Did you fly today?????

Kashkai

Took the Wildcat to the Park again this morning for some more fun but it turned out to be a case of fight or run with some birds.

I was on the second battery doing some rolls when about five crows started flying towards the plane. I turned away from them but they followed and then got quite close to the plane. I increased speed and tried a loop to out manouver them but they followed, too closely for my liking. So I had tried to play nice but they weren't going away so I turned the tables and started chasing them. While the Wildcat was faster, they could turn quicker and this went on for five minutes with them getting close, me pulling loops and stall turns to get away and then I chased them. In the end, they flew away, just as my quanum telemetry screen beeped that the battery was running low. I'd call it a draw;)

Had more fun with the remaining batteries before I headed to work, late again! Wonder if its possible to get fired for flying too long before work

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

So I went with the plan of searching for the plane using the sat map. I had found nothing. Yesterday evening my neighbour rings the house to say that there is a plane stuck up a tree near her house. She must have known it was mine as Im the only plyer for miles. I couldnt figure out where she was talking about as I had searched all the trees I thought.

I forgot to say look up into trees, i recovered one or 2 other people`s planes in trees in the phoenix park flying area in the 80`s when i used to fly there, when i was able for climbing trees:D.

Kashkai

robbie7730 wrote: »

I forgot to say look up into trees, i recovered one or 2 other people`s planes in trees in the phoenix park flying area in the 80`s when i used to fly there, when i was able for climbing trees:D.

Thats the funny thing about rc flying, how trees can have such a magnetic attraction for planes. I mean, you could be standing in a huge field with just one tree and guess where the plane will end up?:rolleyes::D

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Thats the funny thing about rc flying, how trees can have such a magnetic attraction for planes. I mean, you could be standing in a huge field with just one tree and guess where the plane will end up?:rolleyes::D

If you could see the track of the flight path during a flight, it would not be all that surprising. The eagle tree setup can connect to google earth and shows the flight path, its amazing the area you cover.

It is surprising when a plane goes off on its own and hits the only tall tree for miles alright though.

Kashkai

Had a very lucky escape this morning while flying the Wildcat.

It was a little breezy when I sent her up but after a full week flying her, I thought I had her measure. Had a good thorough work out with plenty of loops and rolls etc but the wind was noticeably picking up because at 60% throttle, she was almost hovering in the air about 100 feet up when flying into the wind.

So with 10.5volts left in the battery according to the telemetry, I decided to bring her down for a landing while I had enough reserve left in the battery. As usual with the Wildcat, she was rocking and rolling quite a bit in the ground turbulence so I gave her more power than I usually do when landing a plane so she could maintain headway into the wind during the approach. Everything was going well until she was about 6 feet off the ground when a sudden gust lifted her up and then dropped her. It was too late for a go round so I chopped the throttle and pulled her nose up to get her to plop down on her belly as opposed to nosing in. This is where I had the lucky escape as she could have stalled anyway and nosed in but she landed on her belly in some longish grass which cushioned the fall. There was no damage but I decided to call it a day despite having another 3 batteries ready to go.

The Wildcat is a great little flyer, quite fast, very aerobatic and will do everything you want her to do. However, she is fairly unstable and suffers in the wind due to her fat little body and relatively short wings. I would recommend her if you want to have some fun with a fast and aerobatic airplane but only after you've "earned your wings" or it could be a short acquaintance;):D

poteen

The price of my lost radian the other evening apart from the tree climb was that the battery is totally done for now. It drained to nothing as it stayed plugged in.

Quick question for ye. Im obviously gonna buy a new battery for the radain but should I get the same 1300 one or a bigger battery ?

Bruthal

Your battery will be for the bin anyway. No point even trying to charge it.

We use 2200mah batteries in our 2 radians, it is a slightly tighter fit at first, but works great, it handles better as well, centre of gravity will move very slightly forward, which is not a bad thing.

If you use the velcro strap on the 1300 battery, you wont need it for the 2200 one, it wont go around it anyway i dont think, but is not needed for it.

This one will fit into the radian. It will need the EC3 blue plug soldered onto it though.

Or get these adaptors and save any soldering.

Or get the EC3 plugs and solder them on.

I have some of the EC3`s as they seem out of stock there, but they can be got easy enough on ebay etc, as can them adaptors, just put in EC3 on ebay for the blue plugs, or Male xt60 to female EC3 for the adaptors.

SLIM19198

Are LiFe batteries any good for these?

Bruthal

SLIM19198 wrote: »

Are LiFe batteries any good for these?

They are lithium ion type batteries with a nominal voltage of 3.3 compared to the lithiom polymer (lipo) which have a nominal 3.7v.

The LiFe ones will work, but they will need a charger that can charge lithium ion batteries, and for the same cell number, they will have less voltage fully charged.

SLIM19198

Yeah, but no LVC needed and no fear of draining them too far!

And they are Lithium Ferrite, not lithium Ion! ;-)

Bruthal

SLIM19198 wrote: »

Yeah, but no LVC needed and no fear of draining them too far!

And they are Lithium Ferrite, not lithium Ion! ;-)

Well that told me, winking and all.

