greg!

So, with some effort, we could easily be under 60 oz's with our build. That should work out pretty good then. Well over 50% thrust to weight ratio is easy to acheve then and safe to fly. I am one to love "more-power", and rarely build with less that 180% thrust-to-weight ratio for 3D.

I see the photos apparently indicate full-size servos. Maybe HS-55 servos will work the tailfeathers, with a HS-425BB on the ailerons, maybe get us even lighter... What servos are you flying? On a trainer, not a lot of torque needed, small throws with good mechanical advantage.... hmmm. How do you feel about servo torque requirements?

My Magister came with the stock Hitec Laser 4 radio system already installed. They look like standard size servos so I would recommend HS-81s as the lightest choice.

Yea, I was just thinking HS-81 would be a good choice too. Fast, strong and light.

Has anyone else messed up the magister gearbox and plastic wing retainers? Bent prop shaft and snapped retainers. Wing and fuselage took a nose in rather hard with VERY minor damage. I expected a pile of loose foam based on sound of crash but it held up very well.

Where can one buy just the gearbox and wing retainer straps?

Until I get these I will attempt flight with a gearbox from the great planes Super Sportster EP. The spur gear seems to fit the motor pinion fine. ratio now 2.25:1 so I'll need a prop with less pitch I'm guessing. Maybe a 12x6????
Carl

Carl,

Sometimes Hobby Lobby sells parts for their planes without advertising it on their Web site. It would be worth calling them.

Also, Hobby Lobby does sell gearboxes for the Speed 680 (aka Speed 700) motor but the prices are higher than just buying a new complete replacement power system at Tower Hobbies.

[link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/drives.htm]Hobby Lobby Speed 700 Gearboxes[/link]

[link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJCJ6&P=ML]Magister Power System at Tower Hobbies[/link]

We have my father-in-law's Magister all wrapped under the tree, waiting for the big day. Can't wait to put this thing together and go fly it! Got him some HS-81's too, so we're all set with all the hardware. Also picked up two 3S 1800 mAH 12C lipo's for it... keeping it light. Should be amazing.

Well, finished the build on my Father-in-law's Magister over the last few days since Christmas. Used HS-81 Servos, and made servo plates from 3/32" ply glued in with foam-safe CA (see photos).

Drum roll please..... the AUW came in at 53 oz's! Well under the 60 oz target weight... nice . All that's left is to add decals.

Setup:
AXI 2808/24
CC Phoenix 35
Dymond Modelsports 3S HD 2100 mAH 12C Lipo
JR UL610 Rx
APC 11x5.5E

This rig will make 275 watts @ ~25 amps, and pulls 45 oz's thrust. I'll retest that and verify, get more precise numbers when I get time. Should fly pretty well with 85% thrust to weight ratio. CG came in dead on the book recommendation without special arrangements, everything in stock locations. The lighter servos rear seems to offset the light motor up front. Sweet!

This is a very nicely engineered chuck of foam, I am impressed. Everything fit to gether very nicely. I only made a few minor mods in the build. I think some Dubro Ultralite wheels will kill another once or so. I was able to get some great throws on the controls too, and these HS-81's are very quick and seem to have plenty of power to slam the surfaces to the stops. Should fly well, can't wait to maiden.

Tman, how did you enjoy flying the Magister? I hope all went well. I've found mine very easy to fly other than the one time I loaded too many lipos in the very front area messing up my CG and attempted inverted flight. Face plant. Very little damage, repaired very easily and flies as easily as ever now. I'm working on not bouncing when I land and am getting pretty good.

Carl

Well Carl, we have not had opportunity to fly it yet. The weather just sucked until yesterday, and nowthe day is consumed with that nagging obligation I call work. Out of town this weekend, so not a shot then, and knee surgery next week will likely kill any chances the followign weekend. Ugh! I'm gonna find a moment, just not sure when...

Were you surprised we managed to get her so light? 53 oz is pretty amazing I think...

Yeah, that is light. Mine came in at just a hair over 5 lbs. like 81 oz. as it came stock in the RTF package with the battery. It climbed at an excellent rate with plenty of power. I bought another 8 cell pack with 3600mah capacity to give more flight time. I go back and forth with lipos as I have installed an esc that will work with either. My only complaint is that when the motor dies you are totally finished flying and better be on the ground or set up and on final approach or your going down somewhere you may not want to. My other models kill the motor but you can bring it back on for say 20 seconds. Not this one. So keep that in mind.

Carl

I really appreciate you guys giving us all those tips, hints and sharing your experiences. They have been really valuable.

I got my magister one month ago but got tired of the stock engine. It's a capable engine but prefered to give a Hacker A30-10XL the chance. Wow!. I got a great climb rate!! Now I was confident enough to do some more acrobatics. The full setup includes a 12x6 APC propeller, E-flite 40 Amp brushless ESC and Tanic 3s1P 2500 mah Lipo.

