Recommend a plane

Bruthal

Plug wrote: »

My confidence is also back poteen, i've been out the last three days flying, all windy with no hicups. I may get that second battery ready!
Also robbie you say a half hour? I only manage roughly 10 - 15 minutes before it comes back down although there still is battery power. I just can't keep it up on the thermals.

Maybe you are assuming there are always thermals, there wont always be within your flying area on any day. 30 minutes is got from flying without any thermals. You climb, and glide down, climb again, glide down, and this will get a half hour flight with the stock battery.

The bigger 2200mah battery will get 40 minutes flying easily, without thermals. Full throttle is the most efficient way to climb as well whatever battery you are using.

With the FPV setup i can see exactly how the battery is, but flying the usual way, you just climb up to about 300 to 400 feet, and glide as long as you can, as gentle of turns as you can, and when down low again, just climb back up. The radian has a battery warning, the throttle will pulse when the battery is too low although a 30 minute well controlled flight wont cause this, but you are probably being over cautious with the battery.

But you cant run it so low that the receiver wont work, because when the motor pulsing starts when you try to throttle up full, and you keep throttle on, it will eventually just cut the motor out, no problem once you have room to land etc. You begin to see the radian not climb as powerfully as well, before throttle pulsing happens, so you get a feel for it.

Im assuming you mean you are landing after 15 minutes flight time?

Kashkai

If you're worried about the battery losing its power, then consider investing in one of these. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10343

I bought one and its brilliant as you know how much power is left in the battery at all times. Think of it as a "fuel guage".

While its not so critcial on the Radian which will glide unpowered for a long time, if you get a warbird, then its very useful knowing whats left in the battery to avoid "deadstick" landings where the motor is dead and you have to glide a plane in for a landing quite quickly and usually quite eventfully:D. I had a couple of deadstick incidents when I started flying my warbirds and I was lucky that I could land them in one piece as they are not gliders and in the absence of a motor, they soon start to fall out of the air.

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

If you're worried about the battery losing its power, then consider investing in one of these. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10343

I bought one and its brilliant as you know how much power is left in the battery at all times. Think of it as a "fuel guage".

While its not so critcial on the Radian which will glide unpowered for a long time, if you get a warbird, then its very useful knowing whats left in the battery to avoid "deadstick" landings where the motor is dead and you have to glide a plane in for a landing quite quickly and usually quite eventfully:D. I had a couple of deadstick incidents when I started flying my warbirds and I was lucky that I could land them in one piece as they are not gliders and in the absence of a motor, they soon start to fall out of the air.

Wait till you try the IC engine aircraft so:D

backboiler

Seeing as this has turned into the unofficial Radian thread I may as well join in. I'm one of the many who's made to spin to Robbie's place for a bit of hand-holding. Also for some repair work after some inadvisable solo flying. Well not so much flying as nose-planting into the ground a few seconds after take-off.
Life's developments meant I haven't got to fly much since but I did brave it again a few weeks back. Again solo but with a helper body to throw the plane (it's a Radian Pro, the one with the ailerons). First flight really surprised me, took off into the slight wind, went up to a decent altitude so there was a bit of time to react the mess I was making of the controls. Typical learner though; every movement, by instinct, is a gross over-reaction instead of the tiny adjustments your conscious self knows are the right thing to do. Still I kept it fairly much in the general direction I was intending though I wouldn't have fancied being a passenger on the plane. For some reason I decided to try to land but that idiotic panic that sets in as the ground comes closer arrived. I pulled it out of the first attempted crash but was now way off course and near a road and some 10 kV power lines. Another half loop and I'm away from the road but now heading steadily for the ground. A bit of elevator and I'm thinking I might just miss the building I'm now heading for. No, it's a direct hit and there's a nice window-reveal shaped dinge in the wing about a third of the way from the root. The canopy is cracked too. Amazingly the control surfaces all still work and the prop got away unscratched.
So off I go again... (to be continued)

Bruthal

You should bring it back down for another go here. That day you were here was like a hurricane. One flight with the buddy box on a nice day and i would say you will be flying then. But you will probably manage yourself id say now.

Kashkai

Well you did the right thing keeping her up high as altitude is your friend while learning the ropes. It gives you time to correct your mistakes before the ground corrects them for you:D.

