Nothing wrong with Magnum! Sounds like a good investment. I wish I had taken advantage of that 30 dollar coupon at Tower but you snooze you lose.

Twist is clearing the hanger and taxiing for the runway.................yeeeeeeehawwwwwww!

Watch out for Twist hunters with shotguns!

Wow there has been a lot of commotion on here in the last couple of nights, Fainting goats and idiots with shotguns, What stories,!!!! We had 3 hunters on one of our old fields who took a pop at us ONCE,,,, !!!!! We turned and barnstormed them, After all, we were only flying $60.00 models we didn't care, but man we had them running, there must be something about a little dive bombing flying buzz saw coming at you that makes everything right with the world, after 3 or 4 passes we had them running into the woods, there was 3 of us flying that day, so the odds were fair, needless to say we kept them running pretty good for a few minutes, they were terrible shots, no planes hit,,,,,, 3 scared guys with guns cowering in the woods, it was a site to see, my goat fainted from laughter, after all birds were home on the runway, it finally set in that these guys had GUNS what the hell were we thinking.

I miss being young and fearless, or should I say young and Stupid, we were in the middle of nowhere with 3 armed dudes probably pissed at us for attacking them, but they drew first blood so we felt completely right about it, the thing that cracks me up about it the most now, is we were flying 2 CG Eagles and a CG Tiger, not any kind of speed planes by far, but they'll scare the wahooligans out of you when its heading your direction at full bore. I have to go flying now, its a beautiful 40% in NY,, ITS TWISTIN TIME !!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEHAAA

Has anyone else weighed their Twist? I just checked mine and it's 5 lb., 5 0z. This is dry. I bet a feathery 2 stroke would drop it below 5. I'm using a standard servo on the throttle and a 1100 mAh battery pack.

Today........Smoke not working....smoke working...smoke not working long enough. Wife drops off two hot pizzas, pop and some cash to fill my wallet....and tells me to fly all day because she got bumped at the hospital. UCD deadsticks from hover at 25ft....UCD heads to shop for repairs. Twist goes haywire....Twist noses in between huge boulders....Twist unharmed....Twist flies again. Drunk snowmobiler claims I buzzed him when he tried to drive through my hovering plane at 4 ft...Loser carves up our "flying field" with his sled....confrontation with sledder reveils drunk meth head...Yahoo didn't throw the first punch, but decides its better to "make friends". (Dang, I needed to let a little steam off today!) Jack suggests one last flight with the Hirundo......wings fold 1/2 mile up and we watch death spiral....2nd long walk for the day into the cedar swamp....calories burnt.....10,000,000. Jack's little missus comes and rounds him up.....Jack leaves with a smile on his face....I look at two wounded birds in the minivan and slug down a slimfast! (Yuck, that thick grainy stuff does not quench a thirst!) I'm still smiling though, cause my girl Twist is ready for tomorrow... that is if my sun and wind burnt face doesn't swell my eyes shut! Wife is taking me out for a steak dinner.....life is good.....


Peace.
Downtrodden.

TimC,

My Twist weighs 4.75 lbs and has a TT 46 and a standard Futaba radio setup. The only thing I did to lighten it was to install wire gear off a Tower Uproar, Dave Brown foam wheels and a Sullivan fuel tank. I have never hovered but keep falling out. I never added any right thrust. Have any of you found that to help with hovering?

What else can be done to lighten my plane? Would a Macs muffler help? What about a lighter throttle servo?

Down,

No shotguns just crazy drunk snowmobilers?[X(]

I weigh in at 5lbs even and I hover with ease at 1/2 throttle (Magnum 52).. What prop are you on? I hang off a 12x3.75.

