ORIGINAL: Red B.
In the official IAC and IMAC judging guide one can read the following:
"Snap rolls must be observed very carefully to ensure that the competitor is not “aileroning” the aircraft around its longitudinal axis.
Thats what the rulebook says allright, but go to an IMAC contest and waitch the unlimited flyers that are really good and score well on snaps. Its predominantly aileron with the least hint of rudder that you can get away with and make it "look" something like a snap with just the least amount of coning you can get. Its the slickest thing you have ever seen.
Thats not to say that its not the way to make them "look" like the rulebook intenteds them to look, but then if you actually execute the snap with the control inputs as indicated in the rulebook (a real snap) your snap ends up displaced with the nose pitched this way or that and the airplane loses a ton of forward momentum. There is a contradiction in presentation vs. proper execution of a REAL snap as far as I am concerned. Its almost impossible to keep a real snap on track and keep your forward speed fairly constant, especially if you use the rudder and elevator w/ minimal ailerons like you are "supposed to. . I dont have a problem with the way snaps look in pattern and IMAC, it looks nice, but I dont like that they tell you that you should execute in a way that its impossible to give the presentation that they are asking for. To get the scores you have to exit on track and wings level on all axis, to do that you HAVE to cheat more with the ailerons and stay off the rudder and elevator as much as possible.
Now that I have learned to make my snaps look like the big boys snaps, this means more to me than ever.
I digress.
As far as how I personally like to do snaps.
IF you want a deep snap that is a REAL snap then lead with the elevator and then a lot of rudder (maybe 40-45 degrees) with just a little aileron. But hang on to your hat, its going to autorotate with a WHOOSH and it may be hard to stop.. It will also slow the plane to nearly a stop and fall off or continue to roll. Real snaps can really bring meaning to the term autorotation.
If you want a pretty, basic competition snap that looks nice then to start try about 20-25 degrees rudder (maybe less), 15-20 degrees of elevator and 30 degrees of ailerons, that should make it look nice and crisp. Just lead with the elevator by a fraction of a second and then be ready to get out of the rudder/elevator as soon as it starts to cone and then finish with the ailerons.