Masterix (oz9313)

About this Plan

Masterix (Majestix). Slope soarer model.

Quote: "Build Pete Barnett's Obelix Update... I first encountered the Obelix (oz8758) in the early 1980s at the BARCS AGM, when Chas Gardiner offered me a semi-kit consisting mainly of three foam panels and some instructions. At the time I was intrigued, but wary of this unusual looking machine which resembled a control line combat model. I had my doubts about its controllability so declined the very good offer. However, about a year later the full size plans appeared in RCM&E for both foam and built up versions. The latter appealed to me more not being a lover of foam at the time.

After I had started building, I found that several other club members had also commenced building both versions, so I decided then to make mine slightly different to avoid confusion when flying with several other identical models. The wing tips were rounded off and the ailerons enclosed along with a few other small deviations from the plan. These, along with the red and white colour scheme with Russian markings, made it easily distinguishable from the others and it was subsequently dubbed 'Obelixski'. My model was the first to fly and impressed every one with its remarkable agility and ability to fly in a very small area of sky, this stirred up a hive of activity and the air was soon full of Obeli! hurtling in all directions.

A great deal of pleasure was had from these fun machines, I used mine along with my 'Mini Racer' to win a multi task slope competition at Chas's own club. The foam cutting fraternity in our Chesterfield and District Soarers club were busy turning out foam cores, so I got a set cut with extended tip panels to increase the span from 36in to 42in. A PAW I-49 diesel was mounted up front and whilst it flew well, I just could not get a consistent run out of the motor due to fuel supply problems. I was also fed up with all the mess and not being a lover of the troublesome noisy contraptions I quickly converted it to pure glider. With this model I entered and managed to win the 'Sheffield Society of Aeromodellers' slope acrobatic contest.
Although the original 36in Obelix is a great performer we quickly found that it got small very rapidly so had to be kept fairly near the slope to avoid orientation problems.

I decided then to enlarge the design up to 48in to give some 4-5 sq ft of wing area and cleaned it up somewhat. The result was a much more curvaceous model and was subsequently named 'Majestix' by club members. Several of these were built and it was much smoother than the small originals - mine won the Sheffield pylon race event, mainly because it would easily out turn the other models and in the ever decreasing wind was the only craft to complete the last round, the others having to land out. This was not surprising as my model only weighed 22 ounces which calculated to just under 5oz per sq ft, consequently its light wind performance was very good. Provision was made to ballast it up with a pound of lead in a ballast box over the CG and this made it capable of performing over a wide range of wind speeds..."

Masterix, Silent Flight, February/March 1996.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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