PropSpinner, After using an OS .61 FX for the last six months I couldn't fathom using anything less powerful or dependable. I had a ST .51 on more than one Twist and although it could hold a steady hover...it would never have the thrust to play on the deck in even moderate winds. The .61 can recover in its own length 4ft off the ground! Now I'm not saying that any other engine won't fly the Twist around, but what I am saying is that once you try it you'll never go back to anything smaller. I've witnessed Jack's .82 Saito on his Twist and it is special in its own way, but it doesn't have the throttle responsiveness that the .61 does. To date I've watched Twists fly with .40,.45,.50,.51,.82 4s, and .61 mounted on their noses and I can say without reservation that this combo is something very special to me. Each engine mentioned above will fly the Twist, but the OS.61 FX can turn it into a magical bird! I just received the video from the other weekend and as soon as my son edits it for me I'll post it for everyone to see what I've been up on my soapbox hollering about! Throttle responsiveness is the key, without question...if you're big into 3D. I use an inch and a half Dubro heavy duty servo arm and I can pogo my plane just a few feet off the deck.

Peace,
Downtrodden.

PropSpinner, I'm running a Mac muffler on a few of my planes. They are quite a bit lighter than the stock muffler. They are louder too.

Propspinner, good for you. The hover will come. Practice, practice, practice. For 6 weeks I've been trying to get my Katana in a flat spin, inverted. Once it a while it would happen briefly, just as my early attempts with Twist hovering. But today I could get that Kat into an inverted flat spin and hold it for a while, when I wanted to. It's all in the fingers and the eyes, experience. I thought I would NEVER hover the Twist. It took Down three months, he says.

Our birds weigh in at about 5.5 lbs--with the OS 61s. If you can climb straight up with whatever engine you're using, you can hover. Props are critical. I don't think thrust lines are, but I'm not sure. My firewalls are all standard, unchanged, screws not washered. All my Twists, in the end, hovered--but it had more to do with me than the power and Twist. When I had my .45 on the Twist, the best prop was a 12.25x3.75. Truth be told, the .61 with the MAS 13x5 prop does it best.

Troddin' down: DownTrodden took two of the longest walks any of us have taken since I've been flying with him. One had to be almost a quarter mile into the swamp, through deep snow, to fetch the Hirundo glider. The only way he found it in the thick swamp was by my turning the radio on and moving the servos. He thought it was a red squirrel. Ha. But that's how he found the bird without walking all about in that snow. The snow on the pond wasn't bad, but the snow in the woods wouldn't support his weight, so Down returned sweating and red-faced. I wanted to give him my Gator Ade, but he's on a diet--thinks he won't fall through the snow if he's lighter. Hah. For that he'd need that sky hook again.

Down's Twist went down for reasons I don't know, but it picked a far spot. Because Down says grace over his Twist before every take-off, she repaid the favor and chose to land, by herself, in the middle of several 50 to 100 lb boulders. Go figure. He put her up again--after he recovered his wind and could hold on to the transmitter.

I best not mention the UCD with the G-2300 engine. Suffice to say I learned some new swear words from Down--and not to speak to him (esp. making obvious observations like--the muffler is leaking) when he touches that bird. But it was right AFTER the UCD problems, that an idiot showed up.

That poor meth-head on the snowmobile doesn't know how lucky he is, for true. While Down was still in the air with the Twist, the guy came back across the pond, drove RIGHT in front of him, a yard away and stopped. The guy made a definitely physical threat, more or less to me, about what he would do if we came close to him again. I had gone to stand beside Down when the guy stopped his mobile. [The idiot drove right UNDER Down's low hover, intentionally, I'm sure. I saw him stop at the edge of the pond, then drive under the bird and across the pond.] The guy was STANDING on his sled, just so you get an idea, and was just three inches taller than than Down, standing on the edge of the road, BELOW the sled. Down landed the Twist a yard behind the mobile, stopped her and then said, "Now what was it you're gonna do if I fly close to you again?" Great beginning line, filled with submission and tolerance.

Ah, I damn near died, trying not to laugh. Had that guy made one, slight move toward Down--and Down was WANTING him to, WISHING him to, BEGGING him to, insisting on knowing what the guy might do. "I just want to know, is all," Down says. "Exactly, precisely, now what were you going to do?" Did you ever see anyone back peddle while standing on a snowmobile? Cool move. Guy admitted he had "been drinking." Down's mustache was 12 inches from the guy's helmet.... Gimme a sec... I have to stop laughing before I can go on....