I'm still having problems at identifying the flight time of this setup. I Just tried it last weekend, but never exceded 5 minutes of flight time... I'd rather be on the safe side. Anyone can estimate my flight time? Or give any recomendations to increase it?

Regards

Javier

Javier,

That is easy to do.... but, you need a Wattmeter to gather the information.

If you have one, you can connect it in series with your charger after a timed flight. Then, when it's charged, read the mAH on the display that was put into the battery.

Now it's math... you have 2500 mAH to use, and you flew for 5 minutes, and let's say your charge put in 800 mAH. Assume you get 100% of your mAH rating (not real, but close).

So, you are using (on average) 800 mAH / 5 min. = 160 mAH per minute.

Now assume you get all your battery use to LVC, 2500 mAH / 160 mAH per min. = 15.6 minutes.

Now, to be conservative, take 80% of that = 12.5 minutes. Set your timer there and you should be fine. If you fly really hard, be a little more careful. You develop a feel for it, and you should stay up high and over your landing area when are close to your estimated time just in case.

You have 2500mah which is 2.5Ah x 60 is 150Aminutes. If you put a watt meter between your battery and esc you will know the amps used at different levels of throttle. If you want to be really conservative you could start with max amps used at full throttle. If this number is say 25 amps. Then dividing 150Aminutes by the number of amps drawn / 25A you get 6 minutes of flight at full throttle. You would actually get a bit more flying time as a static test of amps will be higher compared to a plane that is already moving and the motor is not working so hard to turn the prop. You don't want to run your lipo totally dead so stay conservative.

Alternately you could charge the battery fresh. Fly for 5 minutes. Recharge the battery on a charger that shows the number of mah going into the battery (Triton charger) or use any charger and put a watt meter between the charger and the battery. If in 5 minutes of flight your battery requires say 1250mah to be recharged in full then you used half of the 2500mah available and could have flown for roughly twice as long (10 minutes).

I like the magister in stock form so it must be a hoot with brushless. I have flown the stock motor with a esc that allows lipo on a 3 cell lipo and it's great.

Carl

Thank you. I'll give a look at my charger on my next flight and will try carlrich second option. My charger has a display an it effectively shows how many mah's are beeing delivered. Unfortunately I have to wait two more weeks to give it a try because I'm going oyt on a trip and can't take the magister with me, but I'll let you know my results ASAP.

Carl, you should really try brushless on it, or if you want to feel something closer to how it performs (just on the climbing rate) then install an APC 12x6 SF. It really pulls!, we tried it and now my other friends have ordered them! (We fly at 4900 ft above sea level. I don't know how well they'll perform at lower heights)

Javier

Hi, I finally flew and made the measurements. I only got 5:14 minutes of flight time (Doing some acrobatics... Loops, rolls and hammerheads), and 6:13 with not a single acrobacy. I think I'll have to get a bigger battery (4000 mah), but they are really hard to find here in Mexico.

Javier

Javier, you probably don't have the issue of below freezing temperatures we have here in Ohio. The cold is terrible for lipo batteries and they don't perform to their full potential. Nicads and Nimh batteries seem to do much better in the cold. Better than in the summer. I can get just over 9 minutes on the 1900 mah nicad pack included with the magister and just over 12 minutes on a 3300nimh pack that was cheap. Loops are doable but rolls are scary with the ailerons limited to stock capability. If I cut them off and hinged them I think rolls would be easier.
Glad you got yours in the air.

Carl

We are suffering a terrible cold weather of 85 degrees in Cuernavaca!

We rarely get over 95 degrees in the summer, so we don't suffer a terrible heat season. We could get into a discussion of Me telling you how the weather causes so much of our political and cultural problems in Mexico, but that's not the case here. The only thing I can say is that it is great for flying most of the year, and that's great.

I'll be flying this weekend, and now that I bought a new radio I might try installing another servo to the wing so that I can try flapper ons... I want to reduce the distance required for landing, as the Magister really rolls on pavement.

Javier

Carl, you wrote: "Loops are doable but rolls are scary with the ailerons limited to stock capability. If I cut them off and hinged them I think rolls would be easier."

I've seen a stock magister from a friend perform the rolls flawlessly. He, Alejandro, makes the rolls after getting the nose a bit up and he almost doesn't mess with the elevator or rudder while doing the roll. I can tell you that from ground his rolls look perfect. He loses almost no altitude, and keeps a very straight path. I hope that encourages you to.

I've had some very bad rolls while messing too much and too early with the elevator and rudder. I've also noticed that using 3/4 of the ailerons stick works best for rolls. But I share your point, My worst fear moments with the Magister have been doing rolls.

