Hi CornSnake, one of the ways that tends to be easier with twisted things is to model something initially just straight, then use Transform > Deform > Twist to apply twisting to the straight piece, then use Transform > Deform > Flow to map the long twisted shape onto a circle to get the final result.

That goes something like this:

Build a straight piece with the kind of cross-section design you want:




Select it and run Transform > Deform > Twist to twist it:




Now to prepare for doing the Flow, draw a backbone line down the middle of the twisted shape which will be the base curve for the Flow, and a circle for the target curve:




Then select the twisty thing, run Transform > deform > Flow, and at the first prompt click the backbone line for the base curve and at the second prompt click the circle for the target curve, to get a result like this:




You should probably delete the top and bottom end caps off of the shape before doing this since they will end up right on top of each other at the closing point.

Anyway, this tends to simplify things a bit since you can work on twisting and bending in separate passes rather than trying to do it all directly in place.

- Michael