PropSpinner

My Feedback: (15)

I want to build a SPAD to fly in the nasty windy weather. I stop flying when the weather gets blustery. I hate spending the winter putting my planes back together. I've just done it too many times. I figure a heavy plane does better in the wind and Spads are some of the heaviest. I agree, if you can't laugh about the bad days you need to look for another hobby.

TimC

RCDOC, there are many threads here on RCU about setting the needles on Saitos. It's not hard, but it needs to be done right. You should be able to find them with a search. Maybe you shouldn't put your Twist into the air again until the needles are adjusted right. The low speed needle is set very rich from the factory. I just checked the high speed needle on my .82 and it's only open 1 3/8 turns (I'm at 4000' elev., about the same as Calgary). This doesn't mean yours will be the same, but two and a half turns seems really rich. Good luck with it.

TimC

Well said, PropSpinner. I just became an ace recently (5th plane destroyed); it's either try to smile and press on, or throw in the towel.

PropSpinner

My Feedback: (15)

Most of my mishaps through the years have been while taking off and landing. I never understood the crashes people had where they were they started out a speck in the sky and ended up a pile of rubble on the ground. Must not take the time to learn how to setup a plane correctly. I have lost so many good planes to crosswinds that I'm a chicken on choppy fall days. You can't do anything about the other guys mistakes though. You have to take the time to see if a planes going to drop on your head.

Wished I had a flight sim to play with on nasty days though. Every time I start shopping for one I get distracted by all the shiny new planes.

Waldopepperaxel, good luck putting the Twist back together.[sm=thumbup.gif]Hope Homer gets out of intensive care soon. Will he be piloting the repaired Twist?

Jack211

Waldo, five hours is a good day flying--no NY minutes thered!

I keep planting balsa, too, but nothing grows. What's that about?

95% of crashes are caused by poor preflight checks, they say.

I've just ordered my FIFTH Twist, due Jan. (#4 has the Saito 82 on her); she's rebuilt and a bit weak in the mid range of the wing, but she flies. I just have to be careful with her for a while. #5 won't be here until mid Jan. Somebody's caught on about this bird. They are OUT of them nation-wide. There is NOTHING to compare with it, nothing. I'm going to try a UCD 46 with an O.S. 61. By the way, my flying pal put a new OS 61 on his Twist, and with the standard tank he's getting 16 minute flights--more efficient than the Saito, by about 5.5 mins. AND DOES IT PERFORM!

I can't understand guys not flying in the winter: 1) there are many more fields available (if you get permission--parks, e.g.). Think outside the AMA approved fields. Build your own portable table. Here in the country I can fly off my road--but it ain't that sweet with wires and trees; 2) the engines love the cold. You may have to take some lighter fluid on REALLY cold days, but I flew yesterday, 17 degree weather, without needing the lighter fluid. I DO put my thumb, veeereeey carefully, over the carbs on my 2 cycles to get them to go. They like rich to start; 3) snow is more forgiving of sloppy landings--and bottoming on those close-to-the-ground loops.

Now, you can BUY Dubro skiis, but they are EASY to make. See pix.

The pix include: 1) two 13" x 3" white skiis [on the UCD 60, heaviest plane I have], made from a plastic bucket side, then straightened and bent again using a butane torch; the pic includes a Dubro ski and another I made from some special PVC we got last year, gray; 2) skiis, cut from the blue TOP of a drywall goop bucket. This bird is light so didn't require much length or breadth to support the plane; 3) two of the PVC skiis, one not yet put on the front wheel of a tricycle Dart. I used it for the Big Stik, too.

The skiis are attached to the gear with a simple aluminum angle iron available at most hardware stores. The angle irons are secured with rivets. The rivet gun and rivets are reasonably cheap, too. Drill a hole through the aluminum and PVC to match the rivet diameter, install the rivet and squeeze. Easy--and MUCH cheaper than the Dubro equivalents.

Nice thing about the Dubros are the springs which keep the nose of the ski up in flight. WE use rubber bands--standard. You can see where I drilled holes to accept a small dia wire, then put the band through it, voila.

THIS year, though, I've attached skiis on the Twist and UCD 60 with toothed washers so they won't move at ALL. I'm thinking that will work fine. The alternative is always trying to get them to look right, symetrical angles, in flight. And you only need a very little "up" in the tip so the ski doesn't dig in and upsot the plane.

