Those floats look nice venom. You did a good job on them. Let us know how it flies. I've never flown a plane with floats. I have a set here that would bolt right up to a plane a friend gave me. How calm does the lake have to be to be able to fly off it?

I've only flown off h20 acouple of times, with seaplanes, no floats, so this ought to be interesting. Seen em go with some pretty choppy water though. If you call 3" swells choppy. I'm not to sure about the balance though was at 4.25 back. Should I stay the same?. (it's what I'm used to)
venom

Wow Very cool hope it fly's good. Cant wait till winter wouldnt mind seeing the SKI setup if you have pics it snows here and when winter comes i'm going to still go fly in it. Good luck at the Float fly.

Waldo, thanks for the vids! I bet there was a serious pucker factor when that sucker was heading for the truck. Glad you didn't have to buy your buddy a new plane. It's bad enough when you have to buy yourself a new one.

The story of the prop incident is a scary one for sure. I would have carped all over myself.

Venom, Floats are fab! Let us know how it goes.

Well, it happened, I am now an official member of the T _ _ _ t repair club also. Third flight Sunday about 100' up the engine sounds like it's loading up. It bogs down a bit and I try to slowly feed it some throttle. Engine dies and I'm pretty far out. I knew I had the altitude for a turn to base but what I didn't know was the wind had shifted and I actually turned downwind. That was all it took, dynamic stall and fell out of the sky like a brick. Absolutely no elevator authority so all I could so was watch. Hit nose low and left wing low. Cartwheeled once and I was dreading what I was about to see. Did the walk of shame and was amazed at what I saw. L/G snapped off (duh), right side of fuse broke above the wing, bulkhead behind fuel tank broke away from the fuse, and eng mounts snapped. Most of it is already fixed but I have to wait for engine mounts to get here so it will be a few weeks before I get her back up. All-in-all, a great weekend!

That does bring me to a question tho. What would cause the engine to bog like that at half throttle? Let me give a few details. O.S. .61FX, Low needle valve set to slightly rich. Pinch test at idle gives a slight rise in rpm then dies. High speed valve set slightly rich. Lean to highest rpm then 2-3 clicks to richen up for flight. Transition seems good. Running home-brew FIA fuel (o% nitro) since that's all I can get here. One other thing. When I picked up the plane after the crash, oil literally poured out of the muffler. The guy that mixes the fuel is touted to be the RC master here and he told me it's a straight 80/20 methanol/castor. Any thoughts? I don't want this to be a regular occurance. I am going to Greece this weekend so hopefully I can find a hobby store there that has some 15% fuel. I can at least rule out bad fuel that way.

OK, another question. Any suggestion for a good set of mounts for a O.S.61FX going on a .40 T _ _ _ t? Wondering if I should go stock again or if someone has found something a bit better. Thanks!

Venom:

Just as important as the CG is step placement of the float. The step needs to be right at the CG of the plane or up to .5 inch behind the CG. If the step is forward of the CG the plane will not be able to rotate on axis for take off and you end up with a high speed boat with wings. Get the step to far back on the CG and the plane will want to lift off too soon, stall, dip a wing tip and end up doing a cartwheel into the water. Make sure you have enough motor on the plane also...many people go up one size when they add floats to a plane. On take off give full up elevator until the plane is up on step otherwise you can bury the float tips. Once you get on step drop down to .25 up elevator and allow the plane to pick up speed then lift off. I'm not sure if you installed a water rudder but if you did not, make sure there is not too much wind when you maiden her. Looks great and have fun with her.

Link, Glad to hear your going for the maiden,, Good luck and have a blast. I believe if you click on Downt's name the Pic on his main page and in his gallery has the ski's on the T_ _ _ T

Venom,, Floats look great,,, Nice job,, Definitely let us know how she workd, I have a set of floats as well laying around, and a boat on a lake, just haven't really been up there this year but twice, and that was to fix the electrical system on the boat for the rest of the family's use. We finally have a weekend off this weekend so maybe I can get there for a little R&R. I think the wife has plans with a pressure washer and our house though...

Bendr, LOL yes I guess you could say that about the pucker factor, But I really thought it was going to climb over it so I didn't really expect to hit anything. I had full right aileron on and full up elevator the plane just wouldn't turn, there was the OS 70 4 stroke on it when that plane needs a minimum .65 2 stroke, I just thought I could glide it around. I don't own the .60 this week so I'm not sure about the problem you may be having, If your fuel runs fine in other motors I would have to say it probably isn't that, and you just need to get her broke in. It sounds like you just have too rich a mixture at the low idle setting and she just flooded herself out.

TimC It wasn't me who said the naughty word,, LOL,, I did however use a naughty word when I was aking my friend if I "messed" up his T_ _ _ T after I had my plane and was walking back.

