[lornecherry]

I set a personal best on my flapped Radian (not a Pro, but rather a RE with full Paul Naton mods, including decalage changes and flaps). One motor run to 200M ALES limited and 1:01:31 flight flying with flaps @50% much of the time to keep from going out of site. I'm sure I could have made 1.5-2 hours given the conditions and less of a sore neck. What's more intriguing, is this was all at 6:30 -7:30 PM, on a day that I had discounted because it so damn hot and windy.

The Radian was on a diet for some ALES tweaking, with a lighter battery, sanded trailing edges and rudder, carbon tow stiffening, lightened canopy, 1/2 span flaps with camber, reflex, covered wings to improve laminar flow and a few other tricks. Stock motor and prop, with the rather weak spinner and plastic motor mount beefed up with carbon tow. Modded this way it's a very competitive light-wind plane...its only drawback is that @ 2 meters it's very hard to see at high altitudes...this is where a 3-4 M ship can make a competitive difference in that you can go much higher and still be in your max height/I can-see-it comfort zone.

For those of you looking to take the next step up from a stock Radian, I strongly suggest doing the Naton mods and learning to fly a camber changing wing. The performance limitations are limited only by pilot skill (mainly the ability to recognize lift, centre the thermal properly, and turn smoothly), the plane's rather small span (at 1,500 feet it gets uncomfortably small). With flaps she slows down for great spot landing too and needs less of a field for approach.

Some of my mods that are not in the Naton video and thread include lightening the canopy by dremeling out much of thickness and then taping the inside with box tape so it doesn't crack. Instead of using 3MM box tape on the wings, I used very low-heat covering (mid to high heat bubbles the foam, so be careful). My flaps are much smaller @ 17 inches as that allows for 6.5 gm servos and some weight savings on servo wire, linkages, etc. Shortening the ESC and battery wires helps too, I hate adding weight to rear of sailplane as Paul did; and I managed to avoid that, although I fly the CG a couple of mm forward of his rather aggressive rear CG. - Lorne

[rkhoo]

"1:01:31 flight flying with flaps @50% much of the time to keep from going out of site. "

LOL, that is a looong time ! Great work.

50% flaps much of the time?! Is this on a slope? Or in a great thermo?

I also did all of Naton' mod. But with the Flaps, after about a year of use, I now mostly fly with the stock wing as I enjoy the simplicity of RE and not have to deal with the two servo leads on the wing all the time.

[ddruck]

Hey Lorne, I also have 2 wings for my Radian. The flaps are 17" like yours and I use 9g servos. With 1300 battery, the standard wing is 27oz total and with the flap wing 33oz also due to 3m tape extra on that wing, it could be lighter. I have flaps setup as flaperons making turning more positive with mixed rudder. The camber, I find, has no real effect on performance, but reflex does help windy penetration. Flaps are great for landing. In no wind conditions the standard wing does better except for the landing.
Friend has a Vista ( same as Gentle Lady ) from Tower hobbies upgraded with brushless motor and in low to no wind conditions kicks the Radian's butt no matter which version.
What is your all up weight? Hey if you have time on Sunday mornings, why don't you come and fly with us. Send me a pm if interested.
Dan

[lornecherry]

I think this Radian @ 3 years old is more glue and carbon than foam now; I'm scared to weigh it. And now I noticed the fuselage has a weird warp that I was only partially able to get out with heat. Still, considering that this airframe has over 200 hours of flight time, it's done well; it feels (and looks) like an '86 Toyota Corolla with 400K.

At $150 for a new airframe, I will start afresh next year and optimize everything by lightening/strengthening and improving hinging, electronics. With so much stick time in various conditions; I feel I know the plane well, it's main downfall is that it wears out fast and the plastic front end, weak fuselage, and servo centering/linkages are all problematic. But I do enjoy attempting to overcome the plane's shortcomings and wringing every ounce of performance out of it.

I too have a Gentle Lady that I bought 2nd-hand equipped with a rather anemic motor...could you let me know what motor your friend has in his? ..I want to upgrade this one with something more competitive (but want to keep it very light). This 'Lady has old-school large servos and electronics, so I'm sure it would do well on a diet, but the GL only flies well in low/no wind...Radian has a better airfoil for penetration and handles better.

Regarding your Sunday morning flying...could you give me the logistics, (GPS map coordinates) and yes, I may join you on occasion.