What do you think of the Rad Pro? Its a much different beast to the Rad Mark 1 and trickier to get the hang of I'd say. Do you know that you can set the Pro up for crow braking which, combined with the flaps will greatly slow your landing speed and give you plenty of time to set her down in one piece.

Finally, if you have any doubts that an approach is going wrong, then do a go round and try again. Always try to land into the wind which will help to avoid stalls and try to pick a flying site away from buildings, trees and powerlines, although thats easier said than done in this country:rolleyes:

Bruthal

Good price on 5.8ghz video tx and rx on hobbyking. Should get a couple of km`s with that and a patch antenna.

Kashkai

robbie7730 wrote: »

Good price on 5.8ghz video tx and rx on hobbyking. Should get a couple of km`s with that and a patch antenna.

Got a link to that gear? Is it the Fat Shark equipment? I was looking at that recently and it was around the $300 mark.

Meant to ask you what goggles do you use for fpv?

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Got a link to that gear? Is it the Fat Shark equipment? I was looking at that recently and it was around the $300 mark.

Meant to ask you what goggles do you use for fpv?

The video tx and rx are just the video transmitter and a receiver, which are in the Fat Shark package your talking about there. The seperate tx and rx set are here, first in list. Double the power of the video tx in the set you mentioned. Double transmission power means 1.4 times the range.

The glasses i use are just cheap ones, 320 x 240 resolution, its a little too low for reading some of the flight info, but i have still flown out with them. Usually when using them, i have a portable tv connected to the ground station also. But its great using the glasses, the 640x480 ones which most are, would be much better than our ones. The eagle tree system announces flight info too, any parameters you select in the setup, so having it come from the tv is good, but the glasses have earphones anyway.

poteen

The WInd is gone, Get them batteries charged !:D

Plug

ah yeap. Going to head out this evening again. It will be the sixth day in a row. Really getting the hang of it now:)

poteen

Plug wrote: »

ah yeap. Going to head out this evening again. It will be the sixth day in a row. Really getting the hang of it now:)

6 days in a row? I had a sneaky flight close to dusk Monday night when the wind was nearly dead but it was darkish and I probably shouldnt have been flying! You must live in a very sheltered area that is wind free. Gaels every evening for me . What kind of flight times have you been getting and altitudes etc etc etc...

civdef

Had my first RC flight this evening, with one of these:
http://www.centuryuk.com/Products/Ready+To+Fly+Radio+Control+Aeroplanes/Trainers/J3+Cub

Never had flown a RC model successfully before, lots of practice with FMS helped a good bit, found it easier than the simulator.

4 short flights went grand except busted prop on last landing.
Hope to get back up as soon as LiPos recharge.

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

6 days in a row? I had a sneaky flight close to dusk Monday night when the wind was nearly dead but it was darkish and I probably shouldnt have been flying! You must live in a very sheltered area that is wind free. Gaels every evening for me . What kind of flight times have you been getting and altitudes etc etc etc...

Was out as well a few times the last week, had 38 minute flight today, barely made the 30 minutes, and when coming around to land, at about 100 feet altitude i caught a decent thermal, and got the 8 minutes of circling out of that, climbed to about 300 feet on it slowly before decending again. That was with the cularis.

Around thermals there are downdraughts, so you can lose altitude quickly in them which can counteract the thermals.

poteen

crashed. its bad- wnt into a stall. 2 beaks in front of wings , behind rudder. one almost split fully through near the wing. The other split is about half way and near the prop. Its also slightly bulged and twisted.

Plug

poteen wrote: »

crashed. its bad- wnt into a stall. 2 beaks in front of wings , behind rudder. one almost split fully through near the wing. The other split is about half way and near the prop. Its also slightly bulged and twisted.

Is it repairable?

poteen

Plug wrote: »

Is it repairable?

I just aint sure. The breaks probably are - i will use the cocktail sticks and gator glue and tape for them. its the bulging/ twisted foam Im worried about.

Im open to all ideas guys, suggestions etc etc

Ilyushin76

poteen wrote: »

I just aint sure. The breaks probably are - i will use the cocktail sticks and gator glue and tape for them. its the bulging/ twisted foam Im worried about.

Im open to all ideas guys, suggestions etc etc

You could buy the fuselage on its own and transport the parts over.

poteen

John85 wrote: »

You could buy the fuselage on its own and transport the parts over.