Deciding on the width and breadth of the ski for a particular plane is a function of the type of snow you fly on, obviously, but the samples in the picture serve me in all conditions of snow, though in DEEP new snow you tend to throw it around with the prop. Fun!

Good luck.
Jack

PropSpinner

My Feedback: (15)

I need to buy another Twist for the day I plant mine. It's inevitable that I bring it home in a trash bag someday. You can't help but push it to the limit.

Like those skis Jack! I wonder if PVC downspouts would make good ski material. Of course the Dubros aren't that expensive.

Jack211

PJ, drain spout PVC, absolutely, but they are only 2 and a quarter wide and with the edges off, less than that., but oughta work on any plane less than 4.5 lbs, I reckon. Make 'em longer--for more support.

As for the cost, it's like anything else in this sport. I'll go through $40 worth of props and glow plugs in a long session, but I chince on paying Dubro 20 bucks for a set of skiis which last a damn long time. I'm thinking my skiis cost about a .75 a pair, and I can make three sets of skiis in less than an hour--and they tend to be lighter than Dubros. Now, wait a minute. That's $60 worth of skiis--which I design for each plane's needs. Hm. It's worth it. Helps if you have a complete shop to work with. too.

skukreja

My Feedback: (6)

getting closer..

TimC

That looks great skukreja. Lots of work I bet.

Waldopepperaxel

Skukreja,, That does look great !!!! Git r done...

Propspinner, Yes Homer will be piloting the repaired Twist next season, Thanks for the concern,,, as long as he's got that Twisted terrorized look on his face, I can't think of a better plane for him yet.. I'm flying the Flight Sim Century of flight 2004, Janes F-16, Microsoft Combat flight sim, I just haven't splurged for a R/C flight sim yet, I too get distracted by the planes all around the simulator page, Thats a little too funny you said that.

Jack I understand your wonder in why people don't fly in the winter, for I have been flying for 35 years now and from when I was 8 until about 7 years ago I was a fully seasonal pilot, But I have many hobbies and jobs so I Take off from flying from our snow covered field until I can drive back up there, but occasionally I still go flying off the road during the winter when I just can't wait any longer, its so addicting, PLUS,, we just moved, or are in the middle of moving I should say, and now I can fly right off my own yard so I may just be back out there again this winter. Also a friend of mine has the UCD 46 he strapped a .90 - 4 stroke on her he absolutely loves it, and it has plenty O power.. P.S. your ski's look great

Winter ski's We had an old Mobile plastic sign we made plenty of ski's out of, we cut it down to ski size, then heated and bent the tips up, placed a block of wood in the center with an axle hole and walaa, these worked great and were absolutely free, and took seconds to make, however we didn't have them tied off to anything so we had two big pinwheels spinning around during flight, Timing the landing was key to having the ski land upright, so we eventually zapped a rubber band on the back of the ski and hooked it to what ever was available on on the plane and that solved the spin problem.

TimC Just laugh And NEVER throw in the towel, I don't know what I would have done without this hobby over the years, And is that all it takes is 5 smashes to be an ACE, Hell I don't know what I'm considered then, I have about 4,500 some odd smashes. I think that may be an under estimate.

Later kids

A1

My Feedback: (2)

I've been trying to flat spin a Twist with an OS70 on it for a year. How is it done? Mine just flys out of anything I do to start the spin.[:@]

One-O-Wonder

Hi Guys, Well after reading over 100 pages of this forum the past month, I decided to put one of these machines in the sky. My flying field is at 5800 ft in Colorado so it will be definetly a test for the machine. I installed a trusty Magnum 52 2 stroke with a Mac pipe that has hauled many a plane around the skies here. I mounted the engine as far forward on the engine mount as I could. That said, I still had to add 3.5 ounces of weight in the nose to get the thing to CG. The plane weighs 5 lbs 1.5 ounces and that has me thinking bigger engine if it flies OK with the Magnum. I'd have flown the craft today except for one slight problem. Current outside temp is 10 deg and the wind is blowing out of the north at about 25 knots. I'll wait until Friday when the temp is predicted to be in the 30s.

A1, if you want to flat spin the machine 1) put it in a vertical dive at low throttle. 2) Add full down elevator, full left aileron, and full right rudder. 3) after a few revolutions neutralize the ailerons. Not only will you be flat spinning but you will be doing it upside down.

