RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Hey chris, I use the 14x4 and it works great with the 70 but A 13x4, 13x6, 12x8 have all worked just fine, and I never have a problem landing, she always slows right down with any of those props, thats whats nice a bout a 4 stroke, they purr at low low idles.

Futaba, I do re call a couple of people talking about the landing gear if you hit a little hard, I know I did once, but the recommendation is to put a some epoxy around the inside of the landing gear supports, and I haven't had that problem ever again,,, (knocking on wood) I have countless flights on my Twist and the landing gear is still holding strong. you should also know I fly off a pretty bumpy grass field,, no problems. go for it.

The Twist is a great second 3rd,4th,5th, plane.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

TimC - I'm thinking about switching to a Saito 91 from the Saito 72 thats in my Twist now. I'm looking for more vertical performance, which, I'm sure the 91 will give me. Did you have to add weight in the tail to off-set the differance in the weight of the two motors? (470 vs 520G)

Thanks

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Futaba,

I second the notion that the Twist would be a good 2nd plane. You will want to keep rates low with lot's of expo. It is extremely stable and in many ways, it handles better than my trianer. You may want to figure on putting 1 or 2 in the ground as you are learning. But at $89.99 a pop, that is a really cheap way to build your skills and learn 3D. I tore my landing gear off clean on a hard landing. Epoxied it back on and touched up the covering. Haven't had a problem since. Good luck wiht the Twist and keep us up to speed on the build

Chris 8105,

Keep an eye on the temp. A 14x6 is a lot of prop, and the air temps have been high. I would assume my 2 stroke .61 has a little more power than your .70, and she gets plenty warm with a 14x4. I run it a little extra rich and that helps. I really notice the heat factor while hovering and vertical manuevers. Lot's of loading, and not as much airflow.


Put a new glow plug in my OS and it has been running great. I am still adjusting the low end needle valve trying to find the sweet spot. It seems to be running great and then I get a flame out. This is a new thing. I am sure that I will get it dialed in in the next couple of flights. Drove over to the field yesterday at lunch time and got my plane all put togethor. Fueled it up, gout out my starter and glow plug, flicked on my radio, went to turn on my receiver and realized that I had left it on from the night before. Talk about all dressed up with no place to go! Sooo, back to the windowless office to continue working on a never ending bid. I hate it when that happens

Adam

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

perkinsm, I should have clarified in my post that my .91 is in my 4 Star 60. I run a YS .63 in my Twist. I think this heat wave has a lot of us lacking in vertical performance.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Hey,guys I also agee that the Twist .40 would make a great second airplane. No 3D throws until you're ready. I fly mine with a Magnum .52 2-stroke BlueHead. Unlimited vertical with APC 12x4 prop.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

TIMC - NP, I understand, its hot here too.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Perk, To turn the Twist into even more of a rocket, I put a 12x8 my 70,

thats vertical balistic.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

WALDO - I think I have a 12X8. I'll try it this weekend and post the results. I'm currently swinging a 12X3.75 APC, so the 12X8 just may be what I'm looking for

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Hi again guys. I finally got to fly the Twist again today, after a long gap following the first two flights. I logged another two today, and had a great time in spite of the oppressive heat. For the first one the engine was a bit dodgy, but the second was much better with a slightly leaned idle - I may be getting there with the tuning.

A previous flying session had to be put off when I realized that my wing dowel had come loose. When the time came to repair it, I discovered something interesting. If you pull your wing dowel out and look in the hole, you can see a sort of recess in the structure inside the wing, into which the dowel should key. The stock dowel, however, isn't long enough to reach the recess, meaning that it is only anchored by the glue that holds in the first hole it goes through.

I didn't have any dowel of the right size to replace it, so I found a square stick and whittled and sanded it into a new dowel. The new one is long enough to reach in, and as a consequence it is held firmly in two places. I drew a simple diagram to show what I mean, the dowel is shown in red.

