The last Twister.

No, Sig is still making them. It's the last one I will build. It seems that I've always had a Twister. Even when flying R/C I had one and would take it to the field about once a year and get in a flight. Fox .35 in the nose. Since then I have built several from kits and from scratch. None flew that well. I was out of projects and ws looking at the kits in the hobby shop and the Twister was the cheapest so I bought another one. For some reason I almost built it without changing things. I had some silk span and used it to cover the whole plane. I did extend the fuselage 2 inches at the rear. I never liked the canopy shape so I changed that a bit. I added a piece of 3/8 balsa to the nose to ad strength. That's about it. I used dope for the fill coats and white base then Dupli-Color engine paints for the trim colors. I sprayed on some two part clear for the final touch. I had an OS .46 LA I wasn't using so that is on the nose. A stock muffler puts the balance in the right spot. I am amazed at how well this plane flys. All my usual changes got left out and I built it mostly to the plans except for the 2 inch etension.

I still don't like it.

The proper venturi on the engine let the engine run well. It pulled the plane around with authority. I still don't like the way the plane flies. I've had several Flite Streaks and none flew that well. It makes a good trainer though. The weather has been tricky. The wind at the surface is nice but 40 feet up is a nightmare. I have taken to building another Twister. Maybe for the Nostalgia 30 event if it flies good enough. I bought some old silk span at the hobby shop a few months ago and will use it to cover the plane. It's a lot more work but a lot better than monokote that lets oil get under it. I'm at the covering stage and should start that soon. I got a new phone and I don't understand it. I can make calls and turn it on and off.

O.S. .20FP on Flite Streak.

I won this in a raffle a few years ago. I could not get it to behave and fly properly. i didn't expect much as I have bad luck with ARF planes in general. I read up on the proper set up for the plane and the engine and it flew a lot better but the engine wouldn't slow down. I measured the venturi and found it to be for a .46 size engine which would make this smaller engine go crazy. I had a proper size venturi for it and installled it. There was a big change in the needle setting and the engine ran much better.Same prop and fuel. I didn't get a chance ot flight test it today maybe tomorrow.

Time waits for no one.

A month ago I put the YS 120F on the shelf. It runs and that is about as much as I can do with it. The weather has been good and I've got in a lot of flying. i found out that I have been missing an important part of the trimming process. I mark the spot the flaps need to be to stay in line with the wing but not getting the elevator in line with the flaps and that has caused a lot of trim problems. The Mo' Bast has fairings that are in line with both controls and is easy to set up.The fleet flys much better with things in the right position. We are still waiting on the fabricator to bring the hot rod to be fixed. I finally bought a new fuel tank sender and a fuel gauge for the El Camino. I didn't know which was not working and didn't want to wait for the right part to come in. As it worked out the fuel tank sender didn't work. I remoed the tank and replaced the old one and put the tank back in. Not that easy but with a floor jack it wasn't too bad. I found that the sender float didn't touch the bottom of the tank and with 3 gallons it read empty. I took the tank out again and bent the float down until I got a reading with the tank on the floor. Back in it goes. I have a reading one the gauge and I'm h appy until I remember I didn't lock the sender into the tank. Out it comes again and I fix it. Then back in and button it up. We went for a short ride for a bit of gas and the gauge showed an increase and so far no leaks. I had looked for a replacement gauge but nothing matched the original so if it came to that I was going to put the new one under the dash. The whole dash panel has to come out to get at the fuel gauge and I didn't want to take it out. I took it out when I fixed it up several years ago.

Two days and a manual later.

I removed the bakes on mud nests and started to dismantle the engine. Parts were stuck and needed heat and persuasion to come loose and out. Everything was covered in black goo from the oil residue. I found a live larva when I cleaned the carburator intake port. The carb. butterflys had to be pressed out in the vise. After cleaning and re assembling I got the engine to run on prime. Finally I gave up and found a manual on line which pointed out a few things I was doing wrong. After adjusting things per the manual I flooded it real good. I cleared the excess fuel out and hit it with the starter and it fired right up and kept running. Now I have a very powerful engine I'll most probably never use or give it back to my son who most probably will never use it again. I will seal it up so the bugs can't get into it again.

The Bee's and the YS.

Will it run again?

At the park.

I tried the Go Devil again and it flew a bit better but not good enough. It's back to the raffle for that one. I got in some flights with the Nomad though.