Flyingpulgo

Richard,

Thanks that will be added today to my radian, yesterday I got it back in the air and was flying "funny" it could be just me chicken out after the crash.
just some pictures of the plane before and after.


[img]file:///Users/marioarbelaez/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Modified/2009/Sep%205,%202009/IMG_0617.jpg[/img]

Tom Nied

Mine is still flying and I'm getting fairly respectable times. On Labor Day I was out thinking this could be the day I could do better than 1 hour. My best flight so far has only been 58 minutes. Conditions seemed pretty good, not too windy, sunny conditions. So I went out and just decided that whatever I get will be fine. Later on I can go for a motorcycle ride. So up we went, and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Thermals were there, just not really strong. So at about 35 minutes I notice some Hawks moving into the area. I'm thinking, great, this must be the right place to be for finding thermals, and my Radian looked like it was pretty far up there. Oh look how the friendly Mr. Hawk is moving closer to my plane, we're buddies. Then I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He (the Hawk) was attacking my plane. My Radian pirouetted with the Hawk hanging on to my rudder and somehow I broke loose and got away. Lost considerable altitude, but somehow regained control and tried for the previous thermal. All is fine, 5 minutes later my buddy the Hawk makes another stab at me. I was able to get away and he decided to leave me alone. That flight yielded a total elapsed time of 53minutes 15 seconds with the highest altitude 889 ft. All in all that was a pretty good flight and I was amazed by the attention the Hawk gave me. I've told this story to friends, and they get a pretty good laugh out of it. My Rudder has the marks of his talons. Later on, I did go for a 150 mile ride on the motorcycle. Pretty good Labor Day for me.

loungefly

Tom sounds like more fun with the Radian! I'm glad you got away from the hawk with all of the problems you have been having lately

On the ailerons thing, I have to agree with richardrc, its not meant to have ailerons. Making this bird more areobatic is only going to destroy it. Ity can barely survive loops! Why not buy another glider that has ailerons as standard? The Radian is meant for enjoyable thermal soaring and gliding. I have other planes with ailerons to do tricks and more aerobatic flying with, not well though.[&:]

Tinkrerpilot

My Feedback: (2)

Flyingpulgo

Could you please tell us about the application of the shark face to your Radian. And do you have a picture
of it before the crash shots? Was a question from my grandson. I think he wants one on my Radian. We shall see.

I am waiting for the prop blades to get here before flying mine along with a few of the other mods you guys have come up with.
Want this thing hassle free at the flying field.

Flyingpulgo

Tinkrerpilot,

I do not have pictures before, the crash, I used free hand for the shark, the form you can find it on any P-40 picture, I will try this weekend to trace it and scan it for your grand son this weekend.
to paint it I used a Blue, Red, Black, Yellow and Withe Sharpie Paint from "Michaels, JoAnns or Hobby Lobby".

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Tom Nied

Sharpie paint? That's cool. Thanks for sharing the find. I got to try some of that.

Tinkrerpilot

My Feedback: (2)

Never knew that Sharpies came in a paint version. NICE! I have Michaels around the corner.
Will have to get some of that and try it. Geeez, learned something new here today. Awesome.
Thanks for the info. Sould have plenty of pics for the P-40, one of my favorites.

Tom don't go to wild with the sharpies now..........

Tom Nied

I put a few extra squares of chrome MonoKote on the fuse and vertical stabilizer.

Great News. On my 33rd flight since I got my Radian, today I flew my first over an hour flight!. Exactly 1 Hour, 11 Minutes and 32 Seconds. To a maximum altitude of 1,259 feet.

CBM Racing

Congrats Tom! Nice job on the hour plus flight! I've been trying to break an hour for a long time, but every time I get close (48mins+) something happens to bring me back down, haw! I've been away for some time now, things happen[]. But had some good flying lately, and a monster wreck. Coming in for a catch, flaired as usual for a catch and it went 2 feet out of reach over my grasping fingers, aaarrrg! Instead of just powering up or taking 5 little steps I watched in frozen time as it stalled straight up and down 10ft behind me, nosed straight down into the pavement in what seemed slow motion, POW! Haven't check extent of damage yet, other than 2 inches shorter nose and cracked spinner. Good news is, some great flying before that though. I agree on the love hate thing though, love the way it flies when things are good, hate working on it so much. The how high altimeter is small enough to mount anywhere under the canopy, I strap mine to the esc with electrical tape. Doesn't need ailerons, but spoilers would be nice on occasion. If there is any flex in the firewall to fuse mounting, or even a hairline crack behind spinner backplate(common issue) the dang thing throws props left and right. So, if your throwing props, pull the prop assembly and inspect closely the firewall closely for any cracks and make sure the firewall is FIRMLY mounted to the fuse. Good luck all!

