"Fancherized" Twister build

Mark Boesen wrote:

So are you going to "Fancherize" it?

Yes, already lengthened the fuselage.

Jim

You can straighten the wood by putting a hair dryer in your vice and hold the sticks in front of it. Take it slow and let it get really hot. It turns amazingly to plastic and you can do a surprising job of reshaping it. I tried it the first time a couple of weeks ago on my Yak wing skeleton which had a slight twist. You can do it even quicker if you use steam from a tea kettle too. Weight it or hold it in place it while it cools. Weight it on a towel if you use steam.
Rusty

I use steam and sometimes I'll dunk the offending piece in hot water.

I have never used a heat gun, but it sounds intriguing. Is that an LA .46?

I am using an FP.40 on mine . On the built full fuse Twister there is a K&B .40BB installed on it.

I am going to do something a little different than the Fancherized version. I assume you are as well.

Ron

Cribbs74 wrote:I use steam and sometimes I'll dunk the offending piece in hot water.

I have never used a heat gun, but it sounds intriguing. Is that an LA .46?

I am using an FP.40 on mine .  On the built full fuse Twister there is a K&B .40BB installed on it.

I am going to do something a little different than the Fancherized version. I assume you are as well.

Ron

I'd go with a hair dryer rather than a gun. With my spotty attention span I'd probably set it on fire. I think the steam expedites the heat soaking. The heat seems to do more work on the wood than just wetness. When I've used heat it stays in shape, and with water it sometimes returns to the original twist. I did learn that clamping a wet piece directly to my glass is not good because the down side stays wet for much longer than the up side. Thus the towel suggestion in my above post.

Ron I didn't know you were building a twister. I'm making a late New Years resolution. For the rest of 2014 I'm going to be a speed builder. No more 9 month builds.

Ramblin' Rusty, waiting for the big 3" sleet and snow blizzard to start.

Yeah, decided not to do a build thread this time. I only have the wing done.

Ron,

I'm doing the fuselage extension and the 1/4 inch inboard cheek but I will be going for a different look on the fuselage.

The trailing edge material seems a little soft so I would rather replace than straighten. I also want to find some hard 3/16 for the flaps.

Jim

My kit wood was warped as well. I probably should have replaced it as I have built a slight warp into the wing. It can probably be cured by shrinking the covering, but it ticks me off still.

I really need to get off my butt and build a wing jig. Your mods and mine are similar, I will post a picture or two as things progress.

Ron

Cribbs74 wrote:My kit wood was warped as well. I probably should have replaced it as I have built a slight warp into the wing. It can probably be cured by shrinking the covering, but it ticks me off still.

I really need to get off my butt and build a wing jig. Your mods and mine are similar, I will post a picture or two as things progress.

Ron

Maybe "twister" refers to the quality of the wood  

I started my wing on the table as per the plans and my trailing edge is wonky, nothing a little wetting and pining won't cure. I was thinking about a wing jig as well. Will get one before my next big size build to make life easier.

Jim

JPvelo wrote:

Mark Boesen wrote:

So are you going to "Fancherize" it?

Yes, already lengthened the fuselage.

Jim

Opps! I went back and reread the article(s), I had forgot he did add to the fuselage, I guess I was thinking he moved the wing forward, its tuff getting old!

Fyi, most of you know this tip, but I'll throw it out there anyway. When your building a wing with two half's always try to put the heavier piece on the outside, especially the leading edge, that way less tip weight is needed.

How funny!
I just completed my Fancherized Twister, and am waiting for a good warmish day to take it out for a maiden! I did all the mods, minus a 4" bellcrank, and I didn't need to add any weight to achieve proper balance. I did 'glass the wing center section, though.

This was my first real 'kit build' in quite a while! Now, I have to design something for the unused parts from the kit! My kit seemed to have very good wood included, so, I didn't have to replace anything to proceed with the build. I think I opened the box on January 8th, or 10th. It was a good, quick build!

Gus, nice looking plane! Did you build the wing on a jig? Are those  the stock control horns? Could you post a photo of you horn/linkages?

Ron, yes that is an LA .46.

Jim

Jim,

That .46 should pull that model with authority!

I will take some pictures of control horns that I was given for this model. They will not bend or flex whatsoever.

Ron

Great to see the fanched twister's on here. I bought a kit but haven't built mine yet. I do intend to do some mods to mine including the stretched fuse and a enlarged stab/elevator. Mine will be powered by a new LA .40. I'm thinking that the .46 might almost be to much for this model. It's definitely going to be fast. I'm in the process of building two Skyray .35's now.

Jim Hayes

jhaye wrote:Great to see the fanched twister's on here. I bought a kit but haven't built mine yet. I do intend to do some mods to mine including the stretched fuse and a enlarged stab/elevator. Mine will be powered by a new LA .40. I'm thinking that the .46 might almost be to much for this model. It's definitely going to be fast. I'm in the process of building two Skyray .35's now.