Okay. I had my OWN troubles: loosened the Sullivan wheel on the Kat--after 2.0 flight hours in the air (well, some on the ground); and came out of a nasty move with the Twist and flattened her gear--but she's still whole. I have to redo the firewall, too. Seems a bit weak. Nothing an overnight chore won't fix. And the Twist started her old habit again: flaming out with inverted loops at less than half throttle. But I NEVER walked as far as Down's troddin' today. Never. That'll keep HIM humble a while--at least 'til... well, maybe morning.

The pictures of Down walking to his Hirundo across the pond and coming BACK from his walk for the Twist are both long telephotos, so it's a far greater distance than it looks. The picture of Down working on the Hirundo is not telephoto. Note the Kevin's P-40 waiting to go up. He did a fine job with it. Rick was too hungover, he said, to fly.

Tomorrow I get to maiden the Rutan Voyager Long-EZ.

We flew from about 9:30 to 6 p.m. I went through more than a half gallon of fuel. Ah, I hope you all had as much fun. What a day--and Down will NEVER again mention how far I have to walk to retrieve a bird. That's ANOTHER blessing, prolly short lived.

Jack

Hello all,

Sorry I took so long to respond but I went to the Golf Dome to watch electric helis fly. I want to build a foamy because one of my buddies says it will greatly improve my flying. I was there for an hour and a half and never saw a plane fly just helis.

I'm using a 12.25x3.75 prop. I was also thinking about a Tower muffler but they may be heavy.

*I'm going to let Jack savor his memories of my mishaps* If you zoom in on the picture of me heading to the cedar swamp you'll see a set of coyote tracks to my right. I had the joy of seeing where this wary canine had prowled the night before. Without question a B_TCH as the urine in the middle of her track indicated and more than likely hunting to feed not only herself, but the cubs inside her or if born early, in a nearby den. I would think that she was carrying them... as her track was deep. The only color in the swamp was the gray of the dead standing cedar, the tan of smothered cattail tips and the white of snow. I saw the red from some distance and even though Jack was waiting to go home, I couldn't help but wonder over to where blood-stained snow, that had caught my eye, marked the demise of a snowshoe hare. The coyote had pounced twice and the prize had been her's. A tuft of white fur had gotten stuck in the bark of a dead tamarack nearby as the slydog chose to dine elsewhere. I smiled to myself and continued to search for my powered glider. Some would call it a miracle, but the how and whys of my 285lb bulk walking over snow is a Zen thing...it's only when I let a negative thought enter my mind that I sink to my waist. (And Jack wonders why I didn't call back to him when he hollered) I probably could have found the glider sooner if Jack wasn't so busy taking pictures instead of moving the servos so I could hear them! I picked up the realatively unharmed glider and worked my way back out of the dense cover. I wondered when the guy on the snowmobile would stop making tracks as the hare had. Meth had eaten his teeth away, his gum line was cleaving and his face was gaunt. He mentioned he had a wife and kid at home.......stray thoughts as I exited the woods and walked into bright sun. Later, I'd walk into my home and hear my two youngest daughters come running to meet me "Daddy!" they both exclaimed and threw their arms around me....glad to have me home again. A day full of flying and an intact Twist (Jack didn't tell you about his new Twist, did he?) and I'm good, but I'm even better when I walk in my door. As always, Peace.

Downtrodden.

Congrats on your day of flying boys, Nothing like walking cross the tundra, Mile after mile, especially for a bird, Nice move on the sledder too guys, some people just have no clue. I would have to say you guys definitely have Class....... for the way you handled it, but according to the report you gave I can almost see enamal dust coming off down's Teeth from the grinding that must have been going on while he was flying the other dude was mouthing off, I'll bet you really wanted to chase him down with the twist, but people like that aren't worth the $5.00 in glue you might need to repair it.

