Thanks for all the condolences kids, but yes,, the foamy is not beyond repair,, I just don't have the strength for it,, LOL, I know I'll put her back together and take off, and as soon as its landing time its going to be trashed again, My plan is to catch it when I'm done, but so far every time I have flown it, a new problem develops to keep from getting it back to me, thats a fight I can not win, Okay I can win, but I have to build her MY WAY, the GP system is very cheesy if you ask me, just putting it together I knew it was trouble.

Good thing I have real toys, like the Twist for instance, And don't worry Ghee I don't give up without a fight, I love the Idea of a quick throw in the air and fly plane, but it has to withstand something, Anything, this thing is like a potato chip. I have plenty of balsa and even some much better foam to work with, I'll come up with something I'm sure, I might just make a little Mini electric foam TWIST, That brain storm came to me last night while stewing over the crumpled cheap cap 580 foam. That way i could make you guys proud again...

Happy flyin all..

Waldo, you and Down should get together on building better foamies. He has LOTS of ideas--for material and structure, etc. They are all GEEK, the ideas that is, to me, but I'm sure you would know the good ones, ideas that is, from bad ones.

Another incredible flying day--6 hours, 6 pilots, 11 birds, all home safe. RJ survived his first dead stick with the 580 Goldberg--with an OS .61--which floats like a lead balloon.

Got in one flight of 25 mins with the Hirundo. The winds were weird. I dropped a chute once, with the Big Stik, and got within 20 yards of the mowed field (from 500 ft or so). The next one I dropped a quarter mile away--but the dog got a walk and a jump (no, Kev, not THAT kind of jump. Sheesh!) in the farmer's pond. I have to troll that pond with the Twist--for fish.

Waldo, if I hovered the Saito 82 over the pond with a hook and worm, could the plane pull out with a one pound bass attached? two pound? I have to know how big a worm I should try, see?

Down's UCD smoke system worked.

Exquisite day flying! 6 jam-packed hours of fun in the sun! Yes, the smoke system was a success, but I still have a few bugs to work out. Anyway I walk in the door and my wife and kids are walking out with fishing poles in their hands!! "Dad. are you coming fishing with us?"..........Well, what a day! Add three hours of fishing to a sweet day of flying........kids catching bass and perch! I guess I"ll have a Tequilla tonight.......but if you get my drift..........the wild worm will be wigglin' tonight! Life is good!

Peace,

Downtrodden
'

Double post somehow, so I'll delete it and add a few pictures............notice Jack fishing for ground squirrel with his antenna flag as he searches the sky for his plane. Notice the 17x4W APC prop on the .60 UCD! Worked like a charm...........remember that I stuck a 1.4 ST under the cowl.

The Montignard hill people of Vietnam have a belief that a spirit lives in all things. The trees, rocks, etc. all have a spirit inside. I was going to swap out the engine on my Pizazz today and held the Saito in my hand. I thought what a good engine it was and how it had never done me any harm. I got to feeling so bad that I put it back in the Pizazz. Then I looked at the Twist and knew it would be the same story. Dang it, I might have to buy a plane for my new Jett. As an aside, anyone contemplating buying the long aluminum Futaba servo arms for their Futaba servos, a standard clevis won't work. I have about 5 different brand clevises and none will swallow the fat servo arm so that they will snap shut. I even had some of the heavy duty DuBro steel 4-40 clevises and no dice for them too.

You often see those pictures of folks walking their dogs--which look and behave just like their owners. Well, the pic below shows Down's UCD 60--looking just like him, tough, ugly, obstreperous, and full of honed teeth. At least you can hear AND see the UCD passing wind. [Note Jack is UPwind of Down.]

