SushiHunter

Went very well as usual. I fly it from the top of a small mountain so I'm standing roughly a few hundred feet from where the mountain starts to angle downward and I'm facing into the wind. I fly the Radian a few hundred feet above where the mountain starts to angle downward. It's at this area where there is a steady upward wind current which is coming off the Pacific. I can keep the Radian up for quite a while on just the wind current alone. Usually when I get tired I will turn the Radian out of the wind current and circle around a few times for something different to do. Pretty surprising to find out that I almost ran my battery completely out of power on just the servo operation alone. I have a timer set up on my transmitter that is triggered on and off by the throttle stick. Usually I can get roughly 6 minutes of thrust out of each battery. I set the timer to go off at the 5 minutes mark so this would give me about 1 minute reserve for thrust for landing and such. I had only about 2 minutes of total thrust on the timer but the battery was almost completely used up. I plan to set a second timer which will record total flight time, so, I can set it up for the alarm to go off after 5 minutes of thrust time or roughly 40 minutes of total flight duration. I would have not been happy if I lost total power on the Radian while it was a few hundred feet in alt. in the wind current.

It was a terrific flying session!

SushiHunter

Two Saturday's back, I was up at my usual Radian flying site which is on the top of a small mountain. Mornings are more calm compared to afternoon and evenings at this particular site. I had my Radian up and a steady breeze was coming from the south moving north at about 3 to 5 mph with no gusts.. However, about 2/3 into the flight on the second battery, the wind direction completely shifted 180 degrees and the steady breeze turned into windy conditions with gusts between 10 to 20 mph. I storm front had blown in along with some moisture in the form of sprinkles. At this point it was not fun at all for me. I did get the Radian back down but only after a few passes. Disassembly was very hard at this point because of the wind and gusts, but had no other choice because the wings need to come off in order for it to fit in my car. So yeah, the factory Radian Pro doesn't do so well in high wind and gusts. But with a wingspan the size of what the Radian has on top of being made primarily out of foam, it isn't fun in those flying conditions.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

SushiHunter - try some ballast. Big difference!

DieHarder

I thought of something. If I add quite a bit of ballast and add more support to the rudder/elevator assembly, won't the motor start becoming insufficient for pulling the Radian up on a steep angle? I'm very experienced with planes yet, but I do know that a 380 motor fits in a 540 or 550 hole pattern. Is it possible to put a larger motor in it? And then is there a steeper or bigger prop to provide more thrust for the weight of the new motor?

DieHarder

I've got some more pics. This winter we have received the most snow in over a decade. It's awesome! Dad snow blew the driveway out last night again, and it's already filled in about 8". There is over 8 ft deep drifts!




1st: I believe this shot was posted above.
2nd: Wind indicator out at the field.
3rd: My wind indicator with field in the background.
4th: Flying Field.
5th: Wind indicator next to runway.
6th: View of landing strip from the beginning.
7th: Showing how you can't see across the field with this blowing snow.
8th: A cool little drift.
9th: Same drift, but from different angle.
10th: Showing how the light pole is so buried, that it's at arm level.
11th: Sideways shot of buried light pole. (It's inline with the tree)
12th: A bit larger drift.

This wind is very cool, the way it forms snow sculptures. It's very pretty outside, but hard to walk through the 2ft+ snow.

SushiHunter

Wow, that looks cold! I've been lucky and flying the Radian in sunny weather with highs in the low 70's. It's been really warm this winter in California. Last weekend I was out flying a glow plane out at the field and had to be careful not to get too sun burned.

I lived in Nebraska and Iowa during various times during my youth and I remember the snow well. I used to love tracking animals by the footprints they left in the snow. Just by the steps they leave, you can tell what type of animals, how many and get a good estimate on the size and weight of them, all by just the shape, size and depth of the prints they leave. Also learned how to survive out in the snow. A big deal when I was in school was taking classes on hunters ed/outdoor survival training. I really loved those two things while in school out there.

If you fly your radian out in the snow, you may want to first paint it hunter's orange so you can see it if it lands out in the snow somewhere.

DieHarder

I was thinking about skis perhaps. Instead of ditching the fuselage in the snow, I figured I could mount some of these: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXBSDV&P=0 They look light and are made of polyurethane. I was wondering how much it would effect the flying?

SushiHunter

Interesting. I do think that would effect the flying a lot on a Radian. Pix are deceiving so looking at it I'm not sure if those would be as heavy as the entire Radian itself. If you do it, for sure post pix and results of how it goes.

DieHarder

Another thought I had was this: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXG870&P=ML I figured it would be cool to drop stuff. A radian has such lift that I figured I could take up a decent load and drop. Only problem I found, was that the load would have to be mounted slightly in front of the COG. The COG is right in the middle of the servo access door. I can't mount a servo and mechanism there, the weight of the mechanism and load will swing the door open. It would have to be strapped around more of the fuselage, kind of like how I mount my camera. Any ideas?

SushiHunter

So what exactly would you drop? A potato? An egg? One of your old Hot Wheels? Reminds me of when I was a kid, I took one of those black bat kites, hooked up an egg to it to where I pulled on the string really hard and fast, it would release the egg when I wanted it to fall. On a really windy day, I got it up really high and dropped the egg from it. It was watching the egg fall that was the most exciting compared to just seeing the actual aftermath on the ground.

Today is another outstanding Radian day here in California. It's got to be pushing 70 degrees outside. No wind, some clouds. Maybe after work I'll take the Radian out for a little glide.

SushiHunter

I've not had the Radian out for roughly three weeks now. I've been vigorously working on my current r/c build so it will be ready this spring. So this past Saturday the weather was awesome so I planned on taking a break from the build and get the Radian out. Unfortunately, first thing Sunday morning I looked outside and we had a rain storm going on which lasted all day. Hopefully this coming weekend I'll get the Radian out.

DieHarder

What kind of build is it?

SushiHunter

A classic SIG Komet kit that I purchased on line a month ago. I'd like to have it ready for the maiden this spring. I posted a few pix of the build in my gallery if you would like to take a look. More will be uploaded in the next few days.

DieHarder

Anybody flying lately?

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Had the Radian out for a couple hours on New Year's day. That was the last time I had something in the sky.

SushiHunter

Not lately because 1) raining the last few weekends, 2) spending a lot of my time involved with the current build - SIG Komet. Maybe this weekend I'll get the time to take the Radian up.

DieHarder

I'm in a similar boat. No skis = No landing (Unless I catch it of course! )

dwreel

Just signed on.
Ordered a Radian pro a few minutes ago. Looking forward to flying gliders again. Flew gliders in compitition back in the 80's. Some hi start and then everybody switched to winches. Garnered about a dozen trophies for my efforts. Couldn't get enough of it. Lots of practicing and it paid off.

DieHarder

Nice! Have you been flying since the 80's? Or just getting back in? All members welcome, yo! More the better!

dwreel

Been flying RC since mid 70's. Backed off in 1995 and got back in 2008. 3 years glider.

20181c

Going to purchase a Radian Pro after reading all the reviews and seeing this thread.

DieHarder

Cool! We hope you join up here!

This afternoon I need to go out and plow out the driveway. This light fluffy snow is piling up pretty quick....

knifemaker

A cure for the sore neck/aching back is to fly like an old person. Launch the plane, climb to altitude, park your butt in a plastic chair, slouch down and enjoy the flight.

DieHarder

^ Couldn't have said it better.

Tbatt

My Feedback: (4)

I prefer a chase lounge, with a cooler next to it.