Notice i said Life batteries are lithium ion type batteries. The clue is in bold there. Lipo batteries are also a type of lithium ion battery.

SLIM19198

Didnt mean it in a bad way, but the benefits of life is no LVc needed, can be run to dead and recharged with almost the same characteristics of lipo, long run, sharp cutoff, but with almost no risk of flame ups!

Even though they are 3.3V, wouldn't they be more suitable for beginners, or is the voltage too much of a drop?

Bruthal

SLIM19198 wrote: »

Didnt mean it in a bad way, but the benefits of life is no LVc needed, can be run to dead and recharged with almost the same characteristics of lipo, long run, sharp cutoff, but with almost no risk of flame ups!

Even though they are 3.3V, wouldn't they be more suitable for beginners, or is the voltage too much of a drop?

I know you didnt, was just laughing at the winking thing:D

The eflite ESC in the radian has a lowest cutoff of 9.2v i think, so it would work well with a 4 cell LiFe battery.

We know the LVC is to protect batteries, but if they had no low voltage cut-off in the ESC, you would risk running the voltage so low that the reciever cuts out if you kept trying to run the motor on a plane that has the receiver powered from the ESC BEC.

I dont believe reducing the power to the aircraft motor would benefit beginners. The biggest hurdle for beginners is trying to fly without experienced help.

I noticed the 3 channel radians cant be got anymore, hard to believe, as they were very popular. I was looking for one for someone this week myself.

Kashkai

I've noticed the Rads were out of stock everywhere. Damn shame that as she's a great plane. I wonder if it's because the sales of the Rad Pro aren't as good as Parkzone would wish. I know two guys who bought the Pro, didn't like it, sold them and bought the original Rad.

If you are going to use LIFE batts to "run to empty" you'd need a separate battery for the receiver. Otherwise what powers the rx when the battery is drained? Or where you thinking about cars where a drained battery wouldn't result in the loss of the model?

Kashkai

Flew my Messerschmidt 109 for the first time on Thursday evening. This Parkzone plane has a reputation for being tricky to fly and it is well deserved!

She has a 3 blade prop and has a tendency to torque roll to the left on take off, whether it's rog or hand launched. I did the latter but as I used my left hand to launch her, I had my right hand on the sticks to control her and get her safely airborne. She is very sharp in the air and any over correction can quickly induce a spin. She needs to be flown more than my other planes that are more forgiving as she tipstalls quite easily. Landing her is tricky as she glides a long distance under power but if you chop the throttle too much, she stalls. Fine balance needed!

Check out my you tube channel for a video of her first flight - DKLSOR - Parkzone Me109

SLIM19198

No, I was just commenting that if you did run empty, that the battery is still useable, unlike Lipo that cannot be used again when completely dead.

LiFe can be charged again from completely dead!

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I've noticed the Rads were out of stock everywhere. Damn shame that as she's a great plane. I wonder if it's because the sales of the Rad Pro aren't as good as Parkzone would wish. I know two guys who bought the Pro, didn't like it, sold them and bought the original Rad.

If it was because the pro didnt sell well, you would think the original would be back out. I prefered the original myself, easier to get flying each time you put the wings on as well, as on the pro you are fiddling with 4 servo leads to plug in each time, if you remove the wings. The cularis i have has the servo plugs glued into the wing lock mechanism, so you just plug the wings in and out as easy as the original radian, works great.

If you are going to use LIFE batts to "run to empty" you'd need a separate battery for the receiver. Otherwise what powers the rx when the battery is drained? Or where you thinking about cars where a drained battery wouldn't result in the loss of the model?

Spot on, i had mentioned that about the receiver power in the post just before your one im quoting here. Its particularly important in gliders to have the voltage cut-off in the ones where the receiver is powered from the ESC BEC, because if there are thermals, a long flight time can still be had when the LVC has kicked in, so there will be a long time left for the battery to run the receiver and servos, even if the motor wont run much now.

If you have no LVC, once the LiFepo4 battery gets to about 2v a cell, it is empty, and will rapidly drop to below the voltage required to operate the receiver and servo`s, so it will be of little use to actually power the motor in an aircraft. As dave says, no problem in a car.

While it can be charged from a very low voltage, that does not mean LVC is now not useful, particulary in aircraft. Deep discharging will reduce the life of any battery.

poteen

i tried flying my radian this evening but its just too hard now with all the damage to the fuselage from my crashes while trying to learn. Its too distorted now. I have been trying to buy a fuselage the last few weeks but they are out of stock everywhere i have looked. any tips or ideas where i might get one? i usually buy from rc pitstop

SLIM19198

http://www.rcpitstop.co.uk/parkzone-radian-pro-bare-fuselage-pkz5467-1895-p.asp

Ilyushin76

SLIM19198 wrote: »

http://www.rcpitstop.co.uk/parkzone-radian-pro-bare-fuselage-pkz5467-1895-p.asp

Thats for the radian pro,I think poteen has the original radian.
One here but you have to email them for postage costs to Ireland.The seem to be in stock in every rc shop in the states but very few in the uk.

poteen

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

Thats for the radian pro,I think poteen has the original radian.
One here but you have to email them for postage costs to Ireland.The seem to be in stock in every rc shop in the states but very few in the uk.