I have no scale so i have no clue how much my twist weighs in at, but with My 70 surpass swinging a 12 x 8 or a 14 x 4 depending on what I feel like that day, I'm sure I could add 3 - 6 lbs and it wouldn't make much of a difference. shes a Rocket.

Had some fun today myself I did, It was around 35 - 43 degrees and very light winds, none of the guys I fly with could make it today, so I just took the twist off at my house, got to use my yard for the runway for the first time, we do have a couple of farms around us to and I really don't know anybody from here yet, I hope I didn't make any goats faint, but I'm sure the neighbors know now there's an R/C pilot in the neighborhood.

Waldo,
I have the OS-70 surpass on my Twist and she is one powerful engine. My Surpass is swinging a 13 x 4w and like yours she can be a rocket. I can get unlimited vertical at about 1/2 throttle on. She has about a half dozen flights on her and I am sure will get better as she really gets broken in.

As for the weight, Horizon's specs with a Saito 72 is about 5-6 lbs. with the Saito 72 including the muffler is 16.6 ounces. The OS 70 Surpass with the muffler is 21.2 ounces, so I would think we are closer to 6 lbs. if not a little more. But I agree with you, the way she pulls a couple of more pounds would not hinder that engine at all.

I did have a Saito 80 in the Twist but I took it out to put that back into my Pizazz, as I needed the extra weight in the nose. The Saito 80 is another 4 1/2 ounces heavier than the OS-70. So my Twist actually went on a diet......


Another lousy weekend here in South Jersey. Hopefully the weather on island is better than here.

Hey Blue Max,

its great to here of someone else with a 70 surpass on here, I was beginning to think I was the only one, But yes that ship is a rocket with this engine, its just blown me away how fast it cruises with a 12x8 the 14x4 is better for hovering but the 12x8 hovers just fine too, a little more throttle control is needed but man when its in trouble, 1/4 throttle will scream it back into the sky, and I've almost lost site of her a couple of times going vertical at full throttle, I would open her up wide and watch it start going straight up, then someone would make a comment about it and i would look at them for just a second (my first mistake) to respond, and when I look back she's no where in site, had to drop her back to idle and wait a couple of seconds for the reflection to bounce into my eyes, needless to say I never take my eyes off the bird ever at full throttle any more, not that you should ever do it anyway, but when a plane tracks nicely you can trust it usually, but there are times you need to look somewhere else for a second, especially flying with other people at the same time, and now I get a little scared knowing I'm about to look away, its like,, okay where is thing going to be in a second from now.
Lots of people seem to be very happy with their choice of engine on the Twist, and I am as well, But I can't help but think I want to try the 61 thats talked about so much, I just can't bare to take the 70 off for any reason right now... even though I want to see what it will do for my Bipe...

Twisting time again.. have fun kids

So I got to fly yesterday with the CG at 5" and landing is a bit more iteresting, but I got it up and down twice and did ok, but on the 3rd flight I was getting pretty brave and I went to do a wall and at the top it dropped a wing so I went to the rudder to knife edge out, and I hit the rudder the wrong way (or it just stalled and fell) then it hit the ground.

My engine and radio equipment is fine, but the twist split in two right behind the canopy and the LE of my wing has some damage. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth fixing and recovering or just buy another one. I figure by the time I buy the canopy, engine mount, some balsa and a roll of covering I'll be in it $50. The other thought I had was to get something else. The twist was fun, but it has a TON of pitch and roll coupling with the rudder which makes it fly kinda strange sometimes. After looking around the only other 40 size 3d ship is the UCD and funtana. Do those fly any better? I'm starting to think the only way to get an airplane that isn't so twitchy is to go up to a 60 size or bigger.

The Twist shouldn't be twitchy. At least mine isn't and I'm no great pilot. Do you have a computer radio? I don't think you want to spend a bunch of money on a bigger plane if you don't feel comfortable with the Twist. Help me here guys!

