Radian Pro - your thoughts?

[Paddy Fidling]

Parkzone Radian Pro

 

From experience, the original was pretty good, but lacked ailerons and the turns were horribly uncoordinated, and £180 was a heck of a lot for a three channel foamy!   

 

But this new one with both ailerons and flaps looks very tempting for £180 BNF!

 

May have to go the Xmas list!  (almost here!)

 

Anyone else of the same mindset? 

 

Paddy 

 

 

 

 

Edited By Paddy Fidling on 03/11/2010 12:43:31

Edited By Paddy Fidling on 03/11/2010 12:43:44

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin on 18/01/2012 08:37:38

[Chris Card]

Not my kind of plane really Paddy but I'm surprised no-one's replied yet.  Must be someone out there who's interested in this new release?

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin on 18/01/2012 08:37:51

[Simon Chaddock]

Paddy

If you look at other forums you will see that the Radian Pro is a rather different kind of plane being more complicated, stronger and nearly 20% heavier.

 

It has basically the same motor and prop so it will never have the 'rocket' climb of the standard Radian but if you fly the Pro as a powered glider then its superior gliding capabilities will be more important than its rate of power climb.

I hope this helps.

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin on 18/01/2012 08:39:31

[Gaz Elliott]

Well. I have now flown the glider. Anmd well the climb out is shockingly poor. Reported on other forums as the cause being either an incorrect motor or the prop selection being incorrect. i have emailed horizon and await a reply. from other reports on here they appear to be very supportive.  Hope so as i fractured the rocker switch on the trim tab. I have swapped it with throttle trim tab as the esc presents the throttle trim. But i have asked where I can but the part from.

Climb out is at about 20 degrees and struggling.( In no wind) Once up thereit is great. But currently it is  "not fit for purpose" is perhaps a little harsh . But not quite right anyway!! 

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin on 18/01/2012 08:38:10

[Gaz Elliott]

Well after much research and email i have a solution from Horizon. they are sending a new prop. It is believed to be different from the first version prop despite being the same sizes???

 

CG is a major problem at 70mm. however I have seen people putting lead and even a pound coin in the front to balance correctly. However the best solution is to tease the esc mounting velcro braket and the battery mounting bracket out and swap them over thus putting the heavier battery closeer to the front and lighter esc back. This has solved the issue without additional weight.

There are some other mods to do with the tail plane some one has inserted earth magnets to hold the tailplane inplace there fore allowing it to be taken out and stored in the box toprotect it. 

Need to change the plugs on the esc and battery to check it with my watt meter as it is deans plug set up I have read that this will allow me to measure the difference between props.

Why do they spend so much build and manufacturing for simple problems like these to occur?????

  

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin on 18/01/2012 08:38:20

[Gaz Elliott]

Hi all,

 

i bought a radian pro after the hype of how good the V! was. I saw V1 fly and it was good. Climb out good and stable characteristics.

The pro video Appeared to have a good climb out and did some aeros also ( Not that iwant to do any). Now when i got mine put it together. Well the wings anyway and tail plane.

As reported fisrt flight lack of power and cg well the battery need to change place with esc Despite the manual saying  that th CG will be fine with the lipo in the craddle.

 

Come on am i the onlty one in possession of one?? Or am i the only one with a duffer.

 

It is claimed to be the prop?? We will see although i have put an 11x8 on and it only reached 140watts   and was well within the esc range of just under 50% of the 30amps.

How bigger prop will this take?? They will only be sending a V1 prop i think which is a different design 9 x 7.5 ?? 

Why do they spend so much getting it right. I am not anti Horizon I have loadsa there stuff . People say well you need to put a motor in it. What!!!! i would not buy a brand new car and take the engine out and replace it.

 

Am i theonly one??? Rant over and out!!!

[Gaz Elliott]

Obviously I am the only one. I can see why.

 

Horizon hobbies claim

 "the Radian Pro also comes equipped with a powerful 480-size 960Kv brushless motor system that can catapult it to altitude in seconds" 

 I think not!!!! Postie not arrived yet so can not confirm any change in power from the new prop..

 

[Chris van Schoor]

Yes, it is the prop.

[Hamish]

Well Gaz you appear to be having your problems. I got one a few days ago and do not appear to be having the probs. you are. The Lipo fitted exactly where suggested and the CoG was Ok. Will admit a bit underpowered with the prop supplied. I had a 12x8 spare and tried that and it goes up like a homesick angel, way up to 200m in 29secs which is what I want for the E-Soaring competitions. Nice and easy to fly about and I am sure once I can find a thermal it will stay up for ages.

What is V1?

keep us informed on how you get on.

[RGPuk]

Got one as a car boot hack and slope lift sniffer, to use before I chuck anything more expensive of a hill in uncertain conditions.

