any suggestions on how to be better on going vertical? sometimes i can climb straightup or do a nice loop but most of the time its not perpendicular to the ground or not a perfect 90 deg up. Should the climb be done before, infront or after the plane passed infront of you headwind or downwind? will visual aid like adding some sort of neon stickers on the wingtips help? Thanks...

Practice.

For the pattern flyers, none of the considerations you've mentioned determine the location or path of the maneuver. If the pattern calls for a vertical upline, its supposed to be vertical, with corrections added to account for the wind.

Now for the beginner - Where you perform the maneuver is where ever you want. You should be able to do it upwind, downwind, or cross wind. The key to success is watching your plane carefully and "getting ahead" of the plane. In otherwords, anticipate what the plane will do and compensate, not waiting for the plane to do it.

Getting the plane trimmed well is the next step. There are a number of sources of trim charts that describe what maneuvers to perform, what to look for in the maneuver, and how to corret it. It takes some time, but is worth it, and is a fun excercise.

The plane you select to perform the maneuvers on, engine and prop selection, will ultimately determine how much work you have to do to perform the maneuvers. Pattern ships are designed the way they are for a reason. The typical trainer is not designed like a pattern ship for a reason. Can you do nice loops, straight up and down lines with a trainer? Absolutely. But its going to take a lot more adjustments during the maneuver to keep it that way with a trainer.

Find the experienced pattern flyer in your club to watch you. He will be able to help you see what the plane is doing, and give you much better feedback on how to correct.

So I repeat the first piece of advice.

Practice.

Good Luck,
Brad

Practice...and More Practice, but probally not practicing what you think... In order to get a nice straight verticle line wherever you want it you have to start with... a nice straight horizontal line, Make sure your wings are level. If your wings are not level when you pull into your verticle line or into a loop (or any manuver at all) then you will not have a nice line. The hardest part of flying aerobatics is the setup before the manuver, practice flying wings level and that will help your verticles

May I also add that a plane that balanced LATERALLY will climb a vertical upline straighter than an unbalanced plane. Lateral balance is achieved by holding the plane in a way that you can see which side is heavy. Attach weights on the wingtips, on the CG to achieve lateral balance.

That's true for any "two dimensional" maneuver ; a loop, roll, etc. If one side is heavier you'll drift sideways.

There is also a torque from the prop that pulls you to the left, so some right thrust is usually built into a design. There is an optimum amount of right and down thrust for any speed, so that means you have to compensate for other speeds above of below that ideal one.

So, practice with the plane going away from you. Then practice with the plane passing in front of you but going vertical at the closest point. Then combine what you learned to keep it straight on both axis.

And, just as in the full scale world, some planes just aren't designed or powered for great vertical performance. And being able to compensate for wind direction and the planes attitude to make it fly crisp and steady takes a LOT of technique, which only comes with practice. Watch a pattern model do a diamond loop at the same speed on all four legs. There's a lot that goes into pulling off a maneuver that appears pretty simple.