Weston Magic...

[Superman]

I am interested in hearing about the Weston Magic because I am recieving one soon but cant seem to find any info on it... I know its design is pretty old and has a big V-tail. Anyone out there have one or know who its made by and if they have a website? Anyone flew one... Also, this will be my first full house glider so if you could help me out telling me what mixes to use and stuff would also help. Thanks,

-Clark

[Joedy]

I built one from scratch. I also have the Waco Aerodesigns documentation for the Magic.

I currently have a cut set of wing cores for my second one. One of these days, I'll get around to building the second one.

Flies great, but requires active flying.

PM me if interested.

-joedy

[jgleigh]

I have one also. They are, of course, out of production and Frank Weston is no longer in the model sailplane business. They came in two versions (at least), one with a thin airfoil (6% or something like that) that was supposed to be quite difficult to fly well, and the one that I have with a thicker foil. It's a good flying plane, lacks penetration by today's standards, but thermals well and indicates lift very nicely. I found mine was quite sluggish in roll at low speeds, and was not good at spot landings - it would always seem to slide off to one side or the other when I put the flaps down.

My main advice would be to get a lot of deflection on the ailerons, and a lot of differential. I ended up using something like 3:1.

[AirBornOne]

and was not good at spot landings - it would always seem to slide off to one side or the other when I put the flaps down.
Could this be a V-Tail alignment issue?
I have a used Magic that needs the new Tails attached.
Fly on.
Jay.

[jgleigh]

I don't think it was an alignment issue, since another club member had the same landing issues with his Magic. But maybe they were both misaligned ...

[AirBornOne]

I found mine was quite sluggish in roll at low speeds,
Actually, maybe the Magic design just didn't do low airspeed well.
Or needed a particular setup (CG,throws,mixing) to handle low
airspeed well.
jgleigh, how thick is your wing?
Mine is about 20mm at about 1/3 chord.
Skies.
Jay.

[jgleigh]

My wing is about 25mm at the thickest point; I recall that the thicker wing was 9%, that sounds about right. You may have the thinner wing.

I suspect my problem with roll was not enough aileron deflection, since the ailerons twisted a good deal along their length, and the deflection at the tip end was less that half the dflection at the root end. I just never got around to changing out the servo arms for longer ones, and then I got a Mantis ...

[Superman]

Thanks for the info guys... Feel free to add more!

[Superman]

I got it and was wondering where the best place to buy HS-85 MGs is... Thanks

[Superman]

Heres a pic of my Magic...

[jcstalls]

Greetings,

Looks great, congrats on your new ship. Hope to see her out soon.

For servos, I suppose Servo City is fair, with price/service/shipping.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Jared

[evermax]

Been out of sailplanes for a while... but
That is one of the best sailplane I have ever flown.
I took a scratch course at his cottage shop back in the day.
building tech was very innovative at that time 10 years ago.
It evolved many time over the 3-4 year he made them.
I believe the latest wing versions used one layer of kevlar and no spar.

Very lifty airfoil, fullscale hybred, design by Frank I believe.

You are going to like it.
Never saw any landing problems.
I competed against many Magics in the esl and have less wood to show for it ;)

[petefly58]

I'm fortunate enough to have a Magic and a Merlin. They both need lots of aileron deflection and differential. Once I figured this out, they both proved to be very good flyers. There was also an issue in which they would spiral down in turns. Reducing the rudder and elevator travel ( V tail ) to 50% cured this tendancy. At the same time, rudder to elevator mix is 90%. Good luck with your Magic!!!

Pete