Originally Posted by Kenny Sharp

... coming straight down should be no problem, ... .

Coming straight down with crow should be no problem?

Originally Posted by freechip

It just took me by total surprise to see the tail rip off coming down not even pointing straight down.

The closer I look at the spot where yours broke, the weaker it looks. That thin strip of foam is all that's holding the vertical stabilizer on at the front. What's holding it at the rear? Not much other than the stiffness of the plastic device and the Scotch tape that holds the horizontal stabilizer in place. At the very least we should be using better tape and extending it to the rear of the plastic support, instead of using only the 4 short pieces that are supplied.

That plastic piece seems solid enough, and I am sure that the designers assumed it would be glued in there solidly, just like the landing gear mounts on your Corsair.

Since I needed to remove it in order to fix I was also surprise to see but two drops of silicon type white glue.
I cleaned it up and use my 2 way adhesive and re-attached it.

Now repaired my way and knowing what not to do I am sure it won't happen again.

I increased the flap throws to 80 degrees.
Problem solved.
Straight down descent at less than cruise speed.

...

I could not agree more

I bought this plane on the strength of the positive comments in this massive thread but genuinely I'm not that impressed.

I'm looking forward to flying it which will be over the next couple of days as I'm still awaiting my new prop and spinner. The good thing is I know it'll fly. It's a Parkzone, they all fly.

But now I know something on mine will definately not drop off,, that was until I just read about the horizontal stab mount

I know it stirred up a few comments lately but the quality is quite poor for the money,, the bind and fly version in the UK is £170..

I've often returned comments to guys who say that todays modern processes of manufacture are sometimes regarded as"It's just a foamy" and I've retorted with "There's no such thing as JUST a foamy" .

I've usually regarded todays modern methods as a positive aproach to our hobby and in most cases the types of foam used are a cool way to be able to fly excellent models from the box.

I don't think,,, from a personal view,, that the RP comes close to being a contender in the category of high end foam produced machines.

Without the excellent comments on this thread and the ideas to modify the model to ensure it's longevity I don't think my RP would last that long without major failure of something.

With the money it cost me,,ensuring it's longevity and satisfying the fun element is paramount so I intend to carry on ensuring that my mods and checks fulfill this,, and now another issue with the horizontal stab mount

That will now cover everything that the assembler at Horizon Hobby has had his / her hands on

There are some who are enjoying this model without any major issues and fair play to you,, but for my hard earned cash,, the Radian Pro which has just cost me 3 weeks worth of money I could have spent on food for my family comes no where near the quality of the Multiplex or Graupner variants and certainly does not uphold the quality of the other planes in the Parkzone camp.

Perhaps,, if I was not quite so much of a perfectionist,,, I'd have been able to fly mine withjout touching anything,,, I genuinely am, not so sure,, I'm OK with what I've done to satisfy my endeavour to keep this RP for a few years though but at the same time curious to know why the quality is not quite what it should be on a camparison to how much the model costs,, in my opinion that is.

I agree with everything that Radio.Active and soundcheque are saying. The design of HH planes is generally decent, the manufacturing of the parts is generally very decent, but it all falls apart in the assembly stage. Alan has best solution by buying parts and putting them together properly, but that ends up costing more than a BNF. That is just so WRONG. These planes should be available as a kit with all the parts and we could supply our own glue. The box would be smaller and the price of that kit should be less.

Not much less, mind you, and that is the problem. They are paying those poor people almost nothing to assemble them. If they slap them together quickly enough, they might actually make enough money to feed their family for one more day. It has nothing to do with stupidity or laziness on the part of the workers on the assembly line. It has everything to do with volume of production per man per day, because that is how our "civilization" operates.

Is there any good news? Yes. Soundcheque once you finally get a chance to fly the Radian Pro, it will put a smile on your face and all your work will have been worth it. Don't delay - do it today........

You guys are funny.

I flew all of last year without any issues. This year was looking forward to trying out my newly installed altimeter. One 750ft 5 minute flight and it ended in style. After fixing I still look forward to flying it again. After posting here and seeing the comments that followed I am happy that all it cost me was 10$ and a quick check of the rest of the RP I look forward to the rest of the season without any glitch. Will post my repair pics very shorty.

Originally Posted by Kenny Sharp

You guys are funny.

I know Kenny

...

Here are are the pictures, the first 3 are where the damage is/was where it tore off and the other pics you can see the toothpicks inside the fuse.

Originally Posted by Radio.Active

...they may even be made in the same Chinese factory as the R and RP.

That goes along with a theory I have had for many years. If allowed to progress to their ultimate conclusion without any restraints, capitalism and communism both lead to the same place. That place is a world where there is only one store.

What if freechip's plane had bonked somebody on the head? What if some bystander lost an eye due to a flying prop that was caused by a spinner made of plastic that is too brittle? Would HH ever have been held responsible? Not a chance. It would have all been chalked up to pilot error and he was flying in a public place and he was going too fast and he didn't do his pre-flight checks etc etc. The real problem is that the manufacturer was cutting corners and sold something that was potentially dangerous, and no pre-flight check would have caught it.

There are organizations that check the safety of children's toys, and other consumer items and their hard work often leads to products being pulled off the shelves and the company has to try a little harder in order to start selling them again. If a company is slapping together toys that can potentially turn into uncontrolled missiles, maybe there is a way to smarten them up a little.

Don't worry about me, I fly in nice open field in the middle of nowhere.

Originally Posted by freechip

Don't worry about me, I fly in nice open field in the middle of nowhere.

I do that most of the time too, but sometimes I like to fly in town. Your incident is something that could happen to anybody at any time, and that is why it is so interesting. Horizon Hobby is making a lot of money promoting airplanes that are designated as "Park Flyers". The idea is that you can go down to your local school or soccer field or ball diamond and fly without having to drive for miles and miles. That would never have been possible in the days of fuel-powered engines.

New ground is being broken here, and more and more people are flying these planes in urban environments. I am one of them. Whether or not you have to drive somewhere often makes the difference between flying and not flying. Hence the sudden acceleration of newcomers since the development of electric flight.

If you are a company that sells planes that are designed to be flown in parks, you should be doing all you can do to ensure it doesn't crash due to avoidable things like not enough glue being applied.