ORIGINAL: dick Hanson
... We learned to setup planes for these characteristics long before the mix features in radios hit the market .
AMEN to not going nuts with the mixing! Better to make a good plane from the start. I use mixing only to get the throws the way I want them (though I have fiddled a bit with spoilerons, flaperons and tailerons (for anti-torque rolling)). I have NEVER used a snap roll switch/button. And I decided I don't like spoilerons or flaperons on the planes I have tried those with.
And I didn't mean to imply that the all zero-zero mid wing setup was the best overall. Just presenting a baseline. I got my first Cap back in the mid '80s after everybody on Oahu had already had one and crased it due to it's "horrible" snap roll characteristics. I flew it for years, then sold it to a local when I got transferred away from Hickam. It was a wonderful plane that did utterly fantastic snaps--any fraction. Liked the Cap so much I bought a big Cap 10. (lost it to an disconnected elevator linkage
) I could do precise quarter snaps, 3/4, 1 1/4, 1 3/4, etc. inside or outside from any attitude. Fantastic knife-edge also. Liked it so much I bought another. Flew it for several years then sold it too when I got transferred again. I still have a soft spot for them. I've never had a Zlin, but I'd try one for sure, just to have something different.