60buick

I have just had the worst flight of my "model avaition career". I got a new HobbicoTwinstar ready to fly today and went to my usual flying field/construction site. I got the maiden flight in and it was perfect. I kept things straight and level with gentle turns. The landing was perfect as well but tricky since I am landing on the street and it is surrounded by telephone poles, trees and post. The second flight was also perfect. I got pretty aggresive with the plane and pulled some loops, inverted flight, immelman turns, splits s's, wing overs and snap rolls. The landing was again tricky because of the narrow runway and the speed at which this plane lands. It started to rain some so I waited it out and when it stopped I unpacked for my last flight before dark. I took off and all was good until I noticed my glasses were starting to fog up. I tried to wipe them on my shirt but it was on the inside and I was all alone and blind with out my glasses. I started to make some circuits to get on the ground since my glasses were getting worse by the minute. I tried to move my head and walk fast to get some fresh air behind them to clear out the steam but nothing worked. I got low enough to fly my pattern and land when on my base leg the #2 spinner shattered and killed the engine. The plane started to pich up and yaw toward the dead engine. I immediatly put in some left rudder and dived while adding some throttle to get my airspeed back and aborted the landing.
This is my situation, I have a difficult runway surrounded by "plane killing" obstructions, a plane with one dead engine, its almost dark and a blind pilot. I reversed my circuits so I was not turning into the dead engine and started to walk toward the field about a 100 yards away with the plane circling above. There was no way I could land in the street with one engine and no visability or depth perception. By now my glasses are almost white and I am almost completely blind. I am flying more by sound and what I "think" the plane is doing than by sight. If that is not bad enough the low fuel timer on my transmitter is beeping. I need to get down quick before I loose the good engine and the new plane. The field is short and covered in rocks, wooden stakes and there is a big pile of conctete waiting at the end incase I come in too hot. I fly a pattern and come in low over the trees at the far end of the field. When I did the I could not tell the plane from the trees. It came back into view once I was over the field so I pointed the nose down and brought the good engine to idle and when I got low to the ground. I hit the ground with no flair and killed the engine then prayed I did not hit any invisable stakes in the ground or rocks that are waiting to rip the plane apart. The plane stopped about 10 feet from the pile of concrete which is the end of the field and there is some minor damage to the sheeting on the right wing tip from a rock.

Amazingly the plane is in one piece and with a small piece of balsa sheeting, monocote and some new spinners the plane will be like new again.

4*60

My Feedback: (41)

How long have you worn glasses? I can extend my lower lip and blow up onto the lenses. Why can't you? Or is it the practice I had walking into warm buildings from the outside at -40 degrees.

Rickles56

Wonder why they say NEVER fly alone?

60buick

I tried "blowing up" and everything. It was just not my day

If I didn't fly alone I wouldn't fly at all. The nearest club is about an hour away. That would be OK if I had a whole day to devote to flying but not on my schedule. []

Prop_Washer2

My Feedback: (26)

I had a Twin-Star 3 or 4 years ago... 2 OS .40 fourstrokes, with 3-bladed props, at 4,000 ft. altitude. Flew great on 2 engines, on one engine could barley stay in the air...one engine outs were a dog. I loved the little airplane but it was the first generation, (sticky shelf paper covering). Does the new one's have better covering, and what engines are you using...?

BTW: I think you did great getting the plane down on the ground in one piece...you can fly my planes ANYDAY...I have a Dual Ace in the box, getting ready to be cracked open. I mick pick up another Twin-Star for the heck of it...prob put a couple of .30 to .40 on it. I will be using 2 ST .40's on the Dual Ace, they are $49.00 at Tower, plus whatever discounts. Best bang for the buck...

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

Man, talk about having the odds stacked up against you... The stock spinners are junk. My originals went on flights 9 and 10. The Dubro replacements are much better. Hopefully there are some lessons to be learned to avoid a repeat!!

60buick

I am using a pair of OS 25s. They are plenty of power for the plane together but on one it takes close 90% throttle to keep it airborn. It also gets sluggish and very unresponsive. That may be partly due to the conditions of the day as well. Field elevation is about 1000 feet here but there are 3 things that reduce performance. HIGH, HOT and HUMID. It was about 90* and the breif rain made it as humid as the bathroom after a shower (thats why my glasses started to fog up). I had two out of three conditions that reduce performance.

Moral of the story wear contacts if the humidity is 100%.


Also I looked at the other spinner and it has stress cracks all over the base and is coming apart! They have 3 flights on them and were not abused or overrevved. What gives? Is it just a crappy spinner or is the OS engine to much for them. The engines were still running rich and if I remember right the rpm were only around 12,300.

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

Prop_Washer2

My Feedback: (26)

Spinners appear to be a problem...Tower has a review link of the Twinstar on line, and his spinners went out as well...if I grab another one, I'll toss the spinners in the trash...been looking at also grabbing another Dual Ace, before they go out of production. Horrizon has them for $149...a little bigger bird for '40's to '50s engines. Mine in the box looks real good, just got to put her together now...