Picked up my T___T at my LHS and stayed up till the wee hours reading this thread till my eyes quit focusing, the beer ran out, and I woke up with slobber all over the keyboard. Installing JR & Hitec servos with a HS 545 on the rudder. Going to go with 6V batt, and couldn't resist that pretty Saito 82A for power, hope I can stuff it up front. Found a longer gear off a crashed SE so a 14"-16" prop will be no problem. Many thanks to the guys who have gone before and have blazed the trail. [sm=49_49.gif]

No rudderThe step is about is about .75" behind cg. I think it will be alright, have about 18% prop dia. of floats out in front. And plenty off throw on the control surfaces. Won't nose over. ( I hope ) Balanced lat. ok. I'l bring my camera.
venom

Venom..........Jack211 and I both had floats on our T_ _ _ Ts before we opted for homemade skiis........for winter flying. The floats never lasted long enough for the ice to turn back into a liquid and give us a fair shot at it. The premade plastic floats we purchased just couldn't hold up to the rigors of ice-landings. Our cg's were at the extreme forward location if that helps.......I doubt it will. Good luck in your maiden flight. Pictures please?

Taildrager.........the .82 Saito is what I would call "sick" power. I have this combo you're thinking of putting together and there are some great things you can do with it like climbing flat spins. I'm still not accustomed to hearing the four stroke sound on the T_ _ _ T and I don't fly it much compared to the OS .61FX-powered T_ _ _ T. Believe it or not....... you'll not be able to do some maneuvers as well as someone with the .61 two-stroke because of the huge rotational intertia set up by the mass of the prop...my experience anyway. Still, you'll have a blast.

downtrodden

Yea i Maidened my TVV!$T Finally what a difference it is from the trainer i have been flying for a year this plane is amazing. flew it on low rates and it still it is crazy. I switched to high rate for a minute and it was really crazy just a blur when doing rolls. That was scary so i switched back to the low rates and did everything i could think of and it handles great most fun i have had with an rc airplane. Was pretty wind too today. Landing was great. The trainer is alot harder to land then this plane. No wonder everyone who gets one is addicted.

LINK . . . . . .see: it's EXACTLY what I'd told you. way better than the trainer at landing, and can make you want to bring spare underware to the flying field. Now go see if you can snap the wings off it!!! you won't, but it's fun as all get out to try. . .
Jeff

Taildrager- Welcome to the party! We should get together and fly our Twists! I might make it to the Ogle Co fly in but can't commit yet. Keep us posted on if/how that motor fits.

WAHOOOOOO,, Great Job Link,, Your going to need the T_ _ _ TAholics club number very soon if not already.

Good job on the maiden linkadrip. Venom, DNAer or anyone one else in the know; is the "step" the part of the float I have circled?

TimC, You got it![sm=teeth_smile.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

Twist 150 flyers!!!

I was just told by a fellow member of my club that his stabilizer broke on both sides near the fuselage. Not enough to crash it but he told me to be sure to use support rods and use them like flying wires like on the Piper Cub and put them just on the bottom. He made his from carbon fiber and went from the fist forward bolt out to the end of the stab on both sides. He used electrical eyelets and bolted it through the stab and put them on the bolt that holds the tail on. I just finished assembly and am ready to balance it so anything extra I might need to do, I need to do it now. My question is has anyone else with the 150 had an issue with the stabilizer???

Please Respond,

Gibbs

Thanks for the info. I might get one tonight on the way home. I've flown them before but at the time it was way ahead of my flying level. I'm looking forward to getting one again. Thanks again. [8D]

delete. dbl post

Repairs are complete and it's ready for some new skin. It'll have to wait until me and wifey get back from our mini vacation. I have had no luck finding stock mounts (backordered everywhere[]) and I don't want to chop up the firewall so, I have made my own engine mount for now. Got to take it to work tomorrow and put the finishing touches on it.

NCIS, YIKES!! that could be a real nasty surprise!

Have fun all!!

Everybody,

I called Horizon and spoke with one of their Tech's. He said that nobody there has heard a complaint on the stab as of yet. How long have these 150's been out? When I crashed my Twist 60 I tried to break off the stab at the fuselage to get it in the trash barrel and it took all I had to break mine. I don't think that if a 230Lb. man can't break it with relative ease that flight stess is going to break it. That is unless I'm the weakest man on earth.

Gibbs

NCIS.................I doubt anyone there at HQ would admit to a problem and open themselves up to liability issues........that's the great thing about being a manufacturer (and/or distributor) of RC products ..........their disclaimers pretty much cover their butts with the one exception being damage due to shipping and handling. After you've tried to fly it (whether successfully or not) they're not going to replace or warranty anything. C'est la vie! LONG LIVE REVERSE ENGINEERING!

downtrodden

Downtrodden,

You are most likely right. I don't think I will have the problem he did. We have 3 other members with the 150 and they fly the pants off of them. He also said that the LE and TE of his broken stabalizer were very soft. He said he could easily put his thumb nail in them. I checked mine and it is definitely hard balsa and not soft. I think he may have got one where they messed up and used the wrong balsa. Probably a Monday or Friday plane if they even get days off over there. I'll keep an eye on it and if I need to I'll reinforce it.

Thanks for the reply,

Gibbs

Awesome plane i finally really got it broken in and took the floats off and went out flying last night... with the cg @ 4.5 i could get an inverted flat spin not gaining or losing altitude for about 30 - 45 seconds....Awesome Love this plane

.55 ax
13x6 apc prop
6v reciever battery
s3003 servos

I guess im a official member now. Just got back from the lhs and ordered my twist 40.. I thought i would get it before Friday but they said it looks more like Monday.

Soon to follow is the magnum 70 4 stroke and futaba 3004 servos. Building this one a tight budget. Everything else is ready to go...