Seagull Models Maxi Lift Utility Aircraft

Fly, tow sailplanes, and drop parachutes

By Fitz Walker | [email protected]

Photos by the author and Lee Ray

As seen in the August 2023 issue of Model Aviation.

With the flaps deployed, the Maxi Lift will comfortably fly at a nice, slow speed.

CAN A MODEL AIRPLANE be the equivalent of a Swiss Army knife? Perhaps the Seagull Models Maxi Lift from Legend Hobby is such a model aircraft. At first glance, it looks to be a typical, high-wing, gas-powered sport airplane, but the designers weren’t happy with stopping there. They added a bomb bay to the bottom and a glider tow release to the top of the fuselage, thus transforming a sport airplane into an eclectic work horse.

The model is traditional balsa-and-plywood construction with iron-on film covering. The parts count is relatively modest for this type of model. You do get some nice extras, such as pilot busts, a fuel tank, and air-inflatable tires. The manual is 32 pages of mostly black and white photos and some text. Although some photos are slightly dark and/or low-resolution for my taste, they are workable.

Assembly

Assembly starts with the wing, where you attach the offset flap hinges to the wing halves and flap sections. There are some convenient, predrilled holes to locate where the flap hinges are to be attached with screws.

The plastic used for the flap hinges is somewhat flimsy, especially if not aligned straight when mounted—mainly, the pivot-point pin can slide out slightly under movement. They haven’t failed in flight, but a better design would be nice.

The ailerons hinges are recessed from the factory and nothing needs to be done by the builder. Tail surfaces use CA hinges, which must be installed and glued by the builder. You will also need to epoxy in the fiberglass control horns for all of the control surfaces.

The landing gear screws onto the fuselage’s underside via blind nuts, while the wheels attach to the axle in two pieces around the center of the tire. The assembly hides one of the wheel shaft nuts and uses four long 2mm screws to hold everything together. An optional "hub cap" is provided, which must be glued onto the wheels.

The most interesting part is installing all of the servos. You have the usual plate-mounted servos for the flaps and ailerons—the aileron pushrod lengths stated in the manual are incorrect—but the two elevator servos are mounted to removable plates at the rear of the fuselage. Because of the way they are mounted, you will either need to use two separate receiver channels for them or reprogram one of the servos for reverse direction (which is what I did) if you use a Y connection on a single channel.

We’re not done yet. You still have a bomb bay and a tow release to set up. Both of these servos reside in the bay. The glider release servo directly connects to a rod that traverses to a fitting at the top of the fuselage, but expect to spend the most time setting up the bomb bay servo, which uses a set of bellcranks to operate the doors.

The cargo bay is roughly 8 × 6 × 5 inches (length × width × diameter). It is a nice size for all sorts of things to drop, such as these parachute figures.

The lines of the Maxi Lift are modern looking and vaguely resemble an experimental aircraft.

The supplied bellcrank pivot screws seemed a little short, so I replaced them with longer ones out of my parts bin. You will need to carefully adjust the bellcrank links both from the servo and to the doors. It’s a bit Rube Goldberg-ish, but it works reasonably well if you are persistent with setting it all up. For convenience, there is a hatch on top of the bomb bay for loading its contents while the bottom bay doors are closed.

Engine

For the engine, I used the RCGF Stinger 35cc rear-exhaust version. It fits the predrilled bolt pattern in the firewall perfectly, and the supplied standoffs only needed a couple of thick washers to extend the engine to the correct offset length; however, the blind nuts in the firewall were for 4mm screws. A quick tap of a hammer popped them out and by slightly enlarging the hole, I was able to fit 5mm blind nuts in to match the screws for the engine.

The throttle servo mounts inside of the same compartment as the fuel tank. Because I will also use a servo-controlled choke, I fabricated a second servo mount by 3D-printing one out of ABS plastic. There was room to place the choke servo behind the throttle servo. The whole fuel tank compartment is quite roomy and will easily hold large battery packs for electric fliers. Under the fuel compartment is a handy, little cubbyhole for the ignition module.

For electric fliers, the kit includes an adjustable wood mount for various motor lengths. This is a large model, so you will need a 160-class motor that is roughly 2,700 watts—this usually means a battery in the order of 10 cells in series and a 100-amp ESC. Such a setup should provide plenty of power.

The rudder servo and foam-wrapped receiver fit nicely into the rear fuselage compartment.

The fuel tank and battery bay in the nose has room for the receiver and ignition batteries, the fuel tank, and an extra servo for the remote choke control.

