Guys,
Like to provide you with some thoughts on one ugly crash I had with my Park Zone Radian back on September 14th, 2012. The reason I am posting this now is because I did not have time to repair my Radian until a few days ago and my findings were a little shocking, at least to me.
Here is my Report as I posted back in September 19th, 2012 at the Radian Thread and you can find the same at:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...ostcount=13263
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Friday (09-14-2012) morning at Moon Port Modelers RC Club was enjoyable and after flying my Park Zone Spitfire Mk IX, I hand launched the Park Zone Radian Powered Glider. I was tooling around close and for some reason, decided to command my Radian up higher and
did not realize a strong upper level winds.
Pretty soon I found myself struggling to bring the model back over the field and it got higher very quickly and found it in a worse situation, several hundred feet down range. I was not clear on what it was doing at this point and it just circled and circled as I have a mechanical Left hand Rudder input in case all radio signal gets lost. However, it was still accepting commands from my transmitter when I powered up the motor.
Just could not get it back.
Mark S., a nice friend that Lives in Titusville and who ownes an Ultra Light Experimental Aircraft was out of town that day and with luck he was back in town on Sunday (09-16-2012) and performed an aerial survey on his Aircraft and to both our surprise, found my Radian Powered Glider next to a barbed wire fence near the entrance of the Great Outdoors.
If you look the Google Map picture, the model almost traveled a full Mile ( ~ 5,000 feet) from the point of origin.
A few pictures detailing our rescue adventure:
Heading North on a dirt path road:
Looking East along the Fence:
Here is how my Park Zone Radian Powered Glider was found!
Mark and his Ultra-Lite Aircraft over the Great Outdoors!!
Digital Zoom:
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FAST FORWARD: January 13th, 2013 Repairs and Findings:
1. I found lots of detached Foam Hinge material from the Rudder.
2. The Elevator had suffered a slight detached hinged at where the Control Horn area.
3. The Push Rods had lots of corrosion and once lose from the servos they were very hard to push or pull within the Guide Tubes.
4. The Rudder Servo was becoming jammed as it was making a loud noise while attempting to move the Arm.
5. Elevator Servo was observed to move by itself. Without the Servo Arm, I just touched the top and it decided to move on its own and even after I removed my finger.
FINDINGS:
Certainly, during a crash into a barbed wire fence any and all damages can result from the listed observations and considering the model sat for two (2) days and nights until it was spotted by my good friend with the Ultra Light Experimental Aircraft can cause corrosion quickly as a result of the model being out at the environmental elements.
However, it is my thoughts that my lost of control was NOT caused totally from high level winds nor any issues with Spektrum AR500 Receiver (I always check to make sure it has a Solid Red/ Orange Light before hand Launch). A number of items such as Rudder Foam hinge material coming detached is another factor and the high level winds just made matters worse. Other factors are the use of cheap steel push rods as I noticed lots of pits and ruts along the push rods themselves and I had to take a hobby knife to remove these spots and used sand paper to removed corrosion from the remaining push rod assemblies. Using Lithium Grease really did the Job to lubricate the Push Rod Tubes and keep the rods from any future corrosion.
I am going to spare everyone with the detailed Airframe (FUSE) Repairs as I am pretty sure those of you out there have used CA and Hardener and everyone has there own technique so, again, I am going to show you all what I have done to make my Radian and even better flying model.
I have replaced both STOCK (PKZ1060) servos with the Digital Metal Gear type, (DSV130N). These DSV130M are used within the Park Zone Spitfire Mk IX and being metal gear are much stronger to withstand those unexpected High Level Winds or unexpected dive as a result that many have when allowing the model to attain very high altitudes and resulting in RC Flyer really not noticing what the model is doing (Dive or Climb).
My efforts here are just to alert the general RC Powered Glider Community about my findings and what I did to make my Radian a little safer in the future. I believe my work on the Push Rods and the use of Metal Gear servos will provide carefree flights. (
Update: See my Latest Videos for flight results)!
Okay, finally some pictures:
Removed the STOCK PKZ1060 short lead servos:
Installed new Park Zone DSV130M (Digital - Metal Gear) Servos:
FUSE all together again and better than ever!
Replacing the STOCK Control Push Rod Keepers with Dubro (The Stock seems to be made from Aluminum and the thumb wheel just snapped off while tightening).
DUBRO Hardware on a Park Zone Product! 
RESULTS: (See Videos!!!)
https://vimeo.com/57333606
https://vimeo.com/57389230