If you don't want to spend a bunch of money just glue it together and patch it with packing tape. Don't worry about what it looks like as long as it flys and fly the heck out of it. Get a one of those other planes later.

Buy another one and fix the other for a spare! I was showing off for some people that had parked 20 yrds down the road from me and when I came sailing in to pull to a hover the wind pushed me right into the side of the minivan. [X(] I made a split second decision to go for the metal and not the glass. Bango! Twist lay in two pieces and I start walking up the minivan thinking what am I going to say to these folks who minutes before were laughing with glee. As I sheilded my eyes to look at the driver a wave of relief washed over me as I realized it was my wife! I walked up to to my wife who stared at me in utter disbelief! I said "I was needing a new Twist anyway and it looks like now is the time." The kids broke out laughing, but my wife keep staring at me......I said "Its only a little dent honey and besides you know better than to park on this side of the road!" Does Horizon have Sunday hours? I'm taking my own advice and ordering another one even though this one will be flying after a brief stop over in the shop. Cheers. Thank goodness I let my AMA membership lapse! lol Peace.
Downtrodden

Down,

At least you can get your wife and kids to come watch. Mine could care less![]

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4078421/anchors_4086341/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#4086341]Hey guys you got to check out my latest find about fainting goats![/link]

Down, I wonder if there's a divorce lawyer in this crowd. With a good one you may just be able to keep BOTH pieces of that Twist. Or, you might consider making a flying wing outta the piece that has the wing and the OS 61--if she lets ya keep that end.

Boy, and I thought I had a rough day, not being able to maiden the Voyager. The engine won't run without a velocity stack, of some sort, AND the cowl, said Down. Note: don't EVER argue with an engineer-type. It's like wrestling with pigs: you get very, VERY dirty--and the pigs LIKE it. The pusher prop pulls the fuel out of the ST .51's carb. I proved Down rr.. rig.... I proved Down... not wrong by changing out the pusher prop for a puller prop. The #$%^% engine worked fine then. Damn.

We flew from 8:30 to 5 p.m. Seven fliers, 10 planes. And Down, with buddy cord, helped Wyld Weasel and his boy (8-9 yrs old? No real names mentioned here, but call him Jake) get their aircore trainer working and in the air. Down ALSO helped Rick get his squirrely as heck, on the ground, J-3 Cub (2 lbs?) in the air. I tried twice and put the thing in the snowbank, first one side, then the other--no damage to the J-3. Rick and I both agreed it was Down's turn to try--and, by golly, he got it in the AIR! for at least 5 yards--before the bird hit the 1 inch by seven foot sappling stuck in the bank that the snow plows use to demark the side of the road. The J-3 may not fly again. The engine ended up in the cockpit. Rick HATES the bird, with consequent distaste of ever spending time on it.

And I thought I had a rough day.

And I want to remind Down, so he won't feel TOO bad about the divorce, that 1) we DID see him, while hovering, touch that Twist's tail in the snow; and 2) he had the longest flight of the day (however untimed!). His Hirundo glider, with 4 minute fuel engine, had made a 13 minute flight earlier in the day, but at 4 pm he put it up again, found a thermal, and flew with a bald eagle, mostly ABOVE it! for AT LEAST 20 minutes, maybe 25. The eagle, insulted by the Hirundo's performance, finally beat his wings, east, right out of the thermal--which Down kept using. Beeyoutiful flight. I went to the middle of the pond, searching for perfections in the day, to catch the Hirundo on landing, but it was going too fast, Down said, and he put it over my head--to save my hands.

For me the piece de resistance of the day was with Jake. First, he flew with Down on the buddy cord for the first time, ever--and did some very reasonable loops and one inverted flight, short, and the trainer lives on for next weekend. SECOND!!! For Jake I dropped some parachutes from the Big Stik, just so he could watch them fall. He wanted to CATCH them, of course. Impossible, but kids think impossibly, so us jaded elder's KNOW. Last week he gave me a little man, one of his toys, tied to a plastic chute. We dropped it today, but it was too light. THEN, after I learned the wind a bit, which was different at 500 feet than it was a 10, I dropped one of my own chutes with a small bolt attached to a plastic, Wal-Mart shopping bag. It took a long time coming down, TWISTIN as it did. I had time to dive the Stik, land it on the pond, kill the engine, and watch. It went over my head toward the cars, but on the pond side of the road... where Jake waited... then ran... then caught the parachute in his hand.

