heliheads, how much up elevator (if any) did you have to add when you were trimming the Pizazz? It sounds nose heavy. What is the cg set at now?

I don't have any thro gauges, so I really dont know. It was not very much though. It seems to fly level right side up with just a little elevator(trim). Should I have any up elevator at all? I was told that if the CG is set up right, it should fly level inverted or not, is that true?
Thanks.

I'm far from an expert heliheads, but it would seem a little up trim in upright flight would become a tendency to dive in inverted flight. I had my Pizazz set at 3 3/4" and don't remember any excess trim. It's now at about 3 1/2" with the new engine, and again the trim is not excessive. I feel with planes like the Twist and Pizazz, perfect trim or a tendency to climb or dive in level flight is not too important anyway. I'm always on the sticks and after a few flights, the corrections are automatic. I don't even think about it.

Downthrodden..you DID tell them that the Twist really comes alive with an O.S 61FX in it right??

TIM...what a beautiful picture of your Pizazzz that is!!!! If you have time for it, would you please put a flight report of her on??Or PM me with your opinion??What a beauty she is!!!

Guys, I went flying with my yellow baby last weekend, and I can not repeat how happy I was to take Downthrodden's advice at heart to put a OS 61FX in my baby...she flies absolutely SUPER SUPER!! The wind caught the Twist when I was about to land, and pushed her towards the fence..I hit the throttle and she launched back up into the beautiful pale blue sky, avoiding an uncomfortable landing!! The power she has has saved me several times from errors I was about to make...It is a little bit of a puzzle to mount the O.S. 61FX..but boy,o,boy...it is worth any second and the joy you have with this spectacular engine it just amazing!! unlimited vertical flight...the engine just purrs like a kitten..fires up in a blink of an eye...I haven't touched the high speed needle in weeks!!It just hold it's tune like there is no tomorrow!! I think I am going to buy another Twist, just to have one on the shelve. This is my second plane and I would definitely recommend this plane to any flyer who is looking for a good second plane that will grow with you in the time to come!! The Twist is absolutely amazing and will always be part of my hobby!!....gheezzz...I sound like someone who's deeply in love don't I??...

dutch, the Pizazz was bought about 2 years before the Twist. It sat unused for about 6 months until I felt skilled enough for a plane that twitchy. The Twist was designed as an upgrade to the Pizazz. The big difference is counter-balanced rear control surfaces on the Twist and a lower wing. I'm not skilled enough to tell much difference. They are both a lot of fun to fly. When the snow covers the mountains this year, I'll take the Twist out for a photo shoot.

Yes dutch, I agree there is much to be said for overpowering a plane. I was landing my 4*60 in gusty wind and just at touchdown, a very big gust took it up about 10 feet where it just hung for a second. I slammed full throttle and it slowly started moving forward enough for me to get the nose down and I was able to take it around for another try.

I have the Pizazz as well. I don't remember what the measurment is but I remember it was balanced per the recommendation in the manual. To me she flies like the T***T. I think TimC would agree with that in that it has the same characteristics as the T***T.

Mine has been rebuilt as I stalled it on landing. Definitely my fault. Since the one piece glued in wing came out in the crash I modified it to a bolt on wing but not removeable for transportation purposes. I can take the wing off to work on the insides as I was able to put the charge switch above the wing, convert the rudder to pull-pull and ove the throttle servo to the front. I was also able to put a bigger fuel tank in it. I also changed the checkerboard for some metallic teal.

Cool Tim!! Hope you will have a lot of exiting and damage free hours with her!I'm about to finish my OMP Katana V2 .46...a very capable 3D plane. I crashed the 1st one I had...somehow, we found out that the linkage to the elevator had broken..one nose dive into the ground..anyway, the one I have now is almost done..but the Twist will be airborne every weekend!

Although the weather here in California slowlly start to get a little worse, we still have plenty of sunny days with a blue, blue sky!!That yellow of the Twist sticks out like a sore Thumb..I absolutely love it!!Afther I crashed the KAtana, I had a hard time getting my self confidence back...was afraid I would crash the Twist..4 weeks later I am back on track and flying her "like I stole her"..I love it when there is some wind..she will just crawl through the air..you can make beautiful slow fly-by flights..after a 40 hour stressful work week, nothing beats air time with my yellow baby...

Hey guys. .
Just wanted to let anyone who might be interested in bidding on the one T____T with the broken wing on EBay that I purchased the second ship of mine from this guy, and it was a fairly smooth transaction. The plane was packaged in it's original box and then had a second box custom built to ship in.
BTW: still havent had the "BALZ" to try and fly either of my T___T's. I'm still buzzing around in the G3.5 "Stimulator"as well as flying the E-Starter.

Is a crash langing in the snow any easier on the plane?
Jeff

naswifty,

Flying over snow may give you a psychological advantage in thinking that your crashes will result in less damage, but the cold usually causes the covering to shred as if an M80 blew up inside the airframe. I actually prefer flying off of the frozen, snow-covered pond that we use in the winter, but we've lost a few engines when the planes that they were on nosed in and penetrated the 4-6 of snow, only to find diamond-hard ice below!

