I am trying to improve my 3D flying and I wondered if anybody had any good guidelines/tricks/tips for learning rudder control while inverted?

I am flying a foamy during lunch (e-foamies Mini R3D) at work. It is capable of making nearly flat rudder turns without aileron correction.

Tricks like pointing the stick to the dropping wing for aileron corrections don't seem to exist for rudders.

I am always getting mixed up while inverted. The answer might be just to practice, practice, practice until the motor functions are automatic

Kris.

drive the plane front end or back end with the rudder is how i do it

It does take alot of practice. I used the simulator to teach myself rdder control. When you have the plane inverted and flying towards you, the rudder will move the nose te same direction as the stick, which is opposite of upright. once the plane passes you the rudder will now move the nose in the opposite direction of the rudder stick. It took me alot of crashing on Realflight to get it right but once you get it, the muscle memory will become automatic. Good luck!

Kris, if you have a Sim practice practice practice. Like trublu said, it will eventually become muscle memory and you won't even think about it. If no sim then just burn batteries until you're bored and then burn some more batteries.

I always push the top of the stick the way I want the tail end of the plane to go. It takes lots of practice, but it will come.
I used to just figure I had a 50-50 shot at getting it right.

it will sounds stupid....but practice with a helicopter on the sim.......is the same thing when you are inverted with airplanes. Believe me it helped me really good.

The simulator seem to be best practice for R/C when not flying the real R/C.

Kris - All the tips you are getting are good, you just need to find what works for you and practice. I tried to steer the tail but it always confused me. The trick that works for me is to push the stick in the direction you want wing that is closest to you to go. It's really simple but works! After doing this for a half season, it became second nature. I fly mostly pattern, and in my class, all maneuvers are flown parallel to the runway so this trick always works when inverted - it saved me at contests numerous times.

This trick also really helps with inverted harriers.

Good luck.
Steve

As others have said, a sim is key.

When transitioning to "real life" I found that getting a plane that does NOT drop the tail when doing an inverted harrier is a big help. Much depends on trim, however some designs are better than others.

I've had real good experience flying the Accel Hobbies (now Value Hobby) Cap 35 ES designed by Gary Caruso. With a A20-20L it's a great light and relatively durable plane that makes an excellent inverted harrier "trainer". Batt is any 1300 3S size.

http://www.valuehobby.com/product_de...d=4&item_id=38

I'm sure there are other good choices, but that's one which I know works well while learning inverted. Gary purposely designed it to NOT drop the tail which is one less thing to worry about (balancing the throttle with the airspeed/elevator input required) so it makes it just that easier to learn steering.

The plane has very little coupling also (great KEs) so it's a fun one to 3D while not training.