The cowling is painted fiberglass that is nice and glossy with a large, front opening for ample cooling. You will need to cut the bottom of the cowling to make room for the engine cylinder. Small screws attach it to the fuselage.

The tail wheel in the kit differed from what was pictured in the manual—but in a good way. It is larger and features machined, aluminum parts with a ball bearing swivel. The wing has metal support struts that screw into the bottom of the fuselage and wing. For extra support, the horizontal and vertical fins have load-bearing support struts made of 3mm metal rods with clevises.

Two pilot busts are glued into the cockpit area, along with the front window to the front hatch. Speaking of windows, the cockpit’s side windows are sandwich-glued in with painted wood inserts over the clear parts. This works quite well to give the interior a more finished look.

The receiver and rudder servo fit into a neat, little compartment in the fuselage behind the cockpit. The manual mentions placing the receiver battery there as well, but that seemed to be asking for trouble with the center of gravity. I placed both the ignition and receiver batteries in the front area next to the gas tank. That required drilling a couple of extra holes in the fuselage bulkhead to allow the wires to pass through the bomb bay.

Flying

The first flights were made with the Stinger 35 swinging a 20 × 8 wooden propeller. With the new engine a touch rich, it had plenty of power to get the feel of the model. At full tick, the Maxi Lift lifted off of a grass airfield with no flaps in about 30 feet on a calm day. I no doubt could have taken off much earlier using flaps and being more aggressive on the elevator.

Tracking on takeoff is quite good, with minimal corrections needed on the rudder. Once up, a moderate climbout angle is easily achieved. Don’t expect super vertical power, but for the model type, it is well matched. I might experiment with other propeller sizes, but what I had was a good start.

In the air, expect a model with trainerlike handling qualities. With the control throws set according to the manual, it seemed sedate. It was fairly well balanced, if slightly tame, on aileron responsiveness for my tastes. It is certainly not enough to get an inexperienced pilot in trouble. In fact, the Maxi Lift would be a fine model for a relatively low-time pilot.

The Maxi Lift kit has a surprisingly low parts count. Much of the prefabrication is done at the factory.

The rear-exhaust Stinger 35cc engine is a great match for the Maxi Lift. Note the lead fishing weights on the firewall for balance.

You don’t need rudder input for coordinated turns; the aileron and elevator were enough for nice turns, and yet, if you throw the stick in the corners, you can coax some mild aerobatics out of it. Loops were nice and big. Rolls were a bit slow, but give it time and it comes around. Snap rolls are crisp enough, although it is quicker to the right than the left.

Although sufficiently fast, the Maxi Lift is not a speed demon, so I was curious about its slow speed envelope. With flaps down, the model will slow to a near crawl and not drop a wing in the stall, and it will fly the pattern around the field with ease. Rudder authority, even at slower speeds, is good.

After testing the flight envelope, it was time to test out the Maxi Lift’s bombing ability. I loaded up the bomb bay with some medium-size parachuting figures I purchased from Amazon. These 3-inch figures are inexpensive and colorful, so they are easy to find on the ground and are approximately a dozen per pack.

At the assigned altitude, I opened the bomb bay doors and most of them came out. It seems that one was gun-shy and got hung up in the bay in the air (but fell out when on the ground, the little wimp). Opening the doors didn’t seem to have a noticeable effect in flight handling.

Conclusion

In all, the Maxi Lift is a fast-building, easy-to-fly model with added features that should make it a must-have model in your inventory. I look forward to seeing what and how heavy of things I can shove into the bomb bay, and it will no doubt make a fine towing aircraft as well.

SOURCES:

At a Glance

pecifications

Weight: 13 pounds, 5 ounces

Radio: Spektrum NX10SE

Receiver: Eight-channel Spektrum AR8020T

Servos: Eleven Hitec D645MW

Battery: Two Spektrum 7.4-volt, 5,000 mAh with a hard case

Wingspan: 87.6 inches

Wing area: 1,072.6 sq. in.

Wing loading: 35 ounces per sq. ft.

Engine: Stinger RCGF 35cc RE

Price: $525.95

Pluses

• Quick to assemble.
• Easy and relaxing flying qualities.
• Useful and fun "gimmicks."

Minuses

• Some screws were too short and the blind nuts for the engine mount were too small in diameter.
• Pictures in the manual were a bit dark and fuzzy.
• Flap hinges could be better.

Manufacturer/Distributor

Seagull Models/Legend Hobby

(833) 927-2473

www.legendhobby.com