[lornecherry]

The Radian's biggesst negative is that it thermals so well, it's easy to have it sucked up and out of sight in a matter of seconds. Spoiler should work well on almost any glider airfiol ...thus I suspect you did one or more of the following that might negatively affect both spoiler up and spoiler retracted performance.

1) As mentioned before, installed too close to the root, disrupting the air over the tail and making the elevator less effective.

2) Too much weight. Wing loading on the Radian is already high for a 2 meter ship. That said, it thermals incredibly well ...a 7-9g servo and very light spoilers should not hurt the perfomance too much. (I carried around a 76 gm video camera and it still flew well). And if you are really worried about the weight, just use a slightly lighter battery to make up the difference. Did you use a heavy servo ... installed away from the CG?

3) Centre of Gravity altered. If you've moved the centre of gravity too much, it will certainly affect performance. Servo should be as close to the orignal CG as possible. Outboard micro servos might also work well.

4) One wing weighs more than the other. Too much epoxy or non-symetrical building could cause one wing to weigh more ...check that also.

...what I'm trying to say is ....don't give up! A set of wings for the Radian is cheap.

[copilot]

Thanks for all the info, but I'm just going to leave them in the basement. Now that I am making my aprouch from the south under the Hydro wires and above the fence I don't need them. Once I'm past them I just turn into the breeze and land. If no breeze I turn and land at my feet, no walking. Thanks again, and if anyone puts a set on let me know how they work. Al