SPECIFICATIONS:
WINGSPAN 47.75 IN.
LENGTH 48.38 IN.
WING AREA 747.37 SQ. IN.
WEIGHT 5.0 TO 6.0 LBS
TAIL DRAGGER
Generally speaking the quality of this ARF was good. The UltraCote covering was neatly applied and tight, the parts fit together well with a minimum of trimming and/or sanding and all necessary hardware and accessories were provided. There were, however, two relatively minor problems. The non-adjustable motor mount was intended for use with Hanger 9's recommended engines, (Evolution .46NT 2 stroke or Saito .72 AAC 4 stroke). I chose instead, to use my available OS .46LA and discovered that the mount provided was too wide to accommodate it. Since the pre-installed hidden nuts in the firewall did not fit my Great Planes or Sullivan adjustable mounts I had to drill new mounting holes in the firewall to install the OS engine. A second problem with the hardware was that the threads on the screws provided for attaching the wing and main landing gear were not the same as those in the pre-installed blind nuts. Locating the proper screws was more of an aggravation than a problem, however.
When assembly was complete (including installation of the engine, r/c gear and fuel tank) the plane was extremely tail heavy. To correct this, I moved the elevator and rudder servos from their location at the rear outside of the fuselage to the compartment containing the receiver and battery located in the fuselage over the main landing gear. In addition, I added approximately 7 ounces of weight in the engine compartment. These adjustments brought the plane into a slight but acceptable nose heavy condition.
Horizon Hobbies bills the Twist as, "capable of both sport and extreme 3D performance". It features a symmetrical wing with an average chord of 15½ inches. The wing is 2½ inches thick at the main spar and the ailerons make up 24% of the wing area. The rudder and elevator are proportionally oversized.
The color difference between the top and bottom of the wings (yellow on top and dark purple on the bottom) provides a good contrast and helps prevent loss of orientation during maneuvers.
The Twist is very responsive when flown on low throw rates. It takes off with ease after a very short run, performs a full range of maneuvers easily and controls well over the full range of the throttle. At high rates, it's extremely responsive and it is very easy to "get behind" the plane and lose control. The roll rate is super fast. This plane is best suited for an experienced intermediate level pilot and at least initially, should be flown at low throw rates. When high rates are first introduced, it should be done at higher altitude to allow time for errors to be corrected.
For just plain fast fun flying I would rate this one as a 7.5 or 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.
It's available from Horizon Hobbies for $99.00 plus shipping
