Twister Wing - Maiden Flight Report from the Zaerodrome

Rusty I need you to save me some searching...BTW I have no intention of asking Charles to make me graphics....long story

Any how... one of my 3 twisters is going to copy your Taz devil theme just cuz I love the Road Runner and Taz cartoon characters

Where did you find the Taz and twister/tornado graphics ?...( yes I know it is mentioned in one of your many threads on the model)

I think you said you made your own decals--- and I am curious if the images can be scaled up or down prior to printing on decal paper (that I don't have yet)

I assume I can google Taz and find all sorts of images I can save and print

You can have my copies, they're already scaled down. I used to paste them into a Word document and it's a ROYAL pain. I now use Microsoft Publisher, but it only comes with the highest end business editions of Office. You can throw anything in MSPub and rotate it, position it, size it, etc. I changed colors, removed watermarks, and modified Google images. Want me to email them to you?

Yes please

In my 2007 version of MS Office is Picture Manager that allows me a great deal of photo or image editing

Bro Rusty

Spending a day searching on SH for all sorts of tips and suggestion on F. Twisters I found this and was greatly amused: from a 2013 post

Rustly said:

"It's kind of like that 25 car garage I always wanted. But now at my advancing age, I've changed my mind and want a giant model shop and hangar with 25 planes, all ready to pick up and go at my slightest whim. Fly whichever one I'm in the mood for on a given day. Of course that would be right next to my own flying field covered with golf course grass. Cool

Brother! Testify!!!

Long before you or I leave this world we MUST meet--- and if we do--- it must be for much more than 24 hrs... you and I ...Bob, Kim, Ron and so many others ---could get so much fun out of just telling OUR stories and feeding off each others history

Man o Man would it be fun if Liven, Balogh, and all the other other world guys could all meet and pontificate of a day or three?

OK back on subject.... I have serious ambitious F. Twister plans NOW with more than 30 mods or different ways of doing a model build thing

I think this year will be the first time I attempt to document a build with photos

The Bad news....my hand shake is getting more and more a serious problem... VA sez NOT Parkinson's or Agent Orange bad MoJo, but seems to be just degenerative Nerve damage....suspected from the years of Tri Cloro Floro Ethane and other MEK and similar solvents..
Late this week I am gonna ask Mike Griffin if he will consider building the Twister basic wings for me

If any CEFer can build a nice straight warp free balsa 48" constant chord wing and wants to volunteer (Paid of course) I would send all the parts and want back just the Basic un covered, no controls wing

A Twister doesn't need to be Fancherized to fly well. In fact out of the box minus a few little items it flies on a competitive level if needed. I hate the Twister personally because it looks so damn ugly. I've owned 3 of them and all of them from #1 to 3 flew excellent. Ted's version certainly captures some eye appeal. However, it flies well and builds easy which is why it gained so much popularity. When introduced, the constant chord wing and the fact that Sig offered ribs for the wing independently made it a no brainer. Out of the box though it suffers from terrible plywood doublers not to mention  spars that aren't even worthy of being paint stirrers. The Twister doesn't even need to be built light to work well. It has a very capable wing although the rib spacing is far apart causing it to suffer which is why the half ribs are a must from leading edge to spar. The single platform bellcrank is a chapter from out of the 50's and if you want to see the plane crash, build it that way as on the plans. A Twister with a Fox .35 can perform if the winds are 7 mph and under. If you don't want to re kit the plane opt for a better power plant. Fred you talk about this EVO .36. That would require a bit of nose chopping about 1 1/2" off and put it on. You would never suffer for power. You also wouldn't even use all of the power. Don't use any of the venturi's that come with the engine as they're all too large and don't use the POS needle that comes with that engine. Contact Jim Lee and tell him to set you up with the PA assembly and you will never look back.

      Keep the fuse stiff and don't taper it aft of the wing so the fuse doesn't twist from torsion. Make any kind of tip not the flat tip as designed. Anything you do cleans up the wing preventing drag and improving performance. Sinking the tank as you mention is not necessary but I would recommend it as it only promotes positive fuel draw and cleaner shut offs. It offers a lot of confidence in the overheads as it would be less prone to quitting when the fuel is nearing the end of the tank.

pkrankow wrote:Red is left, green is right.  Same as on boats.  The catch phrase to pass the test is "Is there any PORT LEFT?"  Port is a red wine, and the left side of a boat or ship.