That would mean taking apart all the wires etc etc ... Not straight forward and aint sure im up to it.
I read before somewhere how if you submerse the foam in boiling water for a few seconds, you can reshape it. ??

Kashkai

The hot water trick will work on bringing out dents in the foam or to realign minor deformations in the foam but it can't work miracles if the damage is too bad. Can you post up pics to give us an idea of the damage?

I had a very bad crash with my Rad when I was flying about six weeks. The cockpit area had broken off and was badly deformed. I tried to fix it but in the end I had to get a new fuselage. It is very straightforward transplanting the electrics from the crashed plane into the new fuse. Use double sided tape or Velcro to fix the receiver and esc into the new fuse. Use silicone sealant to hold the servos in place. The spinner, prop and cowl can be transplanted very easily. You just need a small screwdriver. In total, it'll only take about ten minutes to do this at most and it gives you an insight into how your plane works, ie, the motor is connected to the esc, the esc is connected to the battery with a wire going to the receiver, the servos plug into the correct ports in the rx and the rx antennae is routed up and into the cockpit.

It was a little daunting to me too before I did it but after I'd completed it, the mystery of how my plane flies became clearer. It won't be the last crash you have so it's a good time to learn how to put humpty dumpy back together again.

Best of luck
David

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

That would mean taking apart all the wires etc etc ... Not straight forward and aint sure im up to it.
I read before somewhere how if you submerse the foam in boiling water for a few seconds, you can reshape it. ??

Any photos of the fuselage? Your damaged one i mean.

poteen

robbie7730 wrote: »

Any photos of the fuselage? Your damaged one i mean.

Ill get some pics up later on. Thanks for teh advice Dave, maybe your right. It might be just what I need

I kept the throttle on way to long yesterday while trying to fly level. Silly.

Where do ye buy spare radian parts and how long is delivery ?

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

I kept the throttle on way to long yesterday while trying to fly level. Silly.

Mistakes will be made, im flying 23 years and made a silly one yesterday myself. It happens.

Its straightforward enough to transfer the parts from one fuselage to another, very simple in the radian, just do it one part at a time. You can label the receiver servo leads if you feel it will make it easier, as you unplug them.

Kashkai

poteen wrote: »

Ill get some pics up later on. Thanks for teh advice Dave, maybe your right. It might be just what I need

I kept the throttle on way to long yesterday while trying to fly level. Silly.

Where do ye buy spare radian parts and how long is delivery ?

I buy my parts from rcpitstop.co.uk. His prices are good and the service is excellent. Order today and you'll have your new fuse by the middle of next week.

I don't know where you're located but if you wanted a drive to Kildare, I could meet you somewhere and help you transplant the parts from your old fuse into the new one. Although, like I said earlier, it's a straightforward job which I'm sure you can do yourself.

poteen

Please see the attached 2 photos of the dameg i caused last night! The first crack is pretty clear, the second one is less so in the picture...Its close to the plastic at the prop.

The second photo tries to show the twist + bulge in the fuselage near the front in plan view.

Your opinions?

Bruthal

Should be repairable alright. The twists can usually be forced out of them, probably not perfectly, but good enough. And repair the breaks with the cocktail sticks and glue.

Plug

poteen wrote: »

Please see the attached 2 photos of the dameg i caused last night! The first crack is pretty clear, the second one is less so in the picture...Its close to the plastic at the prop.

The second photo tries to show the twist + bulge in the fuselage near the front in plan view.

Your opinions?

Thats how I broke mine as well today:D

Bruthal

Id say the way the two of you are going, very shortly you wont crash for a long time, it will just seem easy all of a sudden.

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

Please see the attached 2 photos of the dameg i caused last night! The first crack is pretty clear, the second one is less so in the picture...Its close to the plastic at the prop.

The second photo tries to show the twist + bulge in the fuselage near the front in plan view.

Your opinions?

Will you have a go at the repair or get the new fuselage?

poteen

robbie7730 wrote: »

Will you have a go at the repair or get the new fuselage?

I was away at the weekend so I havnt even toucjed the radian since . I will repair it tonight and see how it comes out before I purchase a new fuselage. Gator gle , cocktail sticks and tape! Boiling water for the bulge.