What You Need

Magic Box cockpit setup

A working Magic Box rig from sim gear to RC plane. Here’s how the parts fit together:

[ Joystick / Throttle / Pedals (USB) ]
                |    (up to 4 devices)
                v
            [ Magic Box ]
                |    (PPM / SBUS / IBUS / CRSF)
                v
           [ Radio Module ]
                |    (wirelessly to receiver)
                v
         [ RC Receiver ]  ── (optional) ──>  [ Flight Controller ]
                |
                v
              [ Servos ]

The full bill of materials

What	Why	Examples
USB HOTAS	The sticks that drive everything — up to 4 USB devices	Logitech X56, WinWing F-16 Joystick, WinWing Orion 2 Throttle
Magic Box	The hub that converts USB → RC signals	SilverFox RC shop
Radio module or radio	Beams RC signals to the model	Flysky FRM303, RadioMaster Ranger ELRS, RadioMaster TX16S Mark II
Receiver	Lives in the model	Flysky FTR10, RadioMaster RP1 ELRS Nano
Power	3–6S LiPo with XT60	Your existing pack works fine
Cable	3.5 mm jack (PPM trainer port)	Supplied with Magic Box

USB power isn’t enough to run a full HOTAS rig — go with the LiPo.

Models you can fly with Magic Box

Magic Box doesn’t care what’s at the model end of the chain. A few common setups, all first-class supported:

Setup	What’s in the model	Where Magic Box sits
Classic RC plane (line-of-sight)	Receiver wired straight to servos and ESC. No FC.	Replaces the sticks on the radio end — that’s it. Trim and mixing live in your fingers.
FPV plane / fixed wing	Receiver → flight controller (iNav / Ardupilot) → servos and ESC. FPV camera optional.	Same as above; the FC adds stabilisation, expo, mixes, return-to-home, etc. on top.
FPV quad / racing drone	Receiver → flight controller (Betaflight / iNav) → ESCs. FPV camera typical.	Same as above.
Sim training rig	No model — just an RC receiver on the bench plus servos to watch them move.	Useful as a smoke test before binding to a real airframe.

You can do all of these from one Magic Box by switching profiles — different binding setups live side-by-side.

Optional but worth it

Add-on	What you get
Flight controller (Matek, SpeedyBee with iNav)	Rates, trims, expo, mixes, flight modes, OSD on FPV video — way more capability layered on top of Magic Box. Not needed for classic line-of-sight flying.
FPV gear (camera + goggles)	First-person flight. Big topic, big payoff. Independent of Magic Box — Magic Box drives the RC link, FPV drives the video link.
Bluetooth head tracker (e.g. Head Tracker v2.2)	Tilt + pan a gimbal with your head while your hands stay on the sticks. Pairs with FPV but works without it.

See it in flight

Got the gear? On to Quick Setup for the wiring.