Done........

Finished up the Magician this evening. See pics below. It came out somewhat heavier than I had hoped at a little over 36 ounces. This is the first plane I’ve painted with color dope since I got back in to the hobby. I cut the yellow dope down with clear and thinner so there are only about 2.5 ounces total of the yellow on the entire model. About 4 coats of clear underneath, the red trim and about 3 coats of clear on for the finish. All Sig dope. It gained about 3.5 to 4 ounces going from the base clear coats to the finished model. I did not expect that much of an increase.

I tried to keep everything “period” for the design era as was practical. Right now, I have a 1965 Red Head 35 on it (the one with the heavy flush web in the exhaust). On the bench, it turns a Super M 9 x 6 at about 10, 800 rpm in a hard 4-cycle. I am going to try a 10 x 6 Super M for the first flights. I have a couple of RH 40s and may try one of them to see what difference that makes. The tongue muffler is one I got from Leonard. Real nice fit and pretty light. The spinner is a “Pilot” brand, I think from the 1970s. It is a little heavy at just over 2 ounces. The engine, muffler, spinner and prop weigh right at ten ounces all together. CG is right about where it’s supposed to be according to the plans. Put the allen screws and ST NVA on there when I refurbished the engine. Got some Veco wheels, but man are they heavy. Had to go with modern foam rubber ones.

The “McCoy Powered” decals are from Gary Barnes of tethercar.com. They are very authentic. Gary is a real nice guy to deal with, too. The lettering is from a local sign company. The pic of the elevator horn is just to show how I install them, now. I had one come off in flight one time. Not fun to go ‘round and ‘round, trying to keep the plane up in the air until the fuel runs out (not) with no elevator. Bolt that sucker on there real good and solder them washers down solid!

As I said in an earlier post, I just kind of putter around with the flying part. It’s nostalgia thing, but I have really enjoyed building this model from an earlier time. Learn a little something new with each one. Walter Umland puts together a very nice kit, too.

John,

Very clean job. The engine installation is very slick.

Thanks Randy,

Looking forward to first flights. Ever since I saw some of Jim Lee's old-timers years ago, I was impressed with how cleanly built they were. I try to emulate his example. Not there yet, but am getting better.

Me likey lots....and I have a McCoy .35 as well.....hmmmmmm:7 I love the colour combo. Very crisp.

Wow, what a cleanly built plane, something this good ends up
as the example picture on the kit box.

NOT FAIR!
That's away too good a job!
Great work...now tell us how it flies!

OOOoooooo, John. I like.

Say, I'm missing a Mustang, and I wasn't going to come to the meeting tonight, but if you let me have that Magician, I'll come. Wow, how could you refuse that offer?

That is a sweet looking ride. I saw it at the Topclassical when it was close to done, but it looks even sweater now. That Umland feller makes a good kit, and ya done put it together well. If you haven't seen it in person, that suckers an easy 15 points with a silky smooth dope surface that last I saw was just a couple days away from the good long rub down.

Personally, I'd just fly it, but Jon done making it purtier.

Nice Job.

Very nice, excellent attention to detail. Thanks for showing the pictures.
Wayne

Super job! I'm jealous! That is the type of workmanship that I aspire to.

Good luck and keep us posted on first flights!

Awesome looking plane, nice job!

That is one sweet lookin' Magician! By all means, let us know how it flys. As you may have read, I finished my Magician a month or so ago and I like the way it flys. I'm still working out a few power train issues though. Thanks for posting the great photos. I think you got a winner there. Best of luck.

By the way, where is the fuel pick up? And how did you get the tank so shinny?

Hi John,
Ya done a GREAT job on that one!!!!!!
I reall like it, and am amazed at the horns you made.
Keep it up, and say "Hi" to Jim and Lila.
Bill <><

Super Sweet John!!

Walt needs to use this as a cover photog for his kit!!

Very nice job, I put this one in my files for the simple paint job that really fits the plane. At 35 ozs it should fly great, we should all be that lucky. Jim J.

Way Cool, A ship to be proud of and you will love flying it.

>Super Sweet John!!
>
>Walt needs to use this as a cover photog for his kit!!
>
>Randy Ryan
>AMA 8500
>SAM 36
>I fly 'em all and love it!

He! He! He! I already changed the label
Now all I need is a shop to make the kits in.

Nice, nice job! Clean and simple.

Don't forget rule # 2: Lots and Lots of oil to keep that McCoy happy!

Jeff W.

Hey Guys,

Just got back to the forum since posting the pics. Thanks very much for all the kudos. I am very pleased with how this one came out. I appreciate it very much.

WR: No, you can't have it if you show up at the meeting tonight. Me thinks it's going to be too windy for a first flight. See ya there anyway!

Tom: The tank is a GRW uniflow. The fuel pickup is on the lower outside bottom of the tank. If you look close, you will see blue colored rubber shelf material between the fuselage and the tank. I glue it on to the back of the tank with spray on contact cement. This stuff seems to work very well at keeping the bubbles out of the fuel.

Hey Bill, I'd like to claim that I made the horns, but they are Sullivan, Stainless steel. I get them from Tower. I think it's the 1.25 inch one. They are really hard which you find out if you try to drill out the holes. Got two dull drill bits to prove it.

Walter: Be my honor.

Am looking forward to seeing how it flys. Really appreciate the comments.

OOOOOOOHHHHH...Lovely!

This is exactly the airplane in my mind's eye, right down to the McCoy Red Head, and the decal. If I could have one airplane right this minute, this would be it. I guess I'll have to chose different colors for mine .

Nice work--a simple, clean, classic model airplane...

Andy

Edit: Tell us about the lettering--how/where do you get it, and how is it specified? Also, the NVA on the McCoy is not stock, but looks good. What is it?

AT

Hi John; Magician looks so cool. It should fly very well at that weight. Very close to what mine was. Sigh!!! Hope to build another soon. I flew the one I crashed in Topeka for six years, and it was kind of like losing an old freind. I have built quite a few planes since I got back into stunt, and never enjoyed building and flying anything better than the Magician. After all, there is Magic in thar.

Hey Jim,

Really sorry you lost your Magician at the contest. You're right, there is something "magic" about this design. It just looks cool.
Hope you get your next one going soon. I'm sure it will be another winner, too.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the nice comments.

The lettering is vinyl cut at a local sign company, "Signs to Go" Many such companies are out there. Usually, you can specify the font and size. I made a mock up on my computer, first. This particular one the vinyl is really really thin so it doesn't stick up off the surface very much. They can cut it so that the spacing is whatever your want. Its got a protective coating on both sides. You peel off the one side, lay it down where you want it and press the sicky side of the letters down on the model, then peel the other protective layer off. Look in the phone book and bet you can find sign companies in your area that can work up just about what ever you want and in a variety of colors. I have the same lettering on the bottom. Total cost was about $20.00.

The NVA is a Super Tigre. Leonard has them.

Nice Magician. You should really like it, they are a great flying airplane. I'm flying mine in Profile and Classic at Brodaks next week!

John: Great looking effort! However, I have spotted a couple of what could be called in the computer world "fatal errors". The moment arm of the frangibilator is too long, and the muffler belt shows definite signs of slippage! I wouldn't fly it at all till the problems are solved (Almost as dangerous as flying near those nasty high -tension lines, you know!) Actually, for just the postage, I would be happy to carefully work the problems out, and return your creation to you, well cared for, after a reasonable period of insuring it was absolutely safe to fly. Don't forget a set of lines!