It's finished!

Hello All,
A little over a year and half ago I asked for your opinions and advice as I began construction of my Golden State Magician. Well it’s done! I thought you might like to see how it turned out. I opted for the working flaps and made numerous other modifications. I decided to call it a Magician II for that reason. I would like to thank all of you for your input and a special thanks to Larry Cunningham for the “Mo Best” construction articles I barrowed ideas from. Here are a few particulars about the plane as shown.
Weight: 35.5 oz (yes, I got a new scale)smilie('')
Power train: Silver Fox 35(the mount is also drilled to accept an O.S. Max 35s) 3.5oz uniflow tank with filter.
Finish: Polyurethane base, Rustoleum auto primer, Lustercoat, Rustoleum clear on body. Monocoat flying surfaces and trim.
I would be happy to post a complete list of the mods I made with construction photos if anyone is interested. I’ll let you know how it flies as soon as weather and time cooperate.

Really nice looking plane!

It is my understanding that Rustoleum clear is not fueproof. You might want to check on it.

Yes, it is. I used it to clearcoat my Starion 35 several years ago and its still good. I've tested it with up to 15% nitro. The trick is to let it cure not just dry. takes a week or so. Thanks for the kind words.

Very Nice!
Can you give some details on the duel motor mount? Maybe a pic?

Thanks
Paul

>Very Nice!
>Can you give some details on the duel motor mount? Maybe a
>pic?
>

The 35S has a shorter shaft length so I am assuming he just drilled for both engines. The back bolt holes for the 35S would fall between those of the Fox.

Some years ago we make a plane to take a Fox 40 and OS FP as we were doing some comparison flying with the two engines. The width of the mount is the same and the front holes came out at the same spot. We used two metal plates beneath the engine beams, extending fore and aft and bolted down. The holes for the front mount were drilled through and a normal 4-40 bolt with blind nut was used with these. For the back holes we simply drilled and tapped the plate (two separate sets of plates) to accomodate the engine we were using.

The motor mount is a simple affair. A 2inch “C” plate made of 1/8 in. aluminum is recessed. epoxied and screwed to the wood motor mounts. This provides a hard flat contact for the motor lugs. The holes were marked and drilled in a traditional manner. The O.S. hole set is further back and the fox set is more forward.(weight/balance) The motors do not share any holes (nor could they). The blind nuts are set in the usual manner except were flanges would overlap. Here they were trimmed with a Dermal cut off wheel. This assures a flush fit and the trimmed sides facing each other prevent either nut from turning. Yes, a small weight penalty is paid but the mount won’t dent and remains quite true and solid. I hope to do some comparison flying between the O.S. max 35s and the Fox 35

Rootbeard,

You are either one tricky dude or a psychic! You're tricky if you are planning what I think you are planning. (And I caught you at it!) You're a psychic if you caught ME doing what Leonard just described! It just so happens that last night I measured the engine mounting pattern for my (still frozen up) K&B .15GH AND the OS .15. The width is the same, but there isn't enough difference fore and aft to have three separate holes. I was going to relieve the plywood doubler on one side the fuselage and bolt the aluminum plate to it so I could start building the fuselage tonight, and could install either engine. I'm going to claim I'm doing this to be sure I had one engine that would run. What is the Rootbeard Racing Team claiming?

Dave
Manhattan Beach Racing Team
"Internet Racing League"

PS--Thanks Leonard for getting them to (prematurely) spill the beans....

LAST EDITED ON Apr-20-04 AT 09:13 AM (CDT)
 
Dave,
The Rootbeard Racing Team is not claiming anything.
We are doing research and development on the top secret SS project. Or maybe not, I am not a liberty to say. I know we are up against one of the sharpest teams in the world of internet racing. We have a Enya 60, and just wanted to compare that with the Fox .15 lap times. Might be a little faster?
Hush-Hush! The Race is about to start.

Paul
The Rootbeard Racing Team
"Internet Racing League"

Be careful, the reustoelum clear I used was surely NOT even fuel resistant. Could there be more that one type? My kids streak trainer turned into a goey mess. It even took off the color coats under the clear. We used the gloss clear. I'll never use it again.

Hummmmmmmmm.... I've had good luck. I have used both gloss color and gloss clear with with out problems. What % nitro were you useing and how long did you let the paint cure? I suppose they could have changed the formula (just my luck if they did) I guess I'll find out for sure when I test fly her.

>Hummmmmmmmm.... I've had good luck. I have used both gloss
>color and gloss clear with with out problems. What % nitro
>were you useing and how long did you let the paint cure? I
>suppose they could have changed the formula (just my luck if
>they did) I guess I'll find out for sure when I test fly
>her.
>
>Bob
I was using mild (10%) fuel and the clear set for at least a month before running the motor. The affect was right away, right down to the primer. I wiped off what I coould and covered the whole thing with clear spray varnsih

You could try a small patch just to be sure, on the bottom. Overcoat it with Lusterkote it it doesn't hold up.

I have had no problem with the color, only the clear.

I'd hate to see such a nice airplane getting messed up.

Very nice looking Magician. Great job.
post the mods and construction photo's please
regards,
Rick "catdaddy" Blankenship

Thank you, thank you. I'll post the mods and construction picts as soon as I can.

Very nice looking airplane!!! I really like that trim scheme.

Thanks, it's loosely copied from Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's Lockeed Altair "Lady Southern Cross". He was an Austrailian aviation pioneer. Both he and the plane disappeared over the Indian Ocean in 1936 while attempting a Sidney to London flight, I do belive. The Altair was a sharp looking plane kind'a like the Sirus.

>Thanks, it's loosely copied from Sir Charles Kingsford
>Smith's Lockeed Altair "Lady Southern Cross". He was an
>Austrailian aviation pioneer. Both he and the plane
>disappeared over the Indian Ocean in 1936 while attempting a
>Sidney to London flight, I do belive. The Altair was a sharp
>looking plane kind'a like the Sirus.
>
>Bob

Nice job.
The Altair was a Sirius with a retractable gear (some Sirius were later converted to have the Altair gear). One appears in a scene in the movie "For Whom the Bell Tolls" painted as a Spanish Civil War Nationalist bomber.
Several years ago, a wheel ID'd as coming from Lady Southern Cross was found on the bottom off the coast of an island along the route of C.K.S.'s last flight.

J.

VERY nice ship!
Bill <><

>Hello All,
>A little over a year and half ago I asked for your opinions
>and advice as I began construction of my Golden State
>Magician. Well it’s done!

YAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Congrats!

Looks like a fine job.

Best of luck on the first flight.

Cy.

SHARP SHARP PLANE! BEAUTIFULL! That is one of my all time favorites for sure! Ive Got to get back to the building table! Thanks for showing the pictures!