Note, too, Down is holding the bird on the table--for fear it would ALL fly away. The gd cast iron tub is next for that 1.4 ST, becha. Comin' your way, Waldo.

it's 11:45 and myyyy dy\ayy is almosta adover. Forget the wiggly worm.........I've got enoguh tequilla in me to pickle an acrree of cucummbers! Jack hyou can tell Rickr that I hat that Taco and tequillla tonight! My wife insisted on a taco p;ixza and I finished a bottle of queruvo tesquilla! I'm singing dixiiew here boyy. NOw thatos' she's got bme snockersed up she wants me to go to the p;ark with the kcids tomorrrrrrow and hikde the tr4ails. Iyf tha'asts the case...........welllllllll i wouln't be flhing until afternrnnooon. i''ll see wahst i can do ot still fget out and fyoi in t hthe morning...hlyl whoooooooooo boyy don'ta ligte a matcchn near me boyh. i'llll ecccp;polode


PEace

downtraodden

The owner my LHS mentioned that the 7CAP, and all of the high end radio's burn through a lot of juice. I picked up a 2100mah battery right away for it. I figured I might as well get it right out of the gate so I can enjoy it for the life of the radio. I tend to burn throught them pretty quick. I seem to always drop the thing, or my starter crashes into my radio when I accidently kick my field box. I get about a year out of them. That being the case, I thought I better keep the investment down. The transmitter only was $150, but I went with the flight pack including the digital receiver and servo's. I think the whole thing was $279.

Been raining here, so no flying after the wedding I went to this evening. I played it smart and took my lovely wife to a movie. I figured since it was raining and all, might as well make a deposit in the "romantic date" log so the next sunny Saturday night I can be at the field without too much static. I am learning! Hope the weather is good tomorrow. Have a good Sunday guys, and happy flying.

Adam

OK
I need some help from yall, I was mowing my runway behind my house this morning and was thinking (scarry but true), I have a new MDS 2.18 and I want to put it in something, Well I haven't scratch built a plane in a long time, So I decided what a better plane for that engine than a twist. What size of a Twist do you think would be a good match for it ? Wing span, Weight ect.



____________________________________

If you remember the 70s you weren't there.

Let me get this right...........you're planning on building a Twist of a size appropriate to a MDS of what size? I'm lost here.

I have a MDS 2.18 & want to build a Twist that will fit it.



____________________________________

If you remember the 70s you weren't there.

Sweet, I'd love to see it when you accomplish that!

191557, this has already been done with disastrous results.

I started to read through every post and see if my question has been asked, but there's 165 pages, and I'm not THAT bored yet.
Here's my issue... I bought a twist 40 PNP thinking it would be a good plane to practice harriers and hovering/torque rolling with. It has plenty of power for now, that's not an issue, but it seems to tip stall like CRAZY whenever you try to harrier it, and it will not stay in a hover. The nose just drops like a rock. I can harrier/hover an electric plane fairly decently, so I doubt it's just me. I know it probably has something to do with a CG that is too far forward for that type of flying. However, I did swap the rx/rx pack around so that the battery was more rearward, which helped a little on the nose not wanting to drop while entering a hover, but it still tip stalls like crazy during a harrier and seems to want to fall off to one side or another during a hover uncontrollably.
Any ideas? If I can't get this figured out, I might have to go to a larger mid-wing plane and sell my beloved twist...
Thanks for any help.
-Eric

What size did they go? What weight was it? or were you joking.





____________________________________

If you remember the 70s you weren't there.

Check that your CG is around 5" from the leading edge. Use a 12x4 APC prop and program in spoilers (ailerons go up slightly) which will help keep it stable in a harrier.

Eric, it's almost impossible to help you without seeing the plane--and you--in action. Prolly no easy answers, but I'll be happy to give my two cents of opinion, maybe all it's worth. I DO NOT suspect the CG since I've had it way back and way forward--with no discernible problem hovering--with a Super Tigre .45, an OS .50SX, a .61FX, and a Saito 82a.

I've been looking at that PNP--just for the color change, but I'd like to try the Evolution .46, too. It SHOULD have enough power, since my ST .45 would pull the Twist out of a hover. If if DOES have the power, it makes no sense for it to "fall off at the nose," as you describe. Remember, in a hover the plane isn't "flying." It's hanging on the prop and everything SOUTH of the prop is just... there, a dead weight the prop keeps aloft (with directional help from the control surfaces--driven by the prop wash). So I first suspect the prop. If you're not using something like the APC 12.25x3.75, that may be the problem. The "benchmark prop: 11x6 @ 12,500rpm" ain't a 3D prop in my estimation.

I haven't flown a foamie, but I've seen one fly, hovering and harriering forever, but that has to do with the lightness, prop, and pilot. I can't imagine hovering the Twist is ANYTHING as easy as hovering a foamie. It took me months to hover my first Twist--and oh, boy, did I have excuses, starting with CG.