Matthew

EDIT: Image didn't work the first time, I'll try again.

http://www.rcmf.co.uk/gallery/albums...t_wing_mod.JPG

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Thanks for the heads up Matthew. If mine ever loosens up, I'll check it. For someone putting together a new Twist, this would be a good item to check.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

You're welcome.:) I've fixed the image now, it wasn't showing up before.

Matthew

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Matthew,

Nice observation. I have built 2, and never noticed that. I have never had a problem with the dowel, but I have always been skeptical of the strength of one single dowel holding on the wing. Can you imagine the pounds of pressure that little thing has to handle under multiple G's of force on say an outside loop? I always figured if I ever had a problem with the dowel I would add a second one.

I flew mine at a church function this morning in front of a bunch of guys that had never seen a RC plane fly. They were all in awe of how it flipped and twisted through the sky. I think I might have gotten 1 or 2 guys interested in the hobby. It is 100 degrees here with a dew point of 75 degrees. This is the warmest weather I can remember. Not exactly condusive to standing out in the sun and flying.

Adam

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Adam, I was checking my dowel today and saw how maybe it could be bracketed with another dowel on each side. I think the tricky part would being able to precision drill the holes so all three dowels took equal load. It probably wouldn't be that important, the extras would be just back-ups to the original.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

I had the same problem with the dowel on my Twist. You have to make sure it goes in far enough to reach the inside former.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

WOW what a mess. When a Twist goes in engine first wot ( Saito .82 ) there is a pile of debris like Ive never seen before at the crash scene. It looked like it had been fed through a tree shreder. Had to play taps for mine today.
da da daaa da da DAAA
da da DAAA da da DAAA da da DAAA
da da DAAA da da daaa
da da daaaaaaaa
RIP

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

I also agree that the Twist is a perfect 2nd plane!! I have my goold ol' Nexstar engine in it (O.S. 46), and the Twist is purring like a cat!! More then enough power for now, and with the control surfaces the Twist has, it will be enough challenging for the time to come!
I maidened it today in strong wind, but boy,o,boy, what a plane!!:) standard servo's...O.S. 46 engine...lot-lots-lots of fun!! I love!! it's capabilities!!:)

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Matthew, I also replaced the dowel in my wing when I built the Twist. The one provided in the kit is too small in diameter and length.

I flew my Twist Saturday for the first time this season. I had it apart repairing a problem with the elevator and rudder servos and just hadn't gotten it together this summer. I got three nice flights in and noticed that my fuel tank was leaking. When I got it home I notice the inside of the tank compartment was soaked with fuel and I had to pitch all the foam around the fuel tank. I guess the rubber cork in the tank had dried out and shrunk over the winter causing it to leak. It's in the shop in parts with a coat of KR2 spot remover in it soaking up all the fuel. I think it will survive to fly another day but I'm bummed. I really wanted to fly it again today but I still have the Tiger II in good repair. I like the Twist so much I converted the Tiger II to a tail dragger. The Tiger takes off so much better now as a tail dragger because the wings angle of attack was corrected with the conversion. I also made the Tiger's rudder larger but it still won't flat spin like a Twist.

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

bldrums, were you able to save anything?

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Bldrums Sorry for the Twist in a bag story, hope you get another, but if you really like puzzles this is the time to test your patients of rebuilding skills.

I was fortunate enough to find out the dowel didn't reach on my first build of a twist, but I luckily had the right dowel just to make another one so it reached, That is the benefit of having 35 years of crashes, kits and extra parts all over the place. I have never had a problem with the dowel coming loose or not holding up to the stress, and I stress this plane something fierce, it just amazes me that one little dowel and 1 nylon screw holds the wing on under serious torque and high speeds.

It was Saturday morn about 86 degrees and no wind I was the first to show up at the field I immediately put my Twist on the table and flew to the morning gray sky.

