Carl Goldberg Lil Wizard

ian1954 wrote:I managed to get a Carl Goldberg Lil Wizard kit last week. It wasn't what I intended to buy - I did one of my usual "ending soonest" on Fleabay, saw Wiizard Control line and thought I was getting another Wizard like the Black Hawk one I have.

Well I was disappointed when it arrived as I saw it was a slabby wing thing but on further inspection I find it intriguing.

The slabby wing is already shaped with an airfoil but it is flat bottomed. I thought that this would encourage it to keep climbing under power.

It also professes to have a unique mechanism for ensuring that the lines don't go slack. A rubber band that applies slightly up elevatore.

Also - that it will fly on 52ft lines.

It does look a nice little model though and a quick build.

Has anyone any experience of one of these?

Ian,  I learned to fly on a carl goldberg lil wizard sporting a black widow engine.  It will do everything it claims to do and has a unique engine mount that is held on with Rubber Bands, so that when the plane crashes (its a trainer) the plane won't be ruined.  I won't tell you how many times I tested that out, but it works. There is a heavy wing wait that keeps the plane on the outside of the circle.  About six years ago, I bought the Brodak version which was identical, and used it with my son.  It isn't a fancy flyer, but it is a great trainer.  I have only fond memories of building and flying that plane, so I can't say anything bad about it.  Just remember, its a trainer, and a really good one at that.   Andy

Now I know who bought that kit! I was debating buying his Lil Wizard - it was a fair price, and it looked as if it was still factory wrapped - but decided I had already blown enough of my hobby budget on another kit from the same seller. Over the last few years that fella has been the beneficiary of quite a bit of my hobby money

ThermalSniffer wrote:Now I know who bought that kit! I was debating buying his Lil Wizard - it was a fair price, and it looked as if it was still factory wrapped - but decided I had already blown enough of my hobby budget on another kit from the same seller. Over the last few years that fella has been the beneficiary of quite a bit of my hobby money

It isn't factory wrapped anymore! But there is another story - I ripped the "shrink wrap" off with my usual lack of attention and ended up with the wire tail skid sticking out of my hand!

It had been added as an afterthought with the shrink wrap. As usual I don't see what I don't expect!

Remember chaps - I am back into control line and testing the limits of my vision. I am not yet anywhere near stunt flying. I see (or don't see!) this as a way to see (or not see!) if I can manage 52ft lines. 35ft is my max. so far and a small model is a good test to find my limitations.

My larger control line builds have slowed down following the last two crashes. A sticky slabby thing is easy and quick to build. If I finish a plane, I fly it! I will be mortified to prang the Combateer or the Aerobat straight away - at least one take off and intact landing!

I understand the part of putting time into a nice model and going out with it and not getting the satisfaction of several flights and bringing it home in a bag Eric

I couldn't resist making a start on this kit but my first observation was that it wasn't a "Golden Oldie" but a laser cut kit and the original "fail safe" feature had been omitted.

The instructions were still original but the bell crank and elevator horn are new plasticky things.

I got a bit confused with the undercarriage. The instructions detailed threading the undercarriage through holes in the plywood reinforcement but the parts supplied had semi circle cut outs and there wasn't a matching semi circle in the fuselage.



That made me think that it wasn't a good idea to let the undercarriage keep bashing into the balsa wing. So I cut a notch and inserted a ply reinforcement.



It is now ready for finishing - I think I am going to paint it.







I will see how it turns out after I have primed it before I decide on the final colour(s). Knowing me, I'll probably just slap on any old colour.

As usual, Ian, you've done a nice clean job of building it. I know you know how to bench trim, so that, and knowing you can fly your other small plane with the electric power plant, I believe you can approach this one with confidence. On the other hand, it's hard for me to believe it will fly as advertised(and apparently proven) on 52' lines. I'd use the lightest material possible within the appropriate strength specs. And don't forget the tip weight. Or take your 35' lines and short tank it for a 45-60 second flight to see what it does before hooking up the long lines. I don't see where you mentioned the engine type, but with a Babe Bee it shouldn't be any faster than your electric plane. For your neutral check, clamp the elevator in neutral and adjust your handle until it feels right in your hand.

From my experience with painting pilots' circles in the grass, be it Winter brown or Summer green, I have found that for the most visible at a distance, orange unquestionably beats out all the other colors, some of which were surprising to me. I've tried yellow and red and they are not even close in visibility to orange. So maybe you will consider that choice for your model's color for flying way out on the long lines. Also a plane becomes much more visible with a brightly colored 3'-4' tissue paper streamer, tied to a foot of string and secured to the tail. The combat guys, believe it or not, actually tie it to the elevator horn. Crepe paper falls apart and litters the area, but brightly colored wrapping tissue holds together even when oily, and is easy to see in flight. It also somewhat stabilizes the plane without interfering with the C/G. When you feel it's time to learn to fly a loop, the streamer also makes the plane easier to control through that exotic maneuver.

Good luck.
Rusty

Ian,

There are a few builds of Wizards on here. Mine being one of them. You really can't screw it up, they are pretty tough, but don't do a whole lot. They will loop, fly inverted (not real well) and do a wingover. That's all I got out of mine before I tired of it.

I think built for a beam mount and using medallion power would really do wonders for lightening the nose and waking the maneuvering of that airframe up. Don't worry about the fail safe mechanism. You are way past that point with your flying skill and it would just be a nuisance.

Rusty, they will fly on 52' lines. Only level, and not something to attempt on a windy day.

You know, Ron, I was thinking maybe if one were to glue two of those airfoils back to back it might be better at flying inverted and looping. I wrote about that in Mark's thread too. I understand that's not the purpose of a Wiz, but I think it has enough wing area for the small added weight. You could even sandwich a sheet of ultra light contest balsa between them to fatten it up, and it may fly with a little more fun in the tank.

Ian, you could get used to flying it as-is, and if it gets boring, those might be some mods to try, especially if it was converted to use a Medallion, or a Tee Dee with a Medallion carb body, which should make it a user-friendly engine. I've always thought it sounded like a good idea but never tried it. You could still modify it later after the wing is installed. Even fixed flaps could be added to help it grab more air.

If you  progress to the point that the Wiz is too bland, some of those mods would make upgrading easier than building a more sophisticated model. Of course you can build with quality about 20 times faster than me, so you may rather build a purpose designed aerobat. Tonight it took me 2 hours just to glue one freakin' flap on a model. That was after an hour Saturday gluing the 5 hinges into the flap.
Rusty

Ian the Wizard is looking good like the way you pieced in some wood for the landing gear wire good idea , is it going to bee a mufflered I/C engine ? Be watching for the color's

Greetings, Ian and others...

The Wizard holds a dear spot in my heart because both of my boys soloed on it, back in 1990.  This was after multiple rebuilds.  Inset dowels to glue the wing back together, nose block replaced, fuse snapped more than once and such.  Lots of dents in the leading edges.  

We had the best luck flying on grass, hand-launch, with no landing gear.  

As to the 52' lines issue, we used two of the approx. 50' spools of Dacron(?); most of the time we cut one spool length in half to fly other 1/2As.  I would guess that it was close to 50' handle to plane. The excessive tip weight would bank it out and a small rubber band on the bell crank would give up elevator if the lines got slack.  

Still got what is left of it in the attic, it was painted Fokker Red with white trim.  I think we flew it on a 6X3 prop, Babe Bee of course.  It came with a red Goldberg flight handle.

You have done very well on your build.  

Thanks for the memories,