BTW: What kind of Buick do you have....???

walkermsg

Has anyone tried the new Twinstar 2 electric? I ordered one today from my LHS I'm not sure what type of glue to use on the Elop ? foam. Since it has no wheels what would you put on the bottom of the fuse for landing on short grass ? I'm ordering by mail since the shop is 170 miles away so I can't ask a sales person a lot of questions. Anyway I'd rather hear from someone who has actually flown the plane and has experience.

Thanks for any assistance, Jim

timothy thompson

My Feedback: (1)

flying in the street find a safer spot

walkermsg

What does flying in the strret find a safer place mean ?

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

The Twinstar 2 is a totally different airplane...manufactured by Multiplex in Germany. I have flown one and they fly surprisingly well, however, it is not the Twinstar that we are talking about.....




This is the Hobbico Twinstar - the star of this thread.....

timothy thompson

My Feedback: (1)

it means find a club field away from obstructions so you wont hurt your plane. flying off streets near houses can lead to lawsuits and you dont want that! peace, not meant in a bad way

timothy thompson

My Feedback: (1)

are you in the mil master sgt? im here at fort polk La. we are getting ready for hurricane dean if she swings up here. too early to tell.

my son in law and daughter were married a month ago and we came down to spend some time before school begins

walkermsg

Wow ! I don't think I'm ready for the Twinstar shown above. I need a slower plane to learn on. I fly off a field a couple hundred acres only one tree, no power lines, no houses or cars. I only have one mean hawk to worry about . It usually dives after my plane (Cessna 172 ) and I have to land real fast. I think he or she will go after the Twinstar too. I retired MSG8 from the U.S. Army so now I have all day to practice flying. Most of the foriegn countries I was in for years it was really hard to fly because of crowding and different freq, laws etc. Maybe I can move up to the big Twinstar one day.

Jim

jamie_duff

I don't think I could think of a worse place to fly from the sound of "the site" above.

If that was all I had available I'd find another hobby before I killed someone me thinks....

walkermsg

Gee how would you "kill" anyone on a vacant piece of farm land ? I guess it would be better to find a crowded park with lots of people around.?????

covin

You guys have no sense of adventure i have flown a twinstar on two ASP36,s flys great on one motor still loops and rolls great and takes of in two metres.

kwjames

So what is the deal. Are these planes a crash waiting to happen if you only have one engine. They say on the web sit they are easy to fly and land with one engine. So that is not true? I was looking for a plane for my first twin, this is not it?
Ken

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

A twinstar is a great beginners twin. I upgraded mine to thunder tiger .36's. Was the fastest plane at the field for awhile. After about a season and a half I did some high mileage maintenance on it and discovered a LOT of stress cracks. Both firewalls had a little play in them, cracks on the wing sheeting top and bottom. I ended up stripping it down and glassed the wing center section out to the nacells with 2 oz glass, extended the wing 2" by removing the plastic tips and fabricated some wood ones, replaced the ailerons with double the width and used dual servos for the ailerons. The first maiden was a great flight. Unlimited verticle and fast as a scalded dog. The second flight I had an engine out and at the same time the other engine stuck at wide open throttle. Fortunately with this plane I just flew the fuel out and landed. Any other twin wouldnt have done that. It says more about the plane than my flying skills. I'm going to modify it again with retracts, the rudder will be changed to an Extra style rudder. Tons of fun. On .25's its pretty laid back. The engines are setup with 3deg down and 3deg out.
Edwin

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

KW the Hobbico Twinstar is a excellent first multi trainer and it indeed can be flown on one engine nicely however if you have no prior multi experiance and have not been trained in responce then nothing is likely to survive.

The sudden realization of massive asymetric thrust will require the proper responses to survive and this is not intuitive. Does not matter how long one may have been flying single engine.

I would suggest you find someone with proven experience in how to handle a multi on one engine as a mentor. Do this and you will do fine.

That other little electric Twinstar I know nothing off. Electric multi definately takes away some of the challange of multis and therefore I,ve no interest.

John

jbarnes

I've seen guys struggle in our club with this bird. It seems very fast and with its small size you can spinning and not even realize it until its too late. I must say that the CMP C160 is a lousy ARF as far as assembly but is very good flying twin. Maybe its high wing makes it easier and more forgiving, I'm not sure. All I can tell you is that its a sweet little twin. A real consideration for a twin trainer in my mind. Good luck, Jerry.

kwjames

Thanks for the come backs guys. There are a couple of guys who fly twins at our field. One guy has a six engine job. Both of them have the twin star as well so getting help will be no problem with what ever I start with.
Ken

kwjames

Do you guys know how many degrees of out thrust is built into each motor. I was reading on another site some guy who says that he has flow and built twins for 50 years. He says if you put 8 degrees out thrust on each motor you can fly any twin with one engine no rudder and no yaw. They look alittle funny and you are not able to do with some cawls but fly stright and still have 99 percent forward thurst. Sounded interesting. I was planning on using the OS32SX for engines. Can always pull the stick back till you get some time and can handle it.
Ken