Now what colors you choose is up to you.  That is fine looking and I love the even reveal on the top of the wing.  I am sure I could pull that off, but probably not on the first try.  I have never built anything with square tips like that.  Since a twister or twister kit bash are on the list I might have to save this as a high bar to strive for.

Phil

Well one out of two isn't bad, at least I got red on the Port side. Wayne made a similar comment when version 1.0 was revealed. And coming from a nautical family, it hadn't been lost on me, but I just couldn't work green into my color scheme.

I know Twisters in their original form are undeniably butt-ugly, but I do like the look of mine with the long turtledeck and low profile canopy. I saw another one just like it minus the wide nose, and it was red... just plain red with a white wing. It was plain and ugly. And it looks like he didn't round the lead edge, something I spent a lot of time carefully shaping. It probably won't groove worth a crap with a sharp LE.

Ken, Thanks for your input

I Will start another thread in a few days or weeks starting with my intended bashing of the two Twisters

For now I an researching all sorts of builds and including into my Twister File folder the various ways to skin cats....

Example; I already have a stash of cool Pat Johnston Adjustable lead outs....but I found a nice neat slider method I will copy for one of the wings

I think one will get my NIB OS LA 46 Blue and one will probably get my Tom Dixon OS FP 40

Fred,
Regarding the discussion over at SH about squaring the TE of flaps; I also leave mine square except for smoothing a neat radius along the length of the edges. It looks plenty neat after painting, and I agree that it allows the air flow to break off evenly, rather that trying to follow a rounded contour, thereby creating vortices, ie., drag or flutter. But I doubt if you or I would ever notice much difference. I always round the LE of the stabs and pay extremely tedious attention to blunt rounding the wing LE. Believe me, both of us could tell that difference... no sharp edges in front. Smooth blunt curve. I have a template for that, so let me know if you need it. You could just as easily trace it from one of the 1/4" tip blocks onto a 1/8" ply plate. I don't worry much about the TE of the elevator, but it can't hurt.
Rusty

pkrankow wrote:Red is left, green is right.  Same as on boats.  The catch phrase to pass the test is "Is there any PORT LEFT?"  Port is a red wine, and the left side of a boat or ship.

Haha, that's a new one to me.

Here is another useful one; "If you are sitting on the green side while sailing you have right of way."

RknRusty wrote:

pkrankow wrote:Red is left, green is right.  Same as on boats.  The catch phrase to pass the test is "Is there any PORT LEFT?"  Port is a red wine, and the left side of a boat or ship.

Now what colors you choose is up to you.  That is fine looking and I love the even reveal on the top of the wing.  I am sure I could pull that off, but probably not on the first try.  I have never built anything with square tips like that.  Since a twister or twister kit bash are on the list I might have to save this as a high bar to strive for.

Phil

Well one out of two isn't bad, at least I got red on the Port side. Wayne made a similar comment when version 1.0 was revealed. And coming from a nautical family, it hadn't been lost on me, but I just couldn't work green into my color scheme.

I know Twisters in their original form are undeniably butt-ugly, but I do like the look of mine with the long turtledeck and low profile canopy. I saw another one just like it minus the wide nose, and it was red... just plain red with a white wing. It was plain and ugly. And it looks like he didn't round the lead edge, something I spent a lot of time carefully shaping. It probably won't groove worth a crap with a sharp LE.

Y
I am a bit torn on that LE, seems it would cut air very well, in stunt though we like to slow things down so we use a blunt edge. It hits the air like a battering ram and keeps things manageable.

That Twister probably needs that as it's being flown by an older person in a chair with a rich
run. Hence the slack lines...

The sharp LE makes it hunt more than a blunt. That's the #1 reason for blunt Stunter LEs. They naturally stay in the groove during your judged flat laps, such as laps #3 and 4 of your inverted fliight, and lap #1 of your Takeoff & Level flight. And yes, stunt ships are designed to be draggy, just like their engines are designed to be slow and precise.

