Hello all. I'm an electric flyer who now wants to move to glo and a larger plane. I'm really looking to spend less than 400 bucks for a fully 3D plane in the 40 size range plus a few glo support things... wish I could go 60 but not sure the funds will support that. Anyway, I saw someone at the field today with a Hanger 9 Twist with an OS 46 I believe. I liked the looks and it sure looks like it has the control surfaces I'm looking for but it could barely hover with the powerplant it had. I really want some power so am looking for some suggestions.

1. Is the Twist a good choice? Anything better in the 100ish buck ARF category??

2. What size engine would be good for unlimited vertical, power for easily pulling out of hovers, etc?? I'm sure if properly treated all brands have reliability etc, I just haven't had a glo engine in 15 years and those were 1/2A to 15 size... I did get modelsport's Engine Basics DVD and have read a lot so I think I'm pretty clear other than a brand and size to handle this plane... I think a 4 stroke would be nice but this is kinda a budget setup so 2 strokes are likely all I can afford.

3. I have a Hitec Flash 5X I'll be using and planned to just get the 100 dollar flight pack with standard servos etc. I'm assuming that motor suggestions etc would be able to easily handle the weight etc...

I'm used to light electrics with brushless and really dont want a lack of power... have to stress that! My planes pull out of my hand straight up accelerating easily.. thats what I want only bigger! All comments appreciated... oh and not so interested in profile kinda planes...

i had a post here but i read u weren't interested in profiles.......soooooo....i took it off. (ExtremeFlight Edge540T)

Hehe, welcome to the dark side of glow power...

You may want to check out the H9 Funtana S or the Great Planes U-Can-Do .46, both are good 3d airplanes. The UCD is more for someone getting started in 3D, and the Funtana is a little more advanced. A pilot with intermediate experience would have no problem flying either. I've flown both(I own the UCD) and like em both. They are, however, a little over the 100 buck range. I got my UCD for 135.00 from the LHS, and the Funtana S is around 140-160 most places. The Twist is a good choice as well, being lighter, I think it would be well-powered with a smaller .72 4-stroke. Mabye a Twist expert will jump in here and correct me if I'm wrong.

If it's power you're after, I'd go with a Saito .91 4-stroke on either of the first two. Excellent power.

EDIT - I'm sorry, I didn't see that you want to go with a 2-stroke. IMO 4-strokers are the way to go for a 3D airplane, they'll swing a bigger wider prop. But if you're set on a 2-stroke, I'd think a good .50 would be enough for the Twist, depending on your altitude. With a .60 in the Funtana or UCD.

hahah, ya the Dark Side... or oily side! Well, I love electric but 400 dollars in lipos for a big plane is just too much now... I've seen a few Funtana's at the field and I'll probably get one after this I just want to get going cheap at first so I thought the Twist would be good... I've heard a good 40 will hover the Twist on the right prop fine, what about those Evolution engines?? They seem to get pretty good reviews... maybe the 46 in the Twist?

If you want the Twist, although I don't know that plane, from what you said I can have a picture. If you get it, and with a 46 the performance is not that good, just put a HOT 50 on it (OS 50 SX, Enya 50, others??) with a tuned pipe. And make the plane as light as possible and use a low pitch prop (for those engines, a 12.25x3.75 or 12x4. If the engine affords, unlikely, a 13x4). Aim for a thrust to weight ratio of at least 1.7. With that you will be able to launch it from your hand.... Now, if you live at altitude, maybe a 60 will fit the bill.....

3d'ing a 40 size means 4.5 to 5 lbs max AUW. Don't know the weight of the Twist but most ARF's don't make the cut. The Twist is a lot like the Somethin' Extra. Mine's a lot of fun, but it's no 3D machine. Knife edge loops are out and high alpha anything is almost unattainable. A Sledge or one of the OMP's will do it all. There's a Japenese company selling ARF's I believe, do a search for Komacrow. I built their Fun 15 from plans, full blown 3D on a 20FP. Might also want to look at the Taco/Burrito stuff or the Capiche 50.

Mike

AUUGHH,,, I was at Hobby Town today and ALMOST got a FUntana and Evo 46... just couldn't do it but then I talked about it with my wife and thought I should Ebay my RF G2 and addons and it might just be even! I've gotta think about this some more but man after looking it all over in the box I'm really becoming obsessed with it!

