Backwing

My Feedback: (3)

I've been trying to get mine up, but the wind here is just nuts.[:@]
My weight and CG are identical, no added weight.
I'm going to try and get it up this week, unfortunately I don't have the ability just yet to transfer video to my computer. Hopefully soon.

goplaneman

My Feedback: (175)

Please...... flight report as soon as possible, Iv herd it flies great but nothing specific. Knife edge, flat spin, inverted flight.

Backwing

My Feedback: (3)

Well; not such a good day for me.
Finally got to go and take it up. The plane flies very well! I'm really impressed with it, other than the elevator hinges(more on that in a bit). It knife edges really well, only a little elevator input, much better than my Twist. Rolls are FAST on high rates, flat spins are easy, and recover quickly. Stalls are straight, I couldn't see any tip stalls. Inverted flight only takes a little down elevator.
The only real problem I found in that it's a little nose heavy on the ground. I fly off grass, and it needs full up elevator.
It tracks very straight, loops straight, and goes where you point it.
Like I said I'm impressed, so I guess I'll have to get another. First flight was great... second, wasn't so good.

**CAUTION** Double check your hinges!! make sure they are tight. I followed the directions putting it together, and even added a few extra drops of CA on the hinges, tugged on them to be sure they were tight, but I guess they just aren't strong enough.
I came down for a low pass, and saw the right elevator flapping like a bird, then it all happened so fast. It rolled over and went right in. Total loss.

goplaneman

My Feedback: (175)

Im sorry to here of your lost, I hate CA hinges, and hardly ever uses them. On a brite note,Im glad to here she flew well.

3DHUSKER

My Feedback: (6)

OOOHHH MAAANNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUCH..............

jody-RCU

Well i went to the field this morning and got a couple fights in. The wind was about 8-10mph. It tracked wery well snap rolls very tight knife edge was great. didnt get to try ant thing fancy with it to windy. From what i could tell it flys very well I didnt have to add any trim at all and the controlls are very responsive on low rates.(i dont even have the hinge lines sealed) I think this plane is going to be a lot of fun?

boosted180

My Feedback: (8)

ouch! so sorry to hear about your loss. i know the feeling too well.

i'm picking one up today to replace my magic extra that i crashed last week (caused by mechanical failure as well).

hopefully the twister will fly pattern maneuvers better than the magic extra, which is great for 3d but has some bad habbits for pattern.

Backwing

My Feedback: (3)

I'm going to get another one. What would you suggest I use to replace the CA hinges?

After looking at it some more, the aileron hinge slots are cut into blocks on the TE of the wing. Two of those on one wing are off alignment, and only hold half the hinge[X(] Kinda scary.
I also think that what might have really happened is that the horizontal stab, may have somehow come apart from the fuse(I know I used lots of epoxy). That may have been what i saw "flapping" just before it went in.
I'll probably put wires on the next plane.

goplaneman

My Feedback: (175)

Dubro Nylon Hinges work great and are easy to pin, $4.50 for 15 hinges are cheap insurance, and I feel they work better.

3DHUSKER

My Feedback: (6)

I've seen all types of hinges fail...................so.....pick your poison........

goplaneman

My Feedback: (175)

I'll take pinned nylon hinges any day over CA, I have never seen one fail.

rspiegel

My Feedback: (6)

Tell you a hint I found some were put Vasaline on hinge pin so epoxy does not glue the pin. Has worked good for me.

jody-RCU

OOOOUCHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! THATS UGLY for the hinges i used the regular ca hinges that came with it however i did notice that one or two of them had to be reglued they felt loose to me. the cut outs for the hinges seems to be almost to big for the ca hinges. As for the strength of ca hinges i have a 80in cap that has them in it and it been roung out pretty good and they held.

3DHUSKER

My Feedback: (6)

68 inch extreme flight yak 54 has ca hinges and I have ripped on it something terrible, jody-rcu is right, you have to make sure they are glued in well, check and double check.

3DHUSKER

My Feedback: (6)

jody-rcu......... You seal your hinge lines like the book suggests?

RCAddiction

My Feedback: (87)

Backwing - are you 100% sure that a hinge failure actually caused your very unfortunate loss? It could be, of course. However, possibly you may have experienced flutter in that elevator half due to clevis/horn problems, or other linkage or servo issues. Flutter tends to tear apart CA hinges very quickly, and when you land (or crash), all you see are torn or pulled out CA hinges.

With a 13x6 APC on my YS63 powered Twister, flat line speed is much greater than I anticipated. It's a fairly slippery shape. With those large elevator surfaces, you need a fair bit of servo power if you pick up some speed, in order to avoid flutter. I will re-prop this plane for more vertical performance. As a precaution, I replaced much of the hardware, notably the clevises, with something that was more secure than that provided. I do this fairly often with ARF's when the hardware is not as good as I feel it needs to be.