Like a perfect picture the Yellow and purple colors against a fresh cut green runway, stands idling on the field with only a few bird chirps in the background of the OS .70 purring ever so quietly, I eased the throttle to about a quarter and watched as the Twist gracefully rolled out and skipped off the ground up to about 3 inch's above the runway where I proceeded to keep her level for the entire length of our runway, when she reached the end of the runway I lightly eased the stick back and watched as she started her graceful ascend into the sky, I then proceeded to 5 horizontal snap rolls and then blasted the throttle to full and snap rolling vertical up, up, up up, until it disappeared into the low hanging clouds, I kept it in the same hold for another 30 seconds or so not seeing the plane anymore, I was sure it had to be through the clouds and on top by now, but I wasn't positive, so I let off the ailerons to stop the snap rolling so I think anyway, and still just held the climb for another 30 seconds, then I chopped the throttle and gave it full left rudder, started pulling back on the elevator to full, then added in full right aileron, I held this now for quite a long time as I wasn't sure where the plane might be yet, waiting to see it drop back through the clouds, now I was starting to get a little nervous, It probably wasn't very long, but it seemed like about 3 minutes now and still no sign of her, when low and behold,,,,,,,, there she was,, flat spinning on her way down. I let her drop to about 30 feet of the ground and then proceeded to do every maneuver I could think of at WOT, I tucked her in for a landing brought her back to the table and shut her off. That flight was dedicated to friend. But I tell you that was the best flight I have ever had with the Twist, I never have ever tried going beyond the clouds before (but there never usually that low either.) it is flights like that that are the addiction to this hobby for me I think.

8 more flights with the Twist, 2 flights with my bipe until it started snap rolling for no apparent reason into the ground and busted the left lower wing tip and strut and tore the landing gear off, and 3 flights with my parachute dropping Kadet, 1 lost parachute, 1 landed 30 feet from the runway, and 1 was caught by a fellow flyer while flying his plane 5 feet from my starting table, winds were about 15 MPH by now.

Sorry to ramble on, but it was a beautiful day of flying for me, oh yeah and a little sunburn after 5 hours of standing in the 90 degree heat, it was worth it all.

Is it next Saturday yet???????????? Dang it all, why must we work!!! oh yeah,, to pay for all these toys...

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

If you do it, please post pics. I was thinking along the same lines, but I'm hesitant to start making holes in my plane, because it does work ok as it is.

The main disadvantage I can see with the stock setup is that the wing seating relies too much on the dowel. I opened up slightly the hole in the fuselage the dowel goes into to make it easier to install the wing, but I seem to have created some play in the seating, which is a little alarming. One or two more dowels would get rid of this...

Btw, here's a pic my dad snapped yesterday. It's not perfectly sharp, but I think it has that summer atmosphere about it. You can see how sun-baked our strip is. We were supposed to cut it that morning but we didn't have to because it hadn't grown thanks to the miserably hot weather.

Matthew

http://www.rcmf.co.uk/gallery/albums...-quality-1.jpg

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

RE: Twisted into the ground:

Good news, engine and control equipment ok:D
Good news, the ARF is only $99.00 to replace!:)

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Nice photo Matthew. The wildflowers and hay bale add a nice summer touch. I guess it's hot all over lately. Thinking back, I'm pretty sure when I put my twist together, I stabbed it all the way into the inner hole. How much dowel is sticking out if it's all the way in?

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

I think (but I'm not sure) that my stock dowel wouldn't have stuck out at all, or it might a few mm, if I'd pushed it all the way in. Of course it's possibly that my ARF came with an unusually short dowel.

I think maybe I'll get some suitable dowel, so if the urge grabs me I can add more at a moment's notice.

Matthew

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

You guys have to check this out. I've had my twist for about two years now and have broken every weak link in the thing flying combat and 3D with it(yeah, i said combat). My buddy, who we call lucky ed for a darn good reason, bought a twist also. On one of his flights the other afternoon he tried a harrier downwind ( He's still learning ), and as soon as it got rockin, he gave it full throttle and here's the picture of the aftermath. I wouldn't have believed it if i wasn't there!!!

RE: Hangar 9 Twist 3D
 

Hey mathew,,,,,, That is an awesome Pic of Twisted Hailbail run for sure, and My dowel was short also.

Jolly,,,,,,, that is the best looking Jart I have ever seen, you should have placed a circle around it before the pic, ;) and my twist is about 2 years old also, with the epoxy and reinforcement pieces to prove it. its still going though..:D