Twister Sky Lift

We put the new member of the Twister family on our front cover this month and whilst the review should be along soon, we thought readers would appreciate a little look at the model.

It’s a twin twin-rotor machine in the Chinook mould and clearly modelled on the RAF version of the same. It’s certainly nice to see an RAF scheme, those of foreign air forces seem to predominate on models these days.

The model is packaged in the familiar twin-rotor chopper manner with a transmitter, Li-Po, charger, spare blades, instructional DVD etc.

Effectively the mechanics incorporate a long boom with twin-motor twin-rotor units at each end. Electronics are housed in the middle along with two servos that drive the swash plates via push rods and bell cranks. The Li-Po sits in a cradle in the centre.

J.Perkins the UK Distributor have been heavily involved in development and tell us that the electronics had to be completely re-designed from those of a standard single shaft twin-rotor helicopter. Weight was an issue through development with every gram of excess material being removed to keep the machine as light as possible – our model weighs 400g.

The sound of the four motors is impressive and I’m pleased to say that the machine is rock solid in the hover, possibly more so than a standard single-shaft twin-rotor type. The body is flexible and can absorb knocks so the Sky Lift shares the rugged design we’ve seen on previous Twister twin-rotor machines. The wheels are free spinning so a realistic tail-first rolling take-off is possible although beginners may prefer the machine to stay put on the ground by adding a little cyano to lock the wheels.

So far we like it but we’re still flying the machine at the moment so more on the flight capabilities in our review which is scheduled now for the Feb issue due out early Jan. For those keen to see the model flying, you’ll find a promotional video at the J.Perkins Distribution website.

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