Yeah i have the radian original. The Pro fuselage wont fit. Ive seen some of a few places in he states alright but they are just way too expensive to get delivered here. None of the UK stores i have checked have it in stock.

Ilyushin76

poteen wrote: »

Yeah i have the radian original. The Pro fuselage wont fit. Ive seen some of a few places in he states alright but they are just way too expensive to get delivered here. None of the UK stores i have checked have it in stock.

Did you not click the link I posted above as it is in stock there.

Plug

poteen wrote: »

i tried flying my radian this evening but its just too hard now with all the damage to the fuselage from my crashes while trying to learn. Its too distorted now. I have been trying to buy a fuselage the last few weeks but they are out of stock everywhere i have looked. any tips or ideas where i might get one? i usually buy from rc pitstop

My fuselage is proper fucked, the canopy dosen't even fit anymore. The battery can barely fit in. It looks like a snake almost the way is all bent. Anytime I land it the wings are after moving out a bit, it is covered in black tape from all the times I snapped it, tooth picks are sticking out the sides too! Saying all that I still fly it and enjoy it. It was my first proper plane and now that Im able to fly I will upgrade to the Pro soon enough.
Would you just bandage it up as good as possible? Who cares what it looks like.

poteen

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

Did you not click the link I posted above as it is in stock there.

I did try that link. This is the email i got back after i asked about the radian fuselage. This seems to be a common thing amongst all retailers. I have emailed Horizon directly and got no reply.


Hi,

Sorry but this item has been on back order with horizon since May and they
cannot provide us with an ETA at this time.

Kind Regards

Luigi

www.f1hobbies.com

poteen

Plug wrote: »

My fuselage is proper fucked, the canopy dosen't even fit anymore. The battery can barely fit in. It looks like a snake almost the way is all bent. Anytime I land it the wings are after moving out a bit, it is covered in black tape from all the times I snapped it, tooth picks are sticking out the sides too! Saying all that I still fly it and enjoy it. It was my first proper plane and now that Im able to fly I will upgrade to the Pro soon enough.
Would you just bandage it up as good as possible? Who cares what it looks like.

Ive heard mixed reports about the Pro . Some people say that the original is a better flyer. Id be happier to stick with the original for a while. My plane is just too messed up at the minute. I want to start catching thermals but wont be able to if the plane is out of line and the centre of gravity is all over the place.

Kashkai

I know two guys who sold their Radians and bought the Pro. They soon sold the Pro and went and bought new Radians. The two planes are chalk and cheese. The original Rad is all about relaxed flying way up high whereas the Pro is an altogether different beast. From conversations I've had with Pro owners, the Pro doesn't glide as well as the Radian, it doesn't climb as well and the connecting up of the servo wires prior to flying is a pain in the a$$. I suppose if they had never owned the original Radian, then they might have different opinions.

The Pro can do a lot more than the original Rad as it has ailerons and flaps but if this is what interests you, then why not try a different type of plane for a whole new flying experience? I'd recommend the Parkzone Trojan as a good introduction to a low winged, aileron plane. It can be modded to include flaps, something that I'll be doing myself soon.

As for crashed and repaired planes, there comes a time when you have to bite the bullet and retire the patched up plane as it could get to the point of being dangerous to fly, i.e. break up in mid air and becomes an unguided missile.

Bruthal

The pro is a pain to connect the wing leads alright. I find it is a little tail heavy as well. I usually have CG slightly forward of the recommended position on most planes anyway, but with the stock battery it was tail heavy on the 2 pro`s i flew.

When balanced out they fly well enough. Overall its a bit heavier for the same wing area more or less, so it wont glide as well as the original, or climb near as well.

Anyway, a flight of the cularis, trying the HD key chain camera. A radian pro can be seen briefly a couple of times early in the video, the best is probably the one right at 2 minutes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r2nypWZX0s

Plug

Robbie, do you think when I upgrade should I go with the Pro or the Cularis? Are any of the radians electrical parts compatible with the Cularis? Also is it foam or whats the difference between that and the Pro?

Bruthal

If you liked the radian then you will really like the cularis, its a big step up from the radian in terms of flight performance, but easy to fly if your completely competent with the radian. Its a fair bit dearer than the pro would be, but certainly worth it. They come in a kit you build as well, so there is a bit of work in them, although they can be got pre built.

Its made of elapor foam, similar to the radians. No parts eould really be suitable to swap over to the cularis, although i did its maiden flight with the radian motor setup, but it would be very under powered. It did fly it though.

The cularis has its wing servo plugs glued into its wing ends, and they plug into servo sockets on the end of servo extensions glued into the wing joiner unit in the fuselage, so putting the wings on each time is a simple task, where as the radian pro requires 4 leads to be plugged and unplugged for fitting and removing wings.

The cularis is very nice to fly, its performance would be a big step up from the radian, it really sails along, and cuts into wind much better etc.

Plug

How much are we looking at to get up and flying? I have the transmitter and receiver from the radian and also a battery and charger. Would some of the servos in the Radian do it?