I told Jake, "Anyone who can catch a parachute like that can do anything in his life he chooses." So be it.

That's TWISTIN, March 26, 2006. Amen.

No Twisting from this end. I was doing some yard work on a nice day when Bill comes by with his Flyin' King to re-maiden. If you remember, the covering peeled off a wing last time. This time I commented that the elevator throw looked kind of skimpy. He said it was exactly what the manual called for so off I went. I was having a hard time trimming it, and after a few circles decided to land. I circled around and pointed the nose down. As it neared the ground, I tried to level off for a touch down and the lack of throw kept me from leveling off in time and I hit the prop and bounced to a stop. No damage, but I found out why I was having trouble trimming. One of the aileron control rods had come loose. The other side was almost falling off. The 1/2" throw called for on the elevator turned out to be about 1/4". I fixed that and he will re-work the contol rods and we'll try it again. The one thing that went well was the O.S. .91 Surpass. Prime and a couple flips and chuga chuga chuga. Fine engine.

akschu, I promise you, if you do a wall with a UCD (I have both sizes, now hangar queens), or any other 3D bird, any size, at low altitude and not enough power, the wing will fall off and you'll go in--again. And the 46 UCD costs about $50 MORE than the Twist (PLUS at least ONE $30 servo, extra)--with half the fun.

When, last year, I started flying with DownTrodden (I'm 20 years older than he--so he was patient and respectful), I had serious trouble with my Sturdy Birdy, separating the fuse from the engine and fuel tank with a low baseball fence, putting it in the trees, twice. Naturally, I wasn't at fault. The Sturdy Birdy's elevator was too thin. Maybe it was the rudder with no authority. Because I put it in the trees not 50 feet apart, one crash from another, I ALSO considered there was some radio interference problems near the ditch (close to the trees!). They may have buried some wires in there, I'm not sure. Had I been smarter, I might have used your phrase. That bird is "twitchy."

I discussed these things endlessly with Down, of course. At the end of one of these discussions, Down said, after a long, full sigh, "Jack, when you get home, you'll find the answer, for sure. No doubt."

"Huh?" I demanded, "Where can I find the answer at HOME!?"

"In the mirror."

That's the day I began to learn how to fly.

Jack

Jack you don't know my wife very well...no divorce happening here...she just got back from her mom's house and came upstairs to tend to my sunburned chest and face. She asked if I ordered another Twist yet, when I said I hadn't she said "You HAVE to order another .....You enjoy flying that plane more than any other you have, right?" Peace.

Downtrodden


P.S. Long EZ + ST .51 + radio gear = $300+.........Proving your flying buddy DEAD WRONG.......priceless! I spared Jack any further humiliation and turned my head while he took his size nine out of his mouth, but I'm certain the taste will remain in his mouth for months. Knowledge........it's a beautiful thing!

Waldo, how much flight time do you get with the Surpass 70? I've had it with the Saitos, though my 82a gets 15 "safe" minutes in the air on the Hangar 9 11 oz tank. How many flight hours have you got on your Surpass? Has it given you any trouble? I have to say, when the Saito 82a is working fine, as it is now, it's a real pleasure. I got four good flights on it today. Started easily at idle, no priming, just turn it over and wait 5 seconds, performed perfectly. I warm it up in the air.

By the way, I know where there's a presently unemployed OS .61, slightly used, on the front half of a recently crashed Twist. (But I don't think you can get it out of Down's hands with anything less than a winch and chain--and that's AFTER his wife get's done with him. A lawyer won't help, I'm very sure.)

Jack