Since you say, in a harrier, the bird falls off to either wing, I suspect it's NOT lateral balance, but you might check that to be sure. I don't particularly care for the harrier landings, which have bad effects on rudder, tail wheel, and forward landing gear--when it "plops" down--and I don't see anyone else even trying them. But I HAVE held the Twist at high alpha, especially in a wind, sometimes going backwards. It's a graceful-looking, anti-"flight" sort of maneuver. And one heck of a challenge. You WANT to use the ailerons, but the trick's all in the LEFT hand, rudder and throttle.

Eric, give yourself some time with the PNP. I won't be so crass as to tell you to look in the mirror for your problem, but that worked for me. Practice, practice, practice--and remember this hovering thing is NOT as easy as with a foamie.

If, on the other hand, you're in a hurry, buy a U Can Do .46. I bought one AFTER I had several Twists--and could hover, but the Can Do did just about everything easily: hover, harrier, inverted flat spins, knife edges--the first time I flew it. It's the most boring plane I've ever flown. I sold the .46, and my Can Do .60 is on the block for sale, also boring.

Good luck in any event. Maybe Ghee-grose or DownT--who both have experience with foamies--can chime in.

J

Feeble attempt at humor 191557. I wish I had the skills to reverse engineer a plane to build a larger version. I bet it would be a challange without a set of plans to scale off of. Good luck with it. It sounds like a fun project.

I am using the 12.25x3.75 and I also pulled the baffle out of the muffler to get a little extra flow at higher rpm. I'm pretty sure I could hover it if it'd stop falling away from itself. It's weird because it just doesn't even give any warning. As soon as i get the nose up there and start making a correction, it's nose down. It also won't knife-edge either. Everything is relatively straight to the best of my knowledge. Any other tips? I guess if I just really need more practice I'll go with that, but it just seems like it's the plane more than me.
As a side note, my ultra stick hangs on the prop better than the twist, and I'm using the 11x6 on it. I can't hover it because the surfaces aren't really big enough to get me out of some mistakes but it doesn't fall off of itself like the twist does.
-Eric

Sounds like a CG issue to me. Where is it at now? If you're not at least 4.75" then there's your answer.

RcCar- It is going to take a little practice to get the Twist to do what you want, The Twist was my first 3D plane, I can just about make this plane do anything now, but it took a little getting used to, I was able to make this plane do some serious sick stuff right off the bat, but my whole intention was 3D, I started trying to hover and just had no luck at all, I could take my friends UCD and just about hover immediately but I still had the same problems with that, so I knew it was just me, so I decided to just keep at it, and it was well worth the practice, I really don't think there isn't anything this plane can't do, but mind you, I'm a twistoholic now, and these guys on this page are 98% responsible for it. Thanks Guys.

Just let them know the type motor your using, and if you could supply a small video clip of yourself flying, (not completely neccesary) they will most likely be able to help you in no time at all,, Plus we get a little chuckle out of the new video. we've all been there, so welcome aboard the greatest thread on this site. I was able to take a foamy plane from my friend and Hover that the very first time I tried it with no problems, Gas is definetly a lot different to learn with. so bottom line ,,,,you get to Practice all the time,,you lucky dog you,, thats what flying is all about, once you master it then its time for a harder model, or you will get bored, well maybe not, I still have a blast just flying trainers around.

It hasn't rained here in 2 days,,,,, wahhoooo,,,,,,,, do you think i've been able to fly yet?? Nope,,, but tomorrow is a new day, we might be in the catskills though.

Waldo Out.........

I guess I should also ask what my rates should be on high. I have the reccomended high rates set as my low rates but with a little more aileron. I have highs about where the manual says, but I was actually thinking about kicking it up just another notch. Snap rolls are hilarious on 3D rates, as you can barely even see that it rolled. I'll check the CG later tonight. I really like this plane other than the fact that I can't get it to hover. But if you guys really think all I need is more practice, I'll keep it and see how it goes.
Thanks for all the replies! You guys are awesome
-Eric

Go as far as you can take it on the throws... let your instincts (and your radio) help you tame them down. But try the max throws for fun. I just don't use the extreme throws at WOT @ full speed. [:@]

Something tells me you know that from experience... lol.
-Eric

No damage from it but I will say I definitely gave the ol' Twist a HIGH-G test.