This is going to sound crazy, but put a Super Tigre G90 ringed 2-stroke on a Twist. Trust me. I have a Twist with one and it's awesome. I'm running a lithium polymer receiver pack, so my net weight increase is only about 4 ounces over a Evo .46 setup with NiCad's, but I have 2.45 HP instead of 1.47. Amazing thrust, and the plane still flies light as a feather. You can never have too much power with 3D. Just barely squeaking by on power (1:5 thrust to weight) means you can't get yourself out of a jamb quickly. I like having the piece of mind that I can rocket out of a hover if I need to. And again, the weight increase in nominal, plane still balances, and the torque effects of the longer prop don't cause any problems. And the motor is only $120. You can't go wrong.

The Twist has some elevator coupling at knife edge, but inverted flight is hand's off. Knife edge loops aren't the greatest, but possible.

Wow, this it is weird looking back just 6 months!

Well, I did get the Twist and liked it with an OS46FX with Tower muffler.. on a 12x4 it could pull out of a hover ok, not a rocket but enough to hover close to the ground without fear (torque rolling it low is another story!). I did get tired of the knife edge difficulties and it won't snap. Got some pretty good blenders going with it into hovering flat spins. That was fun. Wouldn't do harrier rolls too well. Maybe the snapping and harrier roll is setup but I did make adjustments to cg, control surface deflection, props, etc. all summer while I flew the covering off it! The nice fat wing I'm sure saved me a number of times flying too slow or doing something dumb close to the ground. It could save itself from a lot.. maybe I should try a bigger engine before retiring it totally, then I can get rid of the 5 oz of lead in the nose!

Anyway, I wanted a more serious plane recently so I just got a funtana 40 with a Saito 91 and fast digital servos... I'm excited all over again!

Hope to try it in the next week or so and I know what you mean about power being comfort lynn! You sure get used to it with overpowered brushless foamies! I'm really hoping this Funtana will do it for me but it had a lot more research so I think it will. I spent an hour at work one day browsing all the websites looking at engine weights and props etc and found exactly what you're saying about some larger displacements having the same or less weight because they just bored it out more. I don't think I'll ever get a "recommended" engine again as I won't see the power I really want and the weight is really a non-issue.

So what's the difference in the feel of a plane with digital servos versus analog? I switched from 4.8V to 6V with my analog servos and didn't really notice the speed increase. Do you have to be a pro to feel the difference with digital? I just can't justify the price now.

I highly recommend a Phoenix models FUNSTAR 40 with a Thunder Tiger 46 Pro and a MACs muffler. Truly unlimited vertical. The plane is very light and is built pretty good. About the only thing you have to do to it is double bevel the elevator as it is not done already. Easy task. It flies better than the twist and is more 3D capable. I liked it much better than the Funtana. Lighter on its feet. And it is 100 bucks. A TT 46 with MAC muffler will be about 125 plus 100 bucks for the plane and 100 buck for a flight pack and you have a 3D machine for less than 350. I liked it so much as did everyone else that 2 other people bought one.

Glad to see you are getting a Funtana... I finally ordered one the other day after looking at it for a LONG time- I will be putting a Supertigre G-90 2 cy. in mine.... CG may get tricky but that airplane needs gobs of power to fly properly-

If you ever want a quick drop-in power boost over the 46FX, the Irvine-53 and Webra-50GT are superior engines and run on 5%

Take care,
james

lynn - well, truthfully I don't know yet! I recently came into a pretty good wad of cash that just had to be spent on planes so I splurged a bit and got 130 oz. digital servos with metal gears.. I'm using 6v packs. I DID notice on the Twist with standard servos and 4.8 volts that with long servo arms to get full deflection there was very little torque to hold the elevator full up. I mean if you hold the elevator with a finger and try to prevent it from moving it was pretty easy to do.. I could actually feel it flying sometimes it got kinda mushy when pushing it hard.

I went to 6v pack and it helped, I did notice a servo speed increase and some maneuvers seemed a bit better. I know these new servos for the Funtana are overkill but I just wanted to try them as they're destined for a Funtana 90 or the extreme flight yak at some point in the future!

Razor - ya, I've been wanting a Funtana a long time as well. I am glad I started with a twist though as I think it is probably a little easier to fly and harder to get into difficulty. I learned a lot from it.

I also splurged a little on the Saito 91 although, as I said, the weight difference between a 46 with lead in the nose and a saito 91 is nil. I got pretty used to instant throttle response with electrics so I understand 4 strokes are similar, I don't like the feeling of power lag with the 46. I guess the 4c is more like a mild wind electric where you can use bigger props. We'll see shortly. Plus the 4c engines are just more interesting to take apart! Cool design and I'm excited to try all this new stuff out.

Once you go 4 stroke you will never go back well except maybe electric. The funtanna hands down is much easier to fly than the twist and much more capable 3D plane it also lands like a trainer! You will love it I have both and the twist is now just collecting dust. Have fun!!!!!!!!