Wait! I know, now. I have one dominant proclivity on top of all the other Flame Warrior leanings. I'm the great foot-dragging Procrastinator! That's me, So here's my latest example. Though I had a box full of parts much earlier, I've been doing a simple project since January and boldly announcing it should be finished soon.

So here's where it is today:

That foil is so thin it's unusable for anything else.
I hope I can fling this thing really soon, but I hate to say when that might be, Lol.
Rusty

Tin foil is better to use. Tape sticks to it better, it doesn't bleed through. If your doing trim colors or insignia work, you lay a piece of foil over the area you want covered, next rub the foil and the underlying paint edge will rapidly show onto the face of the foil. You can cut out the indented foil offering a instant paint mask for that area. This is a Windy Urtnowski tip. The cheaper and thinner the foil, the better it works. Ken

Got the controls all hookered up. It's almost a nairplane again.



Ha! That was a weird typo. I think I'll leave it.

P.S. I just tried self-hosting pictures. Tell me if it renders correctly. If so, I'll share my secret.
Rusty

Freudian slip? No pics my man.

Cribbs74 wrote:No pics my man.

Ah, shoot. I was trying to host my own with Dropbox. I can see it, but I must be doing something wrong. I'll figure it out. Very convenient and I have plenty of bandwidth to host. And D'box does allow hotlinking. Thanks for letting me know. I need to go fix a post on RCG now, I bet they aren't seeing my pics either.

Oh well, here it is in servimage.com. I sure am glad to be wrapping it up. I'm excited to start on my new Cardinal kit.

RknRusty wrote:Oh yeah, I should be able to knock this out in [Insert funny crack here]

Seven months after the crash... Tah Daaaa! Still lacking the Tazz decal, numbers, and under-wing checkerboard trimkote.


Several of us are converging on Bob's Zaerodrome tomorrow, and I plan to re-maiden this old bird. Depending on whether I can handle it with a gimpy hip, Wayne might get to do the honors. Or if I want to see it launch straight into a quadruple reverse wingover and a full pattern in no particular order, I'll let Crazy Bob Z fly it, Lol.

However... the last... LAST... freakin' screw I put in would not tighten! GAAAAAH! Yes, one of the engine screws. A deeply buried blind nut. Maybe 3 is enough. Or I can put a 4-40 brass insert into the beam. I don't think the blind nut will be in the way. I don't think it'll be a problem. I'll do it at the house and let tie 5 minute epoxy harden on the way to Manning, about an hour away.

I forgot to weigh it before closing the shop tonight, but it was 30.5 oz. before the decals and one last light coat of clear dope, and minus the powerplant and fuel system. It weighed 41.7 ounces before the wreck.

I'll let y'all know how she goes.
Rockin' Rusty

Oh, yeah... My "Thanks" button click goes to Fred, without whom, this would have been much more difficult to pull off.
Thanks ol' friend!
Rusty

Rusty, there's a reason for having 4. 3 isn't enough if one is questionable. It can make the engine vibrate badly not to mention it beings to taxi the others making them loose. That can really egg out the engine lug holes. The FP.40 has a considerable amount of power and when it happens, it happens in the air. The engine can go way over lean and run away like nobody's business. Not only can it make it pull like a train, it can do it for 10 or more minutes straight. Drill through the engine side and break out of the inboard side, if you have a 5/16" brad point bit you can follow the hole from the inboard side to the beam. Turn the socket head screw around and use a washer under the head and install it from the inboard side with the threads coming out the outboard and through the lug with a washer and Nyloc.

Ken Cook wrote:           Rusty, there's a reason for having 4. 3 isn't enough if one is questionable. It can make the engine vibrate badly not to mention it begins to tax the others making them loose. That can really egg out the engine lug holes.  The FP.40 has a considerable amount of power and when it happens, it happens in the air. The engine can go way over lean and run away like nobody's business. Not only can it make it pull like a train,  it can do it for 10 or more minutes straight....

Ken, oh voice of common sense. Yeah, I actually do know that. I was leaning toward the brass insert idea because they worked so well on my Yak's Fox .35. We'll get it on the table in Bob's shop first thing and come up with a good strong fix for it. The last thing my shoulder needs is a screaming plane pulling like a horse on the lines for 10 minutes.
Thanks,
Rusty