It looks fantastic Alex.

Thanks Doug, as you can see the interlocking parts construction makes the building process very easy, no need for complicated jigs or paper plans.

I attached a few images showing the turtle deck assembly and tailwheel support plate. The fin is assembled separately and then attached to the fuselage.

To complete the fuselage structure, all that was left to do was adding the top stringers. Rudder was also assembled using the jig included in the kit.

We also made a few improvements to the website: [link]http://www.radiance-f3a.com/[/link]
It's now much easier to order, using the new PayPal button on the order page. Price quoted there includes the shipping costs to most international destinations and insurance.

Got any pics of the batts installed? How hard is it to reach them, the fuse just seems a little deep and narrow at that point looking at it.

Your givng me the urge to build again, been a long time and your kit looks very impressive. Are you using just normal ca on all the ply parts?

Hallo RM

There is quite enough room to work there with comfort.
I used mostly CA glue, except for the critical places, like wing attachment and firewall, battery compartment etc

Thanks
Tommie Prinsloo

For the kit version, we also adjusted the CG location so you will probably need to place the batteries in the middle of the tray, no need to put them so close to the firewall.
As Tommie said, there's plenty of space to work there.

Yes, sorry, i just want to confirm, this was the first model before we adjusted the wing tube etc. The battery sits more in the middle now. Will post a picture later.
Thanks
Tommie

Unfortunately we only have very few pictures of the fuselage sheeting process. Here are a couple showing the balsa covered fuselage:

Moving on to wing construction. The pictures show the rib placement and servo box assembly:

It's almost a shame to cover up all that beautiful work Alex! Very impressive.

and a lot of the engineering work and laser cuttingis done here in SA!

Thanks Doug, i did the CAD work but Tommie did a great job building the planes. All the building pictures here are his work.

More details of wing assembly:

Attaching the upper wing skin and adding the spar webs:

Adding the wing tube sleeves is next. To increase strength, we decided to make the plywood rib doublers longer and use them to connect the wingtube and main spar.
This way we can transfer the loads from the main spar to the wingtube through the hard plywood doublers, rather than relying on the soft balsa ribs.

The root rib is made of 3mm liteply, so it's strong enough and only has a small doubler for local reinforcement.

Final operations on the wing: adding the root balsa block, cutting the ailerons and adding the hinge lines.

Wonderful work Alex, any plans on bringing out a glow or gas version in the near future

Thank you
Leo

Thanks Leo, we had quite a few questions about a glow version. For us it would be too expensive and time consuming to re-tool for glow power, buy engines and accessories, build and test a new prototype, etc. But for those willing to build a glow powered Radiance, it would be quite easy to convert the model.

Basically what's needed is to cut a new firewall, remove the frame indicated in the attached picture and build a fuel tank support. Additional reinforcements will be needed on the inside of the fuselage for attaching the firewall and also the cowl support tabs need to be reinforced to withstand the YS engine vibrations.

For the new firewall you can use the one included in the kit as a template, but without the big rectangular cut in the middle. I can provide a PDF file for the glow firewall and fuel tank support if needed.

The attached pictures show the modifications needed for glow power conversion:

Thank you for your detailed info Alex. Do you think since the aircraft wasn't tested with a glow engine, we would run into cg problems

Leo

I suppose it's more or less the same as converting any other model. For electric power the CG can be adjusted between 25-35% MAC by moving the battery.
Maybe other modelers who converted their pattern models can relate their experiences concerning CG position?

If you keep the CG in the same position, nothing will change since the the CG regards the glider and not how is powered. Just for safety and as shall be done in any plane, you can start from the forward position and furtherly (if needed) move it backwards.

First steps of stab assembly:
The anhedral stabs are built parallel to the building board, which means the root rib is not parallel to the other ribs. The supporting jigs help guiding the root rib in the correct position.
The servos will be mounted inside the stabs, using the second rib as a support.

I was thinking more along the lines of conversion to accept a Mintor 38 or OS 33GT

Yes, that would be sweet and a option for over sized control surfaces so you could use it for artistic aerobatics

well maybe, but for pattern mostly...