Help identifying plane.

[Mark Mc]

I was wondering if anyone could identify this plane for me.  I got it for $10.00 at a swap meet a couple of months ago.  It says Magician on the right wing, but it doesn’t look like any Magician variant I’ve ever seen.  It says SNAFU in the left wing, but I don’t know if that’s right either.  The wingspan is 39”, and the chord is 8.75”.  Length is 25 inches.  The guy who sold it to me said the previous owner cut the deck off to convert it to ignition engine power, so I figure I might just continue and make it electric powered, since the deck had been cut off anyway.









Any guesses?
Mark

[Keith Miller]

It is, in fact, a Magician SNAFU.  I wish I had more to offer at the moment, but I know I have a hard-copy of the plans out in the man-cave.

[Mark Mc]

Aaaaand an answer in under 15 minutes!

Thanks, Keith.  Know where I could find a working scan of the plans?  Specifically where is the balance point?

Mark

[Steve_Pollock]

It was manufactured by the Snafu Co. in Hollywood, Ca., who also made model airplane propellers.  It was introduced in 1948, and reviewed by Ron Warring in the June 1949 issue of Aeromodeller (or maybe Model Aviation) in the UK.

[Target]

What a find!
R,
Chris

[john e. holliday]

For some reason, maybe it's the NATS thing, but can't get the AMA plans section to come up.  Looks like you have an old timer to play with or compete.

[Steve_Pollock]

The plan is listed in the AMA "M" plans list as number 24875 for $7.

[John Park]

This is a very good design for 1948!  I built one in '76 for the Fireball Trophy, using only the three-view and structural information in Ron Warring's 1948 book 'Stunt Control Line Flying'.  It looked very similar to the model pictured in this thread, weighed 22 oz. and flew nicely on 52 ft. lines with a McCoy .19 Redhead of about 1958 vintage; but with the non-period engine and lack of a proper plan it wasn't a very accurate replica (which is what the Fireball Trophy is all about), so failed to catch the eye of the judges.  It did, however, perform so well that I kept on flying it until the McCoy wore out.

Regards
John

[De Hill]

I have a kit of the SNAFU Magician. It was designed for glow engines .23 - . 45  in 1948. It had a  40" span, and a 24" length. The original designer was Johnny Davis who wrote the west coast tips section for Model Airplane News in the late 1940's. The plans say that WP Babcock designed it.

Johnny Davis was found in a Kerrville Texas rest home in the early 2000's by the late Charley Bruce. Charley borrowed my kit and had Johnny sign the kit box and the plans.

The Snafu Company was a big manufacturer in Hollywood California. They manufactured the Snafu Ercoupe, which Davey  Slagle and his parents modified to make the Checkala Roma stunter which Davey used to win the Walker Cup.

The Snafu company went out of business after the owner committed suicide.

[Bill Johnson]

I took this screen shot of a plan on ebay. It looks like the CG is at the aft edge of the front spar. Given the design, that's a good place to start but I suspect there's room to move it aft a little for better maneuverability. Modern designs usually place the CG on the main spar as the center of lift is there or slightly aft of it.

[John Park]

The wing rib templates for the (inaccurate) replica I made in '76 still exist, and I find that the aft edge of my front spar was exactly 2" behind the LE, i.e. 25% chord, slightly further back than it should have been according to the real plan.  25% chord is, I think, where I would have placed the CG, as I seem to recall it was my standard in those days for a constant-chord, unflapped aerobatic model.  It turned out to be just right, anyway.

Regards
John