I am building one of Pat Johnston's Magician kits and trying to locate the graphics for the Magician kit. Anyone got any ideas?+

Finally finished my Pat Johnston Magician. After two flights, decided my 50 year old McCoy couldn't cut it, so I switched to an almost new Red Head. The plane flew good, but still is gonna require a little nose weight.

IT turned out great Larry.

I built this one with equal span wing panels and moved the stab back two inches. I have another of Pat's Magician kits that is the Midwest model.

Beautiful planes gentlemen!!
I LOVE the magician.

I just bought one of the brodak versions for my son, with a Walter U. version for myself.
Looking forward to building these two over the winter.

-Dan

Okay, maybe someone will recognize the variant that I have. The airfoil is 1/16" thinner and the highpoint is farther aft than the Midwest version. The TE is 1/4" instead of 1/8". The cord is 1/4" longer than the original. The stab was moved aft over 4". The canopy/turtle deck profile is missing the "hump" in the Midwest version. The fuse is about 3/4" shorter overall than the Midwest version. Motor mounts are 1/2" sq. and extend all the way back to the wing. The front end is shorter by about 3/8" and most of this was taken from the top.

Anyone have any ideas? I am curious enough that I would like to find the plans upon which this was based. 

Bob Redmon

NO

Ty, I to thought exactly what you are saying in your last post. That has been my assumption anyway. But if you go back to Bob's post number 13 he mentions that the leading edge is sheeted, among other changes. It seems that everytime a kit comes out of and old time or classic plane, the manufacturer takes liberties.
 I have compared many kits to the original plans, and there are so many changes that the kit is just a somewhat look alike, but actually a totally different plane. I can see why they do this to a certain extent, to make the kit easier to produce, but some of the changes I have seen just don't make any sense at all. One of the biggest changes the kit makers do is to replace the center spars to top and bottom spars. It is easier, and makes the wing stronger, but then it is not the same wing. Another thing is using 1/4" square for the leading edge, instead of the 3/8" or 1/2", and then sheeting the leading edge. I have also seen front ends lengthened to accommodate larger tanks, but on the same plane they made the fuselage narrower to where they won't allow the original engines to fit.
 I guess I am just picky, and that is the reason I build all of my planes off of the original plans. If I want an old time or classic plane, I want it to be what it was, not what someone thinks it should be. Sorry for the rant.

Ty, I to thought exactly what you are saying in your last post. That has been my assumption anyway. But if you go back to Bob's post number 13 he mentions that the leading edge is sheeted, among other changes. It seems that everytime a kit comes out of and old time or classic plane, the manufacturer takes liberties.
 I have compared many kits to the original plans, and there are so many changes that the kit is just a somewhat look alike, but actually a totally different plane. I can see why they do this to a certain extent, to make the kit easier to produce, but some of the changes I have seen just don't make any sense at all. One of the biggest changes the kit makers do is to replace the center spars to top and bottom spars. It is easier, and makes the wing stronger, but then it is not the same wing. Another thing is using 1/4" square for the leading edge, instead of the 3/8" or 1/2", and then sheeting the leading edge. I have also seen front ends lengthened to accommodate larger tanks, but on the same plane they made the fuselage narrower to where they won't allow the original engines to fit.
 I guess I am just picky, and that is the reason I build all of my planes off of the original plans. If I want an old time or classic plane, I want it to be what it was, not what someone thinks it should be. Sorry for the rant.

Hi Jim,

I totally agree with your opinion.   I checked out a "Classic Legal" kit of a plane I built off of the original Hobby Helpers plans a long time ago.  I still have the plans so it was a natural thing to compare the two.  Pretty close, but the airfoil was very different!  I stopped at that point and swapped the kit.......

Big Bear