BigNed:

The first few times I tried to take-off with my spa3dt I had the same results as what you are saying. The thing was almost uncontrolable on the ground...wanted to do 360's on the runway. The biggest thing I found is that if you have flown alot of balsa planes a spad (like your spa3dt) doesn't seem to handle the same.....is more of a wild ride. Granted that is all part of the fun with spads but it just takes a bit of getting used to is all.

Are you using a tailwheel or a skid made out of scrap pvc on your spa3dt? I've had very good luck using a dubro 1" rubber tailwheel on my spads. All you need to do is give it a bit of up elevator to keep the wheel planted on the ground for steering untill you gain enough speed for liftoff. I normally just hold up elevator and throttle her up and liftoff is only a matter of feet away.....my spad3dt kind of leaps into the air and like to harrier in for landings. Like has been mentioned before my decent ground handling might be due to that my landing gear is tweaked back a bit from all the less than perfect landings it has seen in the last few months.

The pqhor I fly is a bit different than the spa3dt in terms of takeoffs but basically the same principle. Hold up elevator to keep the tailwheel on the ground for steering till you get some speed built up then hang on for the wiildest ride of your life.

Madd_Maxx