Magic Hand RC 73" Yak build thread

[maineflyer]

Gear:
I got the tail wheel and main gear on today. Nothing tricky and I have to say the spats are very, very nice!!
Jeff

[nitrobeast]

Looking good maine! I havnt done much of anything lately except fly!! I should do some building soon on mine.

[maineflyer]

Nitro,
Wish I could fly up here. It is still very cold and some snow still on the ground. I am going to hit it hard this weekend and see if I can get some stuff done on the plane. I am still debating whether to tap the 1.60 and put a pump on it or try it without the pump with either the slim line or bisson pitts style muffler.
Jeff

[nitrobeast]

Got some work done, finally....

[snap]

Mainflyer,
How's the overall quality of the kit ,will it hold up or is it a cheap kockoff from china. I'm lookin at the 40% as a throw-down plane that I don't have to panic if I land it upside down..LOL

[maineflyer]

Snap,
I can't speak to the bigger ones but there was a guy who posted on one of the sites that the hardware is better on the big kits. The build quality on the 73" is outstanding. The cowl and spats are second to none. The cowl has blind attachment points from inside the hatch to anodized points. I have an 74" EF yak waiting for the build table and the build on the Magic Hand is comparable. The hardware is what you would expect for a 200+ kit, I changed it all out for dubro 4-40 stuff. I have been impressed with the quality of the kit. It was much better than I expected. The only thing I am a little concerned with is the fire wall is not real beefy for the 1.60 I am putting on it but I am going to run the stock wall as it jointed through the former on the sides.

I would call TBM and talk about the bigger planes. I got some good info from them prior to buying this one and they can give you an idea of how it looks. I have had some decent ARFs, DP ultimate, EF Yak, Fliton Extra etc and the build on this rivals any one of those and in some areas far surpasses them. Like the hatch, cowl, spats and gear (basically all painted parts) coming wrapped in tissue paper then bubble wrap to protect them. The glass work on the Cowl and Spats is the best I have seen.
I have not seen any of the big boys so I can't speak to them but they have been sold in Australia for a while (FB models) under another distributors name I beleive. I would maybe put a shout out in a new thread asking about the bigguns on build and flight to get an idea.
Hope this helps
Jeff

[maineflyer]

Looking good Nitro!! I have my 1.60 and a slimimline mounted and all surfaces ready to go with the extentions and 4-40 threaded push rods. I will get some pics uploaded soon. What did you think of the firewall? It is thinner than my EF yak but I am going to leave it. I put some epozy on it and then fuel proofed it and mounted the engine and will try it at that.
Jeff

[nitrobeast]

	Quote: Originally Posted by maineflyer
	Looking good Nitro!! I have my 1.60 and a slimimline mounted and all surfaces ready to go with the extentions and 4-40 threaded push rods. I will get some pics uploaded soon. What did you think of the firewall? It is thinner than my EF yak but I am going to leave it. I put some epozy on it and then fuel proofed it and mounted the engine and will try it at that. Jeff

Thats the only thing i found wrong with this plane. I too think it seems week. I might go ahead and add some 1/8 or 1/16 inch ply on the front of the firewall and then fuel proof it all. Think thats a good idea? Did your blind nuts hit the triangle stock? What did you do to fix that?

As for the pump, you can always tap the engine and use a screw if you dont need the pump.
Do you think its a bad idea to mount the tank all the way up to the firewall? I have a pump ready but would rather not use it if i can.

[maineflyer]

Nitro,
I am going to run mine as is. The firewall runs through the formers and the plane was designed to carry a small gas engine which would weigh about the same as the 1.60. If I was going to add ply I would do it behind the current firewall and once mounted would drill through the formers on the sides and pin the ply to the formers then add tri-stock behind them. I have my tank as close to the wing tube as I can get it. I also changed out the 2 line system for a 3 line-2 clunk set up with new tubing. I changed the fuel dot for a bigger one that I painted to match. I am seriously thinking about pumping the engine as I want the fuel tank as close to the CG as I can get it. With the slimline I am not sure I will get enough back pressure that far back. I will take some pictures and load them in the next couple of days.
Jeff

[snap]

Thanks for the info Jeff.

Joe

[maineflyer]

Engine Mount and Cowl:
Ok I got some more done and finally loaded some pictures. I have all the servos in the tail and the engine mounted. It is very straight forward. I love the way the cowl attaches. Here are some pics of the process to date.
Jeff

[zoomer260]

Does the cowl come with mounting ring already attached to the cowl ?

[maineflyer]

Zoomer,
Yes it does and it attaches at 5 points around the ring. The fit is very good.
Jeff

[nitrobeast]

Maine, can i see a pic of the inside firewall? Did your blind nuts hit the tri-stock?
I havnt done much more to mine, the weather has been great here and lots of flying for me...

[maineflyer]

Nitro,
Mine didn't hit the tri-stock. I will post a picture tonight hopefully. I put some gorilla glue down the side of the tri-stock and covered the inside and out of the firewall with thinned epoxy.
Jeff