Anyone know which plane this is? "Ruby"

finkdawg5

Junior Member
Hi everyone,
First time poster here. I've been watching Flitetest for their quadcopter videos for a while now, but I've always wanted to try flying an RC plane. Now I've finally picked up a plane, but I have no idea about it. Can anyone tell me which plane this is? What is it powered by? The wingspan is 47 inches. It says "Ruby" on the wing and has an "A" on the tail but has no other markings. Is this a relatively cheap model that I won't mind crashing a few times, or should I pick up a cheaper one to learn to fly? Thanks for any pointers you can provide!
Dan

Optimized-plane1.jpg Optimized-20151210_214726.jpg
 

AkimboGlueGuns

Biplane Guy
Mentor
It looks like an old Midwest Products Magician, although that was a line control profile plane. It has the right tail/wing/fuselage shape, and 47" seems like the right size for a magician. Perhaps they made an RC version that I am unaware of.
 
That appears to be CL. That's definitely a CL engine. Notice there's no throttle. Look at the left wing, are there some wire loops under the wing, or coming out of the tip? When you move the elevator, do the flaps on the wings move? I am pretty sure that's a CL plane.

There's probably a brand on the side of that engine. It's probably a .35 size or so.
 
Last edited:

MrClean

Well-known member
I was thinkin Smoothie, fuse is right, wings are a little stubby. Tail is wrong for a magician, the magician having a vertical that is fully behind the elevator.

Smoothie pic link

Magician pic link


You might peruse over at Flyinglines.org and see if you can find a picture of this.
 
Last edited:

PeterGregory

CrossThread Industries
Yup, you can see the wires.

Nice looking plane - I bet you are going to tell us you got a wicked awesome deal on this, right?
 

finkdawg5

Junior Member
I picked it up at an auction for $30. Not sure if that is a good deal or not, but it was a good opportunity for me to get my feet wet into rc planes, so I jumped on it. Just have to figure out how to get 'er running :)
 

MrClean

Well-known member
Well, it's not RC it's control line. The wires out the wingtip hook onto a bellcrank and moves the elevator and flaps in opposite directions (called coupled controls in RC/CL/whatever) to get a tighter turn. It's a solid link you'd have to butcher the bird to make it RC. You'd also have to remove tip weight from the non leadout side and you'd want to measure the wing panels. The outside wing panel on an RC plane is going faster then the inboard, not uncommon to level out lift differential by having the inboard wingtip a tad longer.

Would I have bought it for 30 bucks? OH yea, I've got a bucket of Fox 35's and fly control line and it's outward appearance is very nice. I'd want to wiggle the controls and check for slop and balance but it's hard to think that it was put together bad and still looks good. However, if you get the tank in there at the wrong height it will run richer or leaner when inverted. Too rich and you won't get back out of inverted flight. Too lean and the engine will die right off when you go inverted. Oh there's just lots of stuff to consider when starting to fly Control line. You'll also get dizzy. That will have 4 ounces at least of fuel, good for 6-8 minutes of flight. For PAMPA stunt you wouldn't fill it all the way, you signal to start your engine and flip the prop, that starts a watch. You need to get up, do the pattern and back down before 8 minutes. Put 7 minutes of fuel in a plane, have problems starting that takes more then a minute and you're screwed for a pattern that only takes 5 minutes tops ( I don't remember actually, it's been a while but it's over pretty quick and even competitive fliers sometimes go over.

Why would you put so big of a tank in? Well, sometimes conditions are different. Hotter weather needs a richer run, you may go fly in Denver where the air is real thin. I'm told the first time you try the reverse wingover in Denver you're in for quite a surprise.

Anyways, you bought the wrong plane to get your feet wet in RC with. And the wrong plane to learn CL with. If you're not in KC I can't help ya out but maybe a local can. Otherwise, it's a nice looking ship and wouldn't fair bad on the wall. Lord knows I've got a bunch of planes hanging in the room right now.