As you say, if you stall first, assuming everything is square, you don't necessarily spin, but, and I believe even back then, if you fly an aerobatic competition which includes a spin, if you do not first stall, then spin, you get a 'zero' for the maneuver. The judges watch for the 'break' then for the rotation, and they count the turns etc. In other words, the controls are at centre at the point of stall, and are at the extreme after the nose drops. If the model is 'wingovered' into the spin, you get nothing. So the Taurus problem is the first bit, you have to stall it straight ahead, then bang everything into the corner to set up the autorotation. Get it wrong and you get a spiral dive, zero points. I find that a bit of power at the stall so that the elevator has a bit more 'bite' helps, then back to idle as you slam the sticks into the corner. Still, the succe4ss rate is only about 50%. Funnily enough the Orion is remarkably good at this trick, and will spin and stop on request. This gives me another recollection, the Orion will also 'flick', the Taurus will not. Something else to feed into the mix...
Evan.