twister v2

[Former Member]

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[David Martin 2]

Blimey Eric...you were unlucky...!

My Twister CP v2 seemed to have been put together really well. I flew out both Lipo packs in my lunch break in the middle of the night for over 7 months earlier this year with only a little induced slop the result and one brused blade tip.

You do have to watch the tubing that holds on the tail rotor though, make sure that is pushed on tight each flight. Mine crept along the shaft until I sorted it.

I don't know your experience with these micros Eric, but, it's worth tying some nylon thread or braided lacing across from one skid to the other (front and back) to stop the skids doing the splits on hard landings, makes the bottom half of the heli pretty indestructable..!

Good luck,

David

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[David Martin 2]

Sounds like you've been busy mate..!

I know what you mean about the aerial. I sorted mine by running it through a length of thin walled heat shrink tubing down to the bottom of the vertical stab, through the stab and back curled along the outside of the tubing as not to touch the first bit and it's just long enough to terminate back at the Rx.

I haven't had any range issues anywhere yet, I fly it as far away as nessesary outside that only amounts to probably 30-40 yards tops during large circuits for this size of heli. I just wanted to make sure the aerial had no chance of touching itself or any carbon. I've seen it wrapped around 2 of the legs on top of itself before now..!

Great little heli that always gave 15+ minutes on each of the supplied Lipos. Oddly, after 7 months, both the supplied green Lipos gave up in a fortnight of each other but the same age Kokam 1200 still carried on ok, still to this day. No balancing plug on that either, never been balanced in a year just cranked up on the Prodigy each time to cut off. The Twister Lipo's were always charged on the supplied charger/balancer unit.

I use an RCMDIRECT 820mah 8C Lipo (£10) and 20C 1300mah (£18) for 10 and 20 minutes flying duration respectively now. The heavier pack makes the heli fly a lot more solid and can be lowered to the ground on the spot. Probably the best battery for it would be their 20C 1000mah Lipo for £14. Nothing more than an 8C is needed but they don't supply them in 1000mah.

I like the performance of the £20 Lama (the size of the Picco Z) in the maplin's online catalogue, smooth man...now that would make the Mother-in-Law's budgie behave over Christmas..!

 http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221265&criteria=lama%20heli&doy=7m12

[Former Member]

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[David Martin 2]

Ahhh, you must have the fixed pitch one (FP) rather than my collective pitch.

Do you mean packs of 4 x 3 format..? I thought most of the FP heli's ran on 7 cells..?..I know my Piccolo did, I found it ran much better with an extra cell fitted though, more power and weight to stop most of the skittish ground handling.

I had to upgrade the tail motor though as the extra voltage burnt out the original one.

Lipo's don't like being over discharged and their capacity drops to an unusable level quite quickly.

[Graham Ashby 123]

Hi Eric, David, just thought I'd cut in here. I've had my Twister CP airborne a good few times now and it really is turning out to be a cracking little machine. I've got the aerial in a loop along the side of one u/c skid, up to the tail, then back to the other skid so that the trailing end hangs out in front of the model. Seems to work very well.

[David Martin 2]

Sounds a good method Graham, keeps it all separate and out of harms way, have you got much of a gap between the tail rotor and aerial on that side..?

I had to replace the battery holding elastic bands some time ago and found it hard to find the idea size. I sorted it in the end by getting 1/2 a meter (23p) of black 8mm garter elastic from a sewing shop and after cutting off 2 x 8cm lengths, threaded them through the frame as per the original bands then overlapped the ends 5mm and sewed them together for loops. The batteries don't slip at all and they will be easy and cheap to replace in future. (I don't do 3D though) 

[Graham Ashby 123]

It's not a huge gap David but it's enough. At the back the aerial loops through a small O-ring that's slid over the tail skid. In addition, where it runs along the main skids it's attached using four small rings of fuel tube. A neat idea as the fuel tube also provides considerable grip on smooth surfaces. I used the same arrangement on my earlier Hummingbird without problem. It's neat too. Can't stand untidy wiring! I know what you mean about the battery bands. Mine are looking a bit slack already. I bought a packet of adjustable Velcro cable ties in Robert Dyas the other day and reckon they ought to do the job. All in all a cracking little model and good for 15 minute flights. Seems to be happy turning in both directions as well, which was not something the earlier fixed-pitch could ever boast.

[Former Member]

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[David Martin 2]

Fuel tubing's a good idea Graham, I'll slide some on tonight. I used to have 4 small 'O' rings on my Hughes piccolo skids and were excellent for spot landings.

I do find my Twister will bank round nicely in clockwise circuits but still prefers to fly a little flatter when going anticlockwise..I put it down to the light model weight and rotor gyroscopic effects (big words for me..!), still get it to bank though when flown pretty fast.

Graham, have you had success/ever tried replacing a standard 7 cell Nimh AAA pack on a FP heli (like your one Eric) with a 2 cell 1000mah Lipo..? I wondered whether the slightly lower average pack voltage of the Lipo would fly them ok or struggle...?  I should have tried the slightly higher voltage JP Li-ion packs they brought out a while back, lower voltage than 3 Lipo's but higher than 2. Apparently flew the FP Piccolo for 20 minutes, I wonder why they didn't catch on..?

EDIT...just read your article on the next step helis in this months RCM&E Graham and saw your aerial mounting you explained. Good article, I enjoyed it...

[Graham Ashby 123]

David, you're not wrong about the anticlockwise circuits, it is just slightly more comfortable turning right. A vast improvement on the fixed-pitch jobs though. No I never did try replacing my AAA cells with a Li-Po so I really couldn't say. Seem to remember the AAA packs being a nuisance though. I bought four or five over a period because they didn't seem to store very well. Glad you saw the article, thank you.

[David Martin 2]

Yes Graham, I only really found the supplied Nimh packs and my own creations from Sanyo or GP 950mah cells up to delivering the required current, but after a reletively short time, their holding capacitie's dwindled. I did always charge them at 1C after a flight though so they were pressed pretty hard. 

I think I'll post the question of 2 cell lipo's v 7 cell Nimh packs in a new thread Graham, I seem to have steamrollered Eric's thread with my own questions..!

Sorry Eric...

[Former Member]

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