What a thrill! Flew a very old Magician today!

[frank mccune]

     Hi All:

     As some of you know, I have had a Magician hanging in my attic for at least 34 years. It had an old Fox .40 Stunt motor circa 1970 mounted on it and had a tank that was mounted half way through the fuselage.  This plane was built with great skil.

     I had to patch a few holes in the wings as the silkspan had split in several places.

     The engine started on the first flip and ran like champ! Oh yes, we pull tested this plane before we flew it!

      A friend of mine who was flying with us today claims that he built that airplane in 1963 when he lived in Pittsburgh.  He showed me places where the dope ran under the masking tape ruining a great paint job. I have no idea as to how or when I obtained this plane!

      What a thrill it was to see this old timer fly as a Magician was intended to fly!

                                                                                                             Stay well my friends,

                                                                                                             Frank
 

[Steve Riebe]

The Magician was my very first plane, powered with a McCoy 29, back in the mid 60's. It met it's demise when the handle pulled out of my hand from slack lines. I can tell you a properly trimmed Magician will cover a pretty fair amount of real estate while making big lazy circles around an ez just handle, and it will find the tallest tree in the area. We never heard of safety thongs back then, and mufflers?  How about some pictures?

[john e. holliday]

The Brodak Original Magician which is the same as what Walter Umland put out for a while flies as good or better than my Primary Force.   Great you have one flying again and not hanging on a hook.

[frank mccune]

Here are the pictures (1/3)

[Steve Riebe]

Awesome! Gotta love that EZjust. Interesting tank setup!

[frank mccune]

     Hi Steve et.al.:

     Good eye on the EZ Just handle! Yes, it is the 4" Hot Rock model.

     Now. can anybody identify the magazine in the picture ,name month and year?


                                                                                              Stay well friends,

                                                                                               Frank

[Richard Logston]

Brings back memories! My last control liner back in the sixties was a Magician with the McCoy 35. Great flyer. Sold it at the local hobby shop to help pay for a Minnie Mambo and single channel radio. I had several McCoy's (19,29,35) Never had any trouble with them. Easy starting: guess I just lucked out.

[Jim Kraft]

Great looking Magician Frank; I have built 4 of them and they all fly all most the same. I have two right now. I have won contests with both Fox 35's, and McCoy 40 Red Heads in both Classic and PA. Probably one of the best old trainers out there as they are so predictable. Mine have all weighed between 35 and 38 ounces. They are easy and fun to build. When in doubt, build another Magician. LOL

I have that Magazine in my collection but am to lazy to go and see which one it is. I know that the picture on the front is when they were talking about the new R/C pattern planes that were starting to come out with inverted engines and retracts. Up until that time almost all pattern planes engines were either upright or side winder. After many years of planes set up with retracts most went back to tail draggers with fixed gear.