Javier

Javier, please let me know how you like landing with flaps. I have also considered putting a small servo out on each wing so I could have flaps. Currently, I tend to bounce when landing and I need 500 feet (160ish meters) and usually run off the end of our 500' runway. Perhaps flaps would help. I had flaps on the Multiplex Cargo plane and found that I could land better without them. Maybe I should not have used full flaps. Anyway let me know if it lands more easily!

I had two large 3 cell packs in parallel in the magister and further towards the nose the last time I tried a roll. Very nose heavy. when I got upside down I ran it right into the ground pretty hard. It survived and really had very little damage at all. Bent the shaft coming out of the gearbox so I needed a new one. Found motor and gearbox combo for $38. Also broke one of the plastic wing retainer pieces that sit on top of the wing. Can't find one anywhere so I just glued it back together and put an 1/8" flat piece of balsa on the back. Flies just fine.

Carl

Hey all,

Finally got to maiden our AXIfied Magister today. This thing flys NICE! At 53 oz's, it floats forever with the throttle chopped. Landings were greasy smooth, sits down soft and solid. What a pleasure to fly such a docile bird. The AXI2808/24, on a 10x5E and 3S 2200 mAH 15C was a bit under powered, as we expected, but not bad at all. Solid 10-12 minutes of flying with lots of full throttle climbs. Takeoff was mellow, full throttle will carry 20ΒΊ climb, any more and it would stall and roll off to one side. Nice big round loops were within the power range though, so I call it good.

Took absolutely no trimming to fly straight and level, nice surprise. Slow flying was rock-solid, not even a little hint of a stall. Cruising at 1/2 throttle was very comfortable and adequate power to make even tight turns without losing altitude. Definitly not enough aileron to roll, even at max deflection on high rates. Just too lazy, got 1/4 roll in and backed out. Figured if I got it inverted, I might lose it. Made 3-4 landings, every one was near perfect. Flying in 5-7 mph breeze, solid and stable all the while. She's a keeper!

Yesterday we had a very accidented flight day. I ended with my planes on the ground. The magister motor mount broke during flight, lost power and had to do an emergency landing. It came down fine, but now I have to get another Hacker motor mount. (It was the aluminum motor mount that broke)

We were also short on one wing retainer, so we were lending it between the four Magister Users. Everything was OK until we got a magister up with only one installed, we all forgot about it.... [X(] The wing dropped during flight and the fuselage went down like a missile. I have to admit that the damage wasn't as bad as we thought, but the full red plastic piece that doubles as the motor mount and front landing gear support broke. Do you know where we can buy it? or should we get a full fuselage?

Then I decided to fly mi E-Flite Mini Edge for it's maiden flight and after fighting to get control and when I finally had it nailed it dropped... The motor shaft broke. So I was grounded for the rest of the day.

Hobby People sells the mount [link=http://www.hobbypeople.net/part/24007801.asp]HERE[/link]. $30.

Hate it when you have a day like that at the feild. When things are going bad, I just sit back and watch, let the others have the bad luck.

One day at the dry lakebed, we got in one flight, deadstick landing. Grrrr. Kicked back and watched 3 other planes spattered all over the place. Went home. Just a bad carma that day, figured we wouldn't push it.

I glued the two wing-halves together, and glued the spanners in too. Don't see a need to break the wing down, just get it off the plane for storage... good enough. Figured it would be stronger that way too.

Oh, kept forgetting to mention it. If you have trouble with control surface freedom, take the exacto and trim out a few sections of the hingeline so there is only 3-5 tabs about 1" to 1-1/2" long acting as a hinge. Works great, and the freedom is greatly improved and you can get much bigger deflections too. Tempted to put in pinned hinges, but this is working well enough with the HS-81 servos. Full throws without working the servos hard at all... nice.

I finished today my new motor mount for the Hacker motor. I had to build it up from scratch, as I wasn't able to get one from any of the LHS nearby. I used aluminum we had at my workplace. It's a bit thinner than the original mount, but I think it will work better.

I also installed pinned hinges on the ailerons and finally did the extra servo setup for using flapper-ons. Now I'm only missing the elevator hinges, but will place them tomorrow night for sure. Ailerons were really easy. I installed 5 hinges on each one, and glued them with foam safe CA. I've done some pull tests and they seem to be glued correctly. The aileron movement improved significantly.

I still don't know if I'll be able to fly it this weekend because of family duty. It is a shame as this is a long weekend here in Mexico. I'll try to get at least time to fly it once on Saturday. If positive, then I'll let you know how the hinges worked.

On my last accidented weekend the plane that lost the wing was carrying my wireless camera. It got destroyed with the fall, but I've replaced that one too. I hope to be able to record an on-flight video the next time.

Regards.

Javier

Well, my "ready for radio" Magister arrrived today just in time for a weekend flight. I excitedly opened the box and checked the contents only to find the UC wheels are missing DOH!. A set are on the way from the hobby shop, but I dont think I will be flying this weekend