Dutch,

I can picture you flying your hopped-up T _ _ _ T with a grin that just won't stop! When do we get to see some pics of your bird?

TimC,

I said it before and I'll say it again...... Don't you feel the least bit guilty flying your birds in such glorious splendor? I mean, sheeeeeeeesh!, the grey of winter is upon us and yet your sky is SO BLUE! I'm envious man, but don't let that stop you from posting such beautiful pictures.....I've enjoyed everyone! (Thanks!)

downtrodden

I have to say flying in the cold & Snow is a little different, Okay,,, allot different ,,, Its amazing how tense you feel flying in the cold but your not tense because of the plane, its just your body is all shriveled into contraction mode, some of our friends always ask why I'm crying,, all I can say is look at that ugly beautiful yellow bird up there,, its always a site for sore eyes, but really its because the 5 degree weather with a crisp wind is icing up your eye saliva, but with a plane like the T_ _ _ T you can be half blind and she still flys great!!!!

Helihead, the more true you can keep your trim the better the flight line will be in any position you put her in, I have to also say she sounds a little nose heavy, But as TimC stated, once your thumbs go into action you'll never notice it, My balance is so off balance right now because of so many rebuilds, that I just constantly fly her, very little hands off action but she does trim out and glide nicely while upright, but once I spin it in any other direction,, I'm flying her.

TimC Great Pic for sure,,, It does look B.E.A..-utiful out there you lucky dog you....

Naswifty,, Once you take the T_ _ _ T off I think your going to kick yourself for not getting it out there sooner once you see how easy she flys,, but by all means take your time and be some what comfortable first.

Dutch,, Glad to hear your getting in some awesome flight time,,, Your absolutely right about having the power to get out of trouble, and to play with, I think you are definitely a T_ _ _ Toholic welcome to the club,,, And I'll tell you This bird is my UMmmmmteenth plane and I will always have one as well. You just can't get bored with this ol girl...

Bluemax Good to hear from you again , sounds like you been Busy with that Pizazz the pics look great, I would love to send you guys a pic of all the extra glue and wood in my T_ _ _ T but I can't bare to Paintbrush it all in there. Christmas is coming,,, hmmm,, Camera, Plane, [:-]Camera, Plane, [:-]Camera, Plane,, I guess I'll be enjoying my own pictures from my head for now.

DownT I may have said this before,, I usually like to fly off of the ICE on a lake, Every time I tried to fly off the snow, the front end would just bury down in the snow and stall out the motor,, But I just though about it, and I don't think I have ever tried a tail Dragger in the snow, back in my snow flying days all I had were trikes, so I always had to wait for the snow to crisp over, or fly off the ice, and thats freakin cold I tell you,, I'm sure you know,, so the ski's have been sitting idle for a while, I may just have to put them on the T_ _ _ T this year and give it another go. We actually created some Killer R/C Ice and snow rocket cars out of plane fuselages, but they were so fast you couldn't turn them, 3, D size Estes Rocket engines pushing a snow Plane/car across the field was like a lightning flash, she went straight as a missile, then the long long long walk across the field to get her back... Ahhhh those were the days,

Oh yeah and did you guys know that a cold Estes D engine explodes instead of ignites sometimes, it took us a long time to get the R/C Rocket car to work because the dang motors would blow the back end of our prototypes to pieces, Mind you they were Kit airplane fuselages made of Wood. so we'd have to go back to the gluing board,, 4 times before our first successful launch,,, we had determination back then...


I think that was everybody,, Have fun all Saturday is Coming YEeeeeehaaaaaaaaa

Thanks, I really didnt feel the the Cg has to be perfect on a 3D plane either. It would be nice to fly inverted hands off though. I thought that maybe if the balance was better, it might help me with my hovering skills as well. Thanks for the tips.

Here's a question for all. . .
what do you do with the extra antenna wire extending out the bottom tube? On the 4-stroke, I ran it along the bottom towards the wing, then made a u-turn with the balance of the wire. I covered it with some covering to protect it and keep it from getting snagged.
Today I robbed my other receiver out of the trainer and have installed it in the 2-stroke and have done a function check and set the EXP and dual rates, as well as engine cutoff and subtrims so controls are "square" to each other. I'm a little anxious on just where CG needs to be. Past posts place it around 5" behind leading edge with emply tank. Am I getting it right?
My plans are to bring it out to the feild saturday for someone to do a shakedown with me on the cord.
Just talking about it makes me so nervous I wanna go pee[sm=drowning.gif] . . . . . . .
Jeff

naswifty, I threaded my excess antenna through my tail wheel spring (Sullivan) then taped it to the bottom of the rudder with shipping tape. If you are using the provided tail wheel assembly, then maybe you could just tape it to the rudder anyway. I'm right at 5" (measured with the Twist inverted on the test jig), and it flies great and the tail sags at low throttle for an easy 3 point landing. Try a couple shots of Wild Turkey before the maiden to calm your nerves. Just kidding. I predict everything will go fine. The Twist is an easy plane to fly if you stay with it mentally. No day dreaming about the big fish you caught last summer.