Jim Hayes

I may enlarge the stab/elevator on mine. I ran the numbers on stock and it's just a hair under 20% of the wing which should be good though.

Only engine available new from os is an la 25 or an la 46 so I went up. A guy from Tucson (I'm in Phoenix) said the 46 is great on that plane at our altitude.

Jim

I used the large horn, from the kit, for the elevator, and I had a package of large Du-Bro horns that I put on the flaps. They are left and right style, so they mated together well, like the mods suggest.

I did install carbon fiber pushrods, and man, they are stiff! I have not supported the elevator pushrod along it's length, but I may. There is no flex, though.

One thing...I drilled and tapped the control horns for the 4-40 SHCS that connects the ball-link to the horn. Superb fit!

Jim,

Many apologies, I promised you control horn pictures a while back. Here are the ones I have.

The black ones were given to me by Ken Cook I believe and the white with the gusset was given to me by another fellow.

Both are extremely stiff. The black ones have the advantage of being aerodynamic. The black one is the DuBro.

Ron

Thanks Ron,
I like that black one, I will have to pick some up.

Working on the fuse tonight, added a hard mount for the landing gear between the doublers:

It's for an aluminum gear, I like the looks better than wire and it allows replacement:


Jim

In regards to the LA .46 compared to the LA .40. More importantly is to compare the weight differences between the two. There's very little weight difference between those engines. It was suggested that the .46 was lighter due to the thinner liner. My tests show otherwise and the .46 is a few grams heavier but very negligible for the power output of one vs the other. You will not use this engines full potential on a profile be it a .40 or .46. You will have to use a light pitch prop and let the engine run up in rpm's to keep the speeds at bay. The LA .25 would work just as efficiently and weight over an ounce lighter. I've witnessed many Twister's set up with a OS FP .20 and flew better than most big blocks.  The "Stunt" crowd basically abandoned the .40 early on which led OS to discontinue this engine. It just never gained popularity due to it's entrance with the boost port in the liner which was very similar to the FP liner. The engine just wasn't stunt friendly. It would just runaway even with the mods that are currently used to keep the engine running in a 4-2. That being said, OS redesigned the .40 which in my opinion works excellent.

The .46 actually uses less fuel than the .40 when setup correctly with more power. I've seen .46's do the pattern on 4 oz's of fuel compared to my .40 using 4 1/2 oz's and it barely makes the pattern in the cooler months. While some may think fuel consumption isn't something to be considered, it plays an important role when your shooting for the pattern and your fuse doesn't allow enough room for a large enough tank. This is where playing with venturi's can be a critical factor. This is a non issue on the Twister due to ample tank area.

What I do recognize here is that the Twister and I've flown many were designed around a unmuffled Fox .35. Your adding a engine which is now approx 3 oz's heavier. I would seriously consider sliding the wing forward and cutting some of the nose back. Use the stock lite ply doublers as templates and cut new ones out using the proper 5 ply plywood and also extending the bearers. Ken

Ken,

What do you think is better? Wing forward or tail longer?

Ron

Ron, if I was to build one today I would do both. The LA engines or Fp engines are much heavier to the tune of almost 3 oz's. Shortening the nose keeps the front end stiff and the modern engines depend on it. Replacing the stock plywood is going to add some frontal weight equally. Getting rid of the stock muffler helps and go with a tongue and use a plastic tank. Tanks are heavier than most think. I probably would start by lengthening the tail 1.5" and sliding the wing at least 1". The rib spacing is quite far apart on the Twister and I would install 1/2 ribs from the spars to the leading edge to prevent the covering from draping in between ribs. Ken

Thanks Ken,

I am going with the FP .40 on mine. Probably minus the muffler. I want to start using tongue mufflers, but they ain't cheap. I suppose I could make one, but the bar stock varies as much as the exhaust openings!

I am at the point where I need to think about the fuse. Thanks for the suggestions!

Ron

I pretty much agree with Ken, my only thought would be move the wing forward for sure, but adding to the tail can sometimes really increase flex of a already flimsy fuselage on a profile. I've seen guys use carbon fiber sheet to stiffen up the aft fuselage area with great success. I really liked my .46 LA, but it really took some fiddling (lower compression, smaller venturi, hot plug, 22% oil) to get a consistent 2-4-2, without porting it.
As far as the front end goes, I'd use a lite ply on inside (LH) along with a 1/4" 'Tripler' and swap the outside lite ply with aircraft ply (RH) as the liteply will compress when you torque down your engine. I like the Macs muffler and large diameter, small pitch prop set up, there's weeks of reading on this subject on Stuka Stunt.

I've built 4 Banshees over the years, basically the same plane as Twister, on one I sheeted from the spar forward and added cap strips to ribs, really looked nice, but really didn't fly much better.