Twister Product Review
There are probably not a lot of hobby shops out there that stock turbine-powered aircraft. They do look and sound cool but you will need customers coming in the door with the experience needed to fly them and deep pocketbooks. Some cost the price of a small car. While turbines are out of the reach of many, turbine fun can be had with the Multiplex Twister. At around $200, this is a good deal. The kit comes with Multiplex DF69 Impeller Unit and Himax HA2825-3600 brushless motor. It is made of ELAPOR® foam and is extremely durable. While the Twister flies great, it is not a trainer aircraft. It's probably suited for a customer who has had experience with something beyond an advanced trainer.

The kit goes together pretty fast. To complete the kit besides the radio, your customer will need the following: three micro servos, a 3-cell LiPo battery (I used a 3200 mAh), an ESC, at least 45 amps that's compatible with the battery chosen. I went higher with a 50 amp from Castle Creations. And lastly
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wire to extend the servo wires. You use medium and high-viscosity cryano-acrylate (CA) glue and kicker. The medium CA is used when you need to position large parts allowing for some adjustment before the glue dries. The model is not made of Styrofoam so white glue or epoxy will not work since the bond won't last. There are a couple of things to keep in mind while assembling though that I found will make things easier down the line. Before installing the elevator servo, I soldered the extension on to make sure I had the correct length and then plugged it into my receiver to make sure it was working properly because going back to fix it later on requires some surgery. Depending on what radio the customer uses, they may or may not have to run the receiver antenna out the top of the fuselage. If they do, I found it easier feeding the antenna out the top by first gluing in some plastic tubing much like that used on cars. The aileron servos will also need extensions and I thought it was easier to soldier on longer leads. Customers should do this and test them before they glue the wings to the fuselage. The only other minor issue I found was that the mounting lug on the fan unit was a bit too wide and need to be shorten it up about 1/8th on an inch on both sides. The kit comes molded in grey with plenty of decals but my experience has shown that grey planes tend to disappear easy on a cloudy day so I painted mine red with Crylon Fusion and used markings similar to the British Red Arrow aerobatic jet team.

All that's needed to get it into the air is a moderate toss into the wind and the Twister climbs out pretty quick. Mine required just a couple of clicks of down trim on the elevator to make it fly hands-off straight and level. It will do loops and rolls. I had a friend of mine who has turbine experience fly it and he said it flew similar to a some of his jets. There are a couple of things to keep in mind. Your customer will need to keep up the speed in turns otherwise the Twister gets a bit mushy. Loops are big so three mistakes high, especially in the beginning, is a good idea. It lands a bit quick so you need to bleed off speed while starting on the downwind for landing. The Twister is a blast to fly and you can see it here.