Originally Posted by Foambird

The BEC voltage cut-off is not the same as the motor cut-off. When you reach the ESC cut-off you are not at risk of losing or draining your LiPo to a damaging voltage. The ESC cut-off allows a generous margin for your electronics.

9.2v is a very low limit on a 3s Lipo and I have never seen this flying way beyond the motor LVC. The surging signal from the motor does not signal a need to land...I have had the surge signal and landed 15 minutes later with a battery voltage at 11.2v.

You are not measuring it under load. The default LVC on the Radian with stock ESC is 9.2V or 74% of starting V, whichever is greater (and 9.2 is almost always going to be greater under load). If you experience motor pulsing from LVC then the voltage was 9.2V.

The BEC never "cuts off", by the way. It will keep providing juice until the battery voltage is below the 5V it is regulated at. If that ever happens (and you recover the plane) go ahead and throw away the lipo, it's toast. But flying 15 more minutes without motor is not much risk with a good battery, you got that part right. Without motor you aren't drawing more than 150mAh max, which is 37mAh in 15 min.

@ Daddy O

Nice post i am about to maiden mine shortly just waiting for my Hyperion's to be delivered.

I am at little nervous but you always are with any maiden.

Has anyone successfully wrapped the wings in some kind of cote (ultracote, oracover etc.)? The underside is slightly cambered which doesn't make things easier, but I've read about Orastick, which is more or less a self-adhesive version of Oracover. What is the melting temperature of Z-foam? I'm a little wary with the stock stickers/ white foam, I've almost lost a two of my foamies before...

People usually advise some reflecting stickers on the leading edge, would some chrome/silver Oracover/Orastick suffice in this department?

Here is my Radian
I did use the self adhesive chrome and fluo on the leading edge and painted under the wing tips orange fluo and also under the horizontal stab.
I did use heat to remove some indents in the foam and it takes very little heat.

KRIS, Good luck on your maiden flight. I don't know why, but I was more nervous throwing the Radian in the air for it's first flight than I have been on a maiden flight for some time now. Maybe because of the flying conditions. Anyway, it did very well. I hope you have a great maiden flight also. I do think I will be painting the bottom in some other color though. I had difficulty keeping my eyes on it when I took it up high. it needs some darker colors on the bottom (for me anyway). You guys with younger, better eyes might not have that problem.
Daddy-O

Originally Posted by McMoron

Has anyone successfully wrapped the wings in some kind of cote (ultracote, oracover etc.)? The underside is slightly cambered which doesn't make things easier, but I've read about Orastick, which is more or less a self-adhesive version of Oracover. What is the melting temperature of Z-foam? I'm a little wary with the stock stickers/ white foam, I've almost lost a two of my foamies before...

People usually advise some reflecting stickers on the leading edge, would some chrome/silver Oracover/Orastick suffice in this department?

I wouldn't wrap the entire wing in covering. Just extra weight for no reason.

To increase the visibility on my Radian, I used Krylon fluorescent orange spray paint to put some stripes on my wings and trim sheet Monokote,Chrome
Stock Number: TOPQ4110, (no heat required, just press on) on the wing tips. Works great with very little weight added.

Originally Posted by Paul-RC

Here is my Radian
I did use the self adhesive chrome and fluo on the leading edge and painted under the wing tips orange fluo and also under the horizontal stab.
I did use heat to remove some indents in the foam and it takes very little heat.

Paul looks great thanks for posting love the orang fluo

Originally Posted by Daddy-O

KRIS, Good luck on your maiden flight. I don't know why, but I was more nervous throwing the Radian in the air for it's first flight than I have been on a maiden flight for some time now. Maybe because of the flying conditions. Anyway, it did very well. I hope you have a great maiden flight also. I do think I will be painting the bottom in some other color though. I had difficulty keeping my eyes on it when I took it up high. it needs some darker colors on the bottom (for me anyway). You guys with younger, better eyes might not have that problem.
Daddy-O

Thanks man i sure all will be well as the Radian has a great reputation, really looking forward to the maiden now... roll on summer !

Originally Posted by Daddy-O

I do think I will be painting the bottom in some other color though. I had difficulty keeping my eyes on it when I took it up high. it needs some darker colors on the bottom (for me anyway). You guys with younger, better eyes might not have that problem.
Daddy-O

I have a pair of older eyes also and have problems keeping track of it at times, especially against a milky sky. I have done some tests of visibility enhancements and have concluded that the best is to just paint the bottom of the wing a solid dark color. My eyes cannot discriminate stripes and high-vis colors at a distance.

Here is a source for prismatic tape that I have used on the leading edge of the wings. It is pretty good at catching the sun and giving a glint.

http://www.hilaunch.com/

Originally Posted by KRIS...

[
Nice post i am about to maiden mine shortly just waiting for my Hyperion's to be delivered.

I am at little nervous but you always are with any maiden.

No need to be nervous, check the CG, give it some (eg. 30%) expo, and give it a flat toss, preferably from a slight elevation, I was standing on 1m knoll. She floated beautifully, so I powered her up gently and aimed for the sky. The only mistake you can make is messing up the CG, flooring it and tossing too steeply:

RC Plane Crashes into a Gate (0 min 35 sec)

Btw, you don't really need high end (eg. Hyps) lipos flying her, unless you are going for small cells, under 1Ah.

Originally Posted by Paul-RC

Here is my Radian
I did use the self adhesive chrome and fluo on the leading edge and painted under the wing tips orange fluo and also under the horizontal stab.
I did use heat to remove some indents in the foam and it takes very little heat.

Your ships looks awesome against the blue sky! Unfortunately, I'll be flying more often on overcast days. Some people claim black and white is the only way to get enough contrast, how does your plane look on overcast days?

Is chrome as good as 'reflective stickers'? I've been thinking of putting chrome/reflective stickers on the winglets, does your chrome leading edge trim help on overcast days?

Originally Posted by DaveG

I wouldn't wrap the entire wing in covering. Just extra weight for no reason.

To increase the visibility on my Radian, I used Krylon fluorescent orange spray paint to put some stripes on my wings and trim sheet Monokote,Chrome
Stock Number: TOPQ4110, (no heat required, just press on) on the wing tips. Works great with very little weight added.

Thanks for the sku. but I'm in Ultracote territory (called Oracover here), Monokote isn't widely available on this side of the Pond, so I'll probably go for chrome from Ultracote. Btw. weight wise, Oracover chrome is 55g (Orastick 58g) /m2 hence covering the wing would only add around 45g, which would probably be more or less offset by a slightly lower drag.

Take a look at my small flap test video , it was on an overcast sky and snowing. I could actually see it better then against the