150flyer

A1,

The Twist will flat spin great if you have the CG far enough aft and if you have plenty of throw. My twist is the best spinning plane I own but there is another guy at our field who could not get his to spin. He asked me to put his Twist into a spin to see if it was his incorrect inputs or if it was the plane. Every time I tried to enter the spin, both inverted and right-side-up, it would just fly right out into a spiral. When we compared the CGs and throws, we found his CG was significantly more forward and he also did not have near the throw in the rudder mine had. As soon as we removed his brass prop nut and increased his rudder throw, the plane spins as well as mine.

RCDOC

Thanks Ron I will definately do that and I think I even have one of those in my flight box. I have a lot of faith in your advice because you had no possible way of knowing weather or not I had all ready change it or not. When I bought the eng. the sales person told me to by an extra os plug cause the Saito plugs were junk, but I thought that meant wait till the plug burnt or fowled .......aparently not ...

THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL OF THE HELP EVERYONE

RCDOC

Thanks TIMC I will give your advice a go as well. I will also try the plug advice i was given ....What plug do you run in your .82 saito?

TimC

I run a O.S. "F". The F works well in all my four strokes. There are cheaper plugs that are said to work just as well, but I haven't had a chance to try them yet.

Waldopepperaxel

A1, Aft Balance is the key, and listen to 150Flyer and to one-o-wonder,, they both know,

I also have no problem flat spinning, I use the method 150Flyer mentioned to start allot of my Flat spins but now I can seem to enter it from anywhere, and have found many ways to enter it.

My favorite is to start snap rolling vertical, get to your desired altitude, chop the throttle, push full down, (kind of a waterfall effect) then add the left Aileron then right rudder, then full speed after she's spinning, be careful with that though,, LOL, But I needed to get the Aft balance happening before Mine did any flat spinning at all. This is a spinning plane for sure, Use Plenty O throw,, it can handle it.. Good luck, happy twisting

150flyer

There is another cool maneuver the Twist is capable of doing out of an inverted flat spin. At least on mine, I can add full down elevator and about 3/4 throttle during the flat spin. Then continue to neutralize the ailerons. At some point, the plane will be in an extreme flat spin and holding altitude. It will hold its position for as long as desired and will even manage a very slight climb. I've been able to do this maneuver with profile planes, but never a 40 size plane that somewhat resembles the look of an actual plane. I don't know if it is technically a flat spin at that point but it sure looks cool.

RCDOC

Has anyone tried the fox plugs in the saitos? I have a couple os/f plugs which I will be trying first but I also have some fox plugs from my saito .65 that I have not tryied yet. Anyone have any luck with these?

PropSpinner

My Feedback: (15)

I have one Saito so I am hardly the expert but I have been told "O.S. F plug" numerous times. It seems they stay hot longer for the longer time between explosions in the cylinder on a 4C engine and they are the right length to get the fire where it needs to be. Just repeating what I've been told.

Waldopepperaxel

A few friends of mine fly with the Saito and they seem to love the OS F as their choice of plug, I have the OS Surpass II 70 - 4 stroke and with out a doubt the OS F works the best that I've found.

By the way RCDOC, Nice bipe,, maybe we should hook up for a good ol fashion dog fight.

Ron Kinsey

OS-F..OS-F..OS-F..OS-F....Nuff Said!

RCDOC

Dogfight sounds good, Just let me know the next time your up north. hehehehe. But I think I'll bring out the Twist for that, or maybe the P-51, I need to put more throw on my bip. cause right now the rolls are pretty slow. I just got my planes all goin about 2 weeks before the snow came and I can't wait for SPRING now. Suppose to be +4 Deg. Cel. (about 35 farenheit) so I might have to brave the snow and go for it this weekend. Man do I envy anyone in the south now.

Waldopepperaxel

SWEEEEEEEET Planes, I am up north actually, Just not as far north as you, were getting dumped on right now, I too envy the Southerners for the next 4 months, maybe I should go live with the in-laws in Alabama 4 months a year. Gotta love that Sourthern hospitality.
Go ahead and brave the snow for some flights, I have much rebuilding to do before I can fly my fun planes again.

One-O-Wonder

One, [hr]With the sun out, winds calm and the temp just above freezing, I maidened my twist this afternoon. I had to use the snow blower to clear the runway which left about a quarter inch of powder on the surface. The little craft roared down the runway with snow flying. Flew around for about five minutes triming. When rolled inverted on a 45 the nose barely drops ( cg is back near 5 inches). It was too cold to play much more so I landed and will play more tomorrow weather permitting. I Like IT!

Magnum 52 XLS, Mac Pipe, MAS 11x6