Best of luck with your next one!! Best precision flying plane in my fleet (including much larger aircraft), and does wonderful point rolls with little or no correction in roll. My CG is at 4-5/8" at the moment (range 4" to 5.5"). I will be gradually working it rearward to improve 3D. Hopefully it will maintain its wonderful precision.

3DHUSKER

My Feedback: (6)

what hardware did you go with? I am at the stage that I am ready to put on the horns and clevises

RCAddiction

My Feedback: (87)

The particular clevises in my kit didn't snap tightly closed, so I replaced all of the clevises with the Dubro nylon composite clevises. They are the black nylon ones with metal pin and locking connector. I also made new 2-56 pushrods with Z-bends on the servo end. This was needed in my case as the supplied pushrod diameter was a bit undersized to work with standard 2mm clevises. I had 2-56 pushrods and 2-56 clevises on hand. I used the supplied control horns for the control surfaces. Note: in my kit, the horns supplied for the aileron are different than the photos in the manual. The aileron horns have 3 screws securing the triangular base, and the screws are very long, so they can pass through the thick aileron. Stock tailwheel was used. Fuel tank was replaced with Hayes 11 oz tank wrapped with fiberglass tape, only because I'm running a YS with a highly pressurized tank. The supplied tank seemed fine for other engines and featured a metal ring to reinforce the neck.

FYI - In mine, I found that adding some differential throw in the ailerons made the plane track even more neutrally in turns. Mine tracked a little tail down when banked. So, using my EPA (end point adjustments) I dialed in approx 120% down aileron vs 140% up aileron as I recall. Tracking is now spot on. I would not do this, however, until after you've test flown yours and see if it exhibits this phenomenon. As indicated above, I found the stock aileron throws to be a bit "hot". I used the recommended Sport settings as low rates and 3D setting as high rates. Even with expo, the ailerons were more responsive than I like for low, so I dialed them down just a little, for low rate only. High rate was fine for 3D.

goplaneman

My Feedback: (175)

RCAddiction,
How does your plane Knife Edge and Flat Spin?

RCAddiction

My Feedback: (87)

I honestly have not tried to flat spin it yet. Still just getting used to it. However, knife was easy and very neutral with little rudder and on mine, no major pitch or roll coupling to speak of. As I said above, I was even able to cheat a quick 4 point roll with ailerons only, without correction for attitude. It's a manuever I've been working on, and of course, they always look nasty when I do them because I overcorrect and/or have bad timing with rudder and elevator. With the Twister, it was a matter of left aileron - click stop. click stop. click stop. click stop. Wow! I felt like Joe Cool. [8D]

Backwing

My Feedback: (3)

With my CG at 4.5" it did a nice flat spin(for testing), it wasn't totally flat, but it was a flat spin. Should be sweet with CG around 5-5.25". Easy to enter, and easy to recover.
I will definitely be replacing ALL hardware on the new one. The more I go back and look at the parts, the hardware quality just isn't there. The elevator rods bend very easily.
Like I said it all happened so fast, it could have been that the elevator half fluttered. I did see it flapping, but could not control it. I was running brand new Futaba 3004's on the elevator and rudder, and 3010's on the ailerons.
After the first flight, I checked everything over, and it all looked good, but maybe there was something I couldn't see.
Are you guys finding it nose heavy on the ground?

RCAddiction

My Feedback: (87)

Nose heavy on the ground - YES I need to apply full up elevator while taxi-ing on grass, and still I have to be really careful not to stop suddenly in a divot, or it will nose over. When I move the CG back, I anticipate that this will be less of a situation. Not a big deal and not the only plane I've had that does this.

Servos - I'm running Expert SL-571 servos all around, except throttle. They are less than $20 each and have 62 in-oz of torque. Speed is acceptable. I've had some on my Global Freestyle and they've served me well without complaint.

jody-RCU

thunder stick


i didnt seal the hinge lines like it suggest. and i would recommend that the thows be a little less than the recommended throws especally the ailrons. they are very responsive even with expo. and it is a little faster than i expected to (speed) i running a 13x6 and will be changing to a 14x4. it is a great fling plane from what i can tell the winds been blowing here forever cant wait to fly it in good weather i bet it will be great.

3DHUSKER

My Feedback: (6)

I take it you are running a ys also. I just sealed the hing lines and mounted the ys 63, woundering if the stock tank will hold the pressure, what did you do???
I also have gotten a 13x4w and a 14x4w prop for it and will use the one that seems to work best.

goplaneman

My Feedback: (175)

Has anyone tried the Magnium 52 in the Twister?