Tom Nied

CBM, you are so correct about the prop throwing and motor mount. Before I went out I checked the integrity of the motor mount and thought I was good to go. I got out to the park and got myself set up, studied the sky, checked the U.S. flag somebody has at their house across the field, launched and in maybe the first two seconds, threw a prop blade. I circled around and landed as gently as possible. One prop blade was thrown and the motor was wiggling around. The motor mount was broken again. Packed up went home, took off the spinner, unscrewed the motor, did a CA repair. Put it back together and went out to make my record breaking flight. I don't know why, but that motor mount sucks. The plastic is questionable. Any crack at any of the 4 motor bolts and you're sure to throw a prop. I'm not sure if its the motor mount breaking and the prop breaks or the prop breaks and the motor mount breaks. But it's a pain. I'm probably going to eventually cut out that front motor mount and glue in a plywood replacement. Other than that, I think I could do another hour flight. And I think its more of a better weather scenario than me that creates the over hour flights. Sure was cool to see it there at 1200 ft. Weather here has been cooperating, may try again Tuesday.

CBM, I mount my How High the same way. With a few finishing nails for balance. I'd say keep trying and just get use to fixing the Radian. I'm tired of it for sure, but I think I've caught up with whatever happens. Absolutely no problems with the fuse now that it is taped. I've thrown way too many prop blades.

CBM Racing

Just finished repairing mine last night, not to bad really. As much as I hate fixing little things on here, I can only imagine what it would look like if made of wood glass, heh heh. It really is one tough customer when I think about what I put it through. The nose dive basically smashed the nose out of shape a bit and the front "ring" of foam was broke off. CA'd the foam back together, then a layer of gorilla glue around front end where firewall mounts followed by a wet down wrap of 1/2oz cloth. Before glue started to foam I put on firewall and screwed it on and used clamps to hold it in position better. Strong as ever today with no flex and canopy almost fits right. Good flying to all!

Richardrc

If you have stock blade, don't waste your time waiting for replacement. Get out and fly that plane. The Radian is meant to be a gental flyer. Use the power gently and only to gain altitude to 200-300', then power off and look for thermals. That is what this plane is intended for. I have been flying mine stock ( including blade ) all summer and having a blast catching thermals. I usually go out in morning just as the lift starts to work. The Radian will thermal in that lift very well and you don't loose it in the big afternoon thermals.

So, get out and enjoy that Radian.

loungefly

I agree fully.

As for the Radian being hassle free....is there a RC plane out there that is hassle free? I have never come across one and i have and have had many and so have my flying buddies. It's part of the hobby fixing and tinkering and it's one of the things that makes our hobby (or obsession!) so addicting.

And for those that have been bagging the Radian for its flawes or lack of quality, for all of the repairs you do, I bet you still have a huge grin on your face when it catches a good thermal

Side Note: I finally have my DX6i back and repaired so I can get out there again and get "specked out". They took their time but they did send me a new rx for my trouble. I wish customer service was this good in AUS.

konewone

Just reading thru electric gliders and saw a sig riser mentioned ,that was my first sailplane ,it was so good it got hooked into a huge thermal and dissapeared into orbit.However the radian just seems like a real lazy docile flier from what I have seen.I tossed up between the st330 and the radian and opted for the st330 simply because it has ailerons,(I need practise on ailerons you see) it flys real well, but have progressed onto the dg1000 with the foldaway motor pylon.It likes light airs but you can thermal on almost nothing and it is a great looking glider.

loungefly

Finally got my Radian in the air yesterday. It flew better than ever. It was the first flight with new fuse and repaired DX6i.
I made sure to balance it very carefully and it paid off. I flew it around 8.30am when there was not a lot of lift around. It did find a few small pockets of lift but even when it didn't, it didn't want to come down! Careful balancing has really made a difference to it keeping its altitude longer. I was stoked. Didn't stay up for long as the wind direction meant i had to look up into the sun too much and my buddies had their gas planes up too at the same time! They are dangerous flyers[X(]

jacky65

FPV flight I did yestarday with my Parkzone Radian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD-FRNSGKbo

Tom Nied

Wow, that is cool!

OEMFlyer

That is way cool!!!

loungefly

Does it not take away some of the purity of the hobby though???
I guess that it would mean you can push the Radian's limits without worrying about loss of sight or just plain losing it all together.

Tom Nied

loungefly. I thought about that too. I think if I could spend that kind of money and get that kind of telemetry back, it would be neat. I'm kind of on the fringe of what jacky65 is doing and all I have is a Winged Shadow How High altimeter. But I get a kick out of even that. So I can't knock it and wish I could do it. It's neat he shared that with us though, isn't it?

loungefly

It is neat that he shared it with us. But it's an expensive thing for a relatively cheap plane!

Tom Nied

Here's something neat. I've realized that I've had my Radian up to 1259 ft. recorded with a Wing Shadow How High SP. The John Hancock Tower here in Chicago is 1,127 ft. I recently visited the John Hancock Tower observatory. Great view from that height. Would be tempted to photograph from that altitude if I could. Just hate the idea of adding weight.

loungefly

That FPV must add a fair bit of weight.

jacky65

Hi,
Yes there is some weight added but this is not excessive.

whiro

Like everyone else I'm loving my Radian, even though I have not had a lot of flights with it yet.

I haven't crashed (yet) but I assume the foam is like the other Parkzone planes and is very easy to fix with super glue.

So what I'm wondering is what would happen if you took the dihedral out of the wing and added ailerons. I'm thinking you could cut the wing at about 3 different places, slice out the dihedral and glue it back together. It seems that you would keep most of the floating ability, but maybe pick up some speed and manueverability (not to mention spoiler/flap ability). Replacement wings are available for not too much $. What do you think?