I was thinking maybe of doing some Valium or a couple of my wife's Prozacs
[sm=lol.gif]

everyone talks about wide low pitch props and the only thing I've seen by using them is a series of deadsticks - don't you have to match pitch and prop to manufacturers specs?
i tried a 12.25 by 375 and it ran horrible, i would have a deadstick or slow rev up after 20 seconds at idle. switched to 12 by 8 and i can hold an idle for three mins with perfect throttle response. it does not climb as fast but nor does it die off a touch and go to hover. Too big and the throttle response is slow. I fly a twist 40 w/ OS 61 FX, sullivan tail gear graph tex carbon fiber main gear 1/8th" axle 2 " tires with 625 mgs servos in the tail and it balances perfect 4.6 cg w/o weight added. i am going to fly 12 by 6 next for a quicker rev. But i don't think i would even try a 13 by 4 wide again as it had a dead stick as well. I tried a 14 by 4 once and it was a dog. my engine is pro tuned and well broken in. opinions...

claytucker,

You may be accustomed to quicker 3D flight than those of us using a 13x5 or 13x4 on a OS FX .61. I find that I a larger diameter, lower-pitched prop gives me better "plane response" as opposed to throttle response. When I've used a 12x6 or 12x8 as the manufacturer recommended I experienced an elastic band effect when initiating or maintaining a hover, whereas the 13 MAS series provided the neccessary torque to pull the plane through any maneuver. I don't fly my T _ _ _ T much beyond 5-15mph through most of a flight and rarely (if ever) above 25mph. The type of 3D flying I do seldom has the wings producing lift, so my sweet .61 carries my plane for most of a flight. Hope this is of some help. Consider temperature and humidity as well when you're considering a prop change. I'm in the cool/cold upper midwest and that makes a difference.

Peace,

Downtrodden

claytucker, when I'm trying to find the right wide/flat prop, I use transition speed to judge when I've went too large. I've never noticed any tendency to dead stick with 3-D props. I always carefully re-set the needles with any prop change though.

I had a couple hundred flights 12+ min flights on my different twist 40 models with an evolution 46 and os 61 fx. When i dropped to a 4 pitch my engines never idled as low for extended periods then accelerated back with full power w/o hesitatig or dying. Literally, it went from 10 seconds at 2800 rpms MAX w/ a 4 pitch to 5 mins at 1800 rpms w/ 8 pitch. Pitch is critical to the engine as stated in the manufacturers specifications. This wild props are fun to fly but not reliable.

if you are flying around normal you might not notice but if you glide in and then do a touch and go to a full power hover those low pitch 3d props can kill you every time.

Thats my opinion. I need to hear back. Maybe it was just the 12.25 by 375 being to small for the OS 61fx but it happened with the 46 as well. The same engines were tuned countless times. The same engines ran 10 times better with the recommended props

downtrodden I'll try the 13 by 5, that sounds like a safe bet. enough size and pitch...
we'll see...
which brand?
thank yuo very much
who makes a mas series?
i am still learning and experimenting w/ my forth pnp version, i just swap engines and sell them on ebay as new. ONly my first twist had the evo 46
so my build time and skills are minimal
i reinforce the stabalizer w/ a tiny bit o f carbon fiber and fly full speed on all of my 40 twists with 61fx, never had a problem

Claytucker,

I know the flame out you speak of, but I use a 70 4 stroke and I'll tell you it almost doesn't seem to matter what prop I'm spinning its always there for me, unless I run out of fuel,,, sometimes on other motors I have, when I know i've been idling a little longer then usual, I'll rev it up and down a few times real quick, before I commit to a full throttle getaway, that usually sets it straight again, I never even thought the Prop could be causing the problem, I just ass-u-me-d it was because some of my motors are about the same age as I am, I too fly my T_ _ _ T at full power all the time except when hovering or flat spinning. and the T_ _ _ T is the only plane I use a 14 x 4 on all my other props are 6's and 8's I do like speed on my crafts.

Tomorrow is flying day,,, YEEE HAAAA,,, I'm already loaded and waiting,[sm=spinnyeyes.gif] well now I have to load the plane stuff in the van....

Claytucker....If I am correct, and downthrodden will correct me if I am wrong, he likes to fly the MAS13x5. I too flew this one and love it!! It sure was a great recommendation/combination! I have the Twist with a O.S. 61FX in it as well. I too fly, like Downthrodden, not really fast, but I love to fly by the stand as slowwwww as possible, so we can look at this bird in light!!

I used the 12.25x3.75 on the .46FX...although it made the Twist fly super slow, I personally thought it was a little bit too much labor for this engine. I have *knock on wood* never had a dead stick with any prop on the 61FX!! I love this engine!! I think the 12.25x3.75 will be slightly too small for the .61FX. Give the MAS a try....I think it will be a great match for the 61FX!

MAS is Master Air Screw.............I believe its the "K" series, anyway it is glass filled. I use APC as well, but I find the MAS hold up if I happen to nose into the snow. With a standard 11 oz. tank I've had over 25 min. flights in the winter (air is more dense). My last OS .61/T _ _ _ T combo was flown to destruction for over a year without fail.