For the dosh, it's a belter! You get all the bits (motor, ESC, 6 servos, prop, spinner, hardware, decals, design and assembly) for about 110 quid - the foam lumps are effectively free!

Motor driven altitude gain isn't ballistic but perfectly adequate. The flow of electrons leaves plenty of scope for a meatier prop. She glides flat, as slowly or as fast as you like, within reason. Extra mixing facilities, on a suitable TX, provides flaps, CROW, combined full span ailerons etc etc, to all of which she responds well. A standard size pack balances her with tail emphasis for thermal sniffing, a meatier LiPo pushing the c of g slightly more forwards for slope antics and more of a blow - with still more scope, and no messing about, for a nice, slightly heavier Aeronaut spinner and beefy prop.

Sure, Posh Radian is no moulded hotty, but for what she is, and for the money, there will be plenty of folks, at all levels of flying experience, who'll get immense pleasure from her.

Ro.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Feel free to leave a reviewhere gents

[RGPuk]

Posted by David Ashby - RCME Administrator on 21/01/2011 10:01:15:

Feel free to leave a reviewhere gents

Done!

Ro.

[Gaz Elliott]

Yep i agree you get all the stuff ,however I got all the stuff accept the mountain to throw it off as the motor just stall every 10metre it climbed. Have now tested the 11 x 8 prop and it works so much better. I also added a 1300 20c lipo to boost and this also helped. as said before why don't they sell as advertised . This is almost breach of trades description!!! video displays a good climb rate etc yet no way did I achieve that. Horizon have been helpful though. Must try a 12 x 8 as there was stil plenty left in the esc. I don't want power to fly round with just to get it to altitude.

 

Good fights today although no real thermals to lift. Have undertake the mod on the box and the tail with earth magnets

 

Hamish i meant the original Radian when I said V1 ( the 3 channel which goes up like a rocket unlike its 4 oz heavier brother!!!)

[Slopetrashuk]

I'm reviewing the Radian Pro at the moment for the mag. The stock set up gives 150 Watts at 15Amps on the supplied 9.75 x 7.5 prop and 3s 1300mAh Lipo.

The model is very tolerant to CG variations and she has also flown with a 1800 3s Tipple pack down to a 800mah 3s Flitepower. All behind the ESC.

Climb on a fully charged lipo is a sustained 40 degrees and flight times of 40-45 minutes in dead (non thermic) air are common on the supplied 1300.

 

Gaz, if you only had 140W on an 11x8 you might well indeed have a duffer!

 

Andy

[Ed Anderson]

Looks like you got the updated prop if the stock prop is giving you 150 watts. It is still below the power system in the original Radian which pulled about 17-18 amps on the bench, about 180 watts.

[RGPuk]

This is a copy and paste of workshop test results I posted on another forum:

 

I used the following:

• PKZ1031 (Trojan standard supplied) 1800mAh 15C
• VP Racing (SL's premium) 2250mAh 25C
• Turnigy (Mr. Wong's finest from HK) 2200mAh 20-30C

I topped each out on a balanced charge first and did the test with everything over-night stabilised at a room temperature of 18C .

Each was run from the start at WOT, and they all showed around 155-ish watts at no more than 15.5 amps but those figures dropped quickly as the packs got rid of their first, fresh blast of lekkieness.

WOT was held until each pack voltage dropped to steady mid 11's and the output dropped accordingly in each case to 130 watts, never drawing more than 12.5 amps.

As each pack started to get tired heading towards 11 volts, the figures were a pretty stable 11.8 amps and 128 watts.

Predictably, the higher C ratings gave the best initial bursts - amazingly the cheapo Turnigy being far better than the premium price VP Racing.

So - given that the official porkiness of Posh Rad is 980 gm / 34.6 oz / 2.1 pounds, that means about 62 watts per pound to work with as the pack gets into it's stride. Perfectly adequate. Not hotliner figures but she isn't one of those anyway.

The motor got only warm and the ESC had no sign of heat, consequently the first flights will be with the standard prop for a look see - but a nudge up to a quality 10x8 should easily give more grunt and not even get close to cooking anything.

 

Ro.

[Noel Eaton]

Hi,

I,m just assembling my radian pro and am , encountering a few niggles

I,m using A Spectrum DX7 TX and a AR6100e Rx

I have programmed the Tx as per instructions on Horizon web site with one correction as mentioned on Utube vid (which others seem to have found to be correct acording to feedback comments )

I have bound the Rx ,with throttle stick at lowest revs ie. fully down

I have checked that all servos are correctly mated (ie red to red -brown to brown etc.)

 

First when all servos have movement I cant get the motor to run?

 

Second The left aeleron seems to be reversed ,

It moves correctly as an aieleron only

In other modes , crow, camber etc it consistently moves the wrong way ?

 

Any suggestions ?

Thanks Noel

Edited By Noel Eaton on 19/02/2011 13:03:34

[Tim Mackey]

Have you tried the motor without any other servos connected?

ESC throttle plug correctly inserted to rx throttle socket? re-bind and try again.

Throttle EPA 100% + and - and throttle channel not reversed?

Left aileron ( aux 1 I think ) channel reversed?

Correct wing mix set in master menu ( flapperon )

Flaps set in master mode too? - also have you assigned the 3 pos switch to flap control and set the correct +- % for each position.

[RGPuk]

You will also need to make sure that during set-up before powering up the RX, that the throttle trim is also fully down.

 

Ro.

[Noel Eaton]

Hi Tim,

I,ve done as you suggest ,

Only throttle pluged in to Rx ,set to norm ( which it was anyway)Epa 100%

Throttle trim Full Down (thanks Ro)

Re bind .... nothing happening ?

This has got me going in circles trying to sort it out

It,s late now

I was hoping to take this plane to flying field tomorrow

May be I,ll have another try tomorrow morning ,

I may take it to field anyway ,

and see if someone there can sort it out,

Thanks for the suggestions ,

I,ll let you know how I get on tomorrow

Noel

[Robert Davies]

Hi folks, ........ Family bought me the Radian Pro PNP for my birthday this month (Swindon Model Centre - Jan and Rose) I removed a little foam to fit a Futaba 7ch 2.4ghz Rx. Why don't they make one with end plugs? Took it on holiday to Tresaith, near Aberporth, West Wales. Test flight, off shore wind, narrow, short beach, steep slate/rocky cliffs. (look on Google maps!) Launched from edge of the surf inland, 3/4 throttle - just in case had to panic land cross-wind! No chance, 'Pro went up from a push at 20 degrees, I turned to starboard then over the sea still climbing. Full throttle 'Pro changed angle to 45 degrees and kept going. All this on the supplied prop and motor. I used a 1600 mah 3s lipo from Overlander. pushed back behind ESC for 70 to 72 mm C of G.

I confess that I did not measure the control movements but set up 70% rates and 30% expo. I am a little heavy handed. Come to think of it I tested with rates off! This aeroplane is most forgiving.

Mind you, test flights over the sea does focus the mind.

Dive test showed C of G to be spot on - no immediate climb and no tuck under - it just carried on at 45 degrees downwards. Quite unnerving!

My Tx is a Futaba FF8 with a 2.4 module. With the short time available I could not work out how crow braking works on the throttle stick when you have a motor connected. Did not have the nerve to try it! So I connected the flaps to the 'Y' lead supplied and used the ch6 rotary knob to operate the flaps. I P-mixed some down elevator, -15%, which seems to be about right.

Back here in Wiltshire, yesterday evening, I handed the sticks to my flying buddy (much better pilot than me) who thoroughly enjoyed low passes and pin point landings with the flaps. You can land without flaps but the way that I fly it's so easy to overshoot! The 'Pro is quick and floats, depends what you tell it.

By the way If I set up crow braking, will that cancel out the motor when crow is selected?

Regards to all. Bob.

 

[Tim Mackey]

I just mixed something similar for a friend on his ST Blaze Spektrum DX7 but principal should be the same.

Mix 1 throttle to throttle - 0% in one sw position, 100% in the the other - this switch then acts to null the throttle, so the stick can operate the flaps

Then mix 2 should be set on flap sw, with throttle to flap - experiment with percentages +/- etc and may need some offset. hrottle stick then operates flaps / spoilers.

[Gaz Elliott]

The prop has sorted the porblem and now flies great.It gets to altitude easily. the best thing is another club member has also bought one and it is still standard. He to has an issue with climb rate and continuous stall on climb. I am glad in a way as it means i was not going mad!!! I never used the prop they sent as it was the same size??? 12X8 is working well. i also have an ali spinner which on the standard set up i had to swap the esc with lipo position to get the nose down. the ali spinner will mean swapping back.

[RGPuk]

I got truly fed up of the fiddly rigging process. Threading the wing servos leads was a nightmare, and so too was accommodating excess cable and extra plugs when using extensions.

 

So I created a plug in loom using MPX 6 pin plugs (and braced the floppy tail with 3mmx0.5mm carbon strip inserted into a scalpel slit on each side of the rear of the fuz while the epoxy was mixed).

 

Ro.

 

[Noel Eaton]

RGPuk you have PM re. wiring loom details,

Has anyone else tried this ?

Will it still work and allow flaps to connect to flaps/aux in reciever ,

This is nessessary to allow crow ,camber and reflex to operate from my DX7 so I,m told

 

Also I,ve read about upgrading the prop to 10x8 for better climb rates

can anyone give a link to EXACTLY the right prop ?

I,m not sure what shaft size ,spinner size etc to order

I broke the original prop on Sunday,

so I think it would be wise to upgrade it when I order a replacement

any thoughts on this ?

 

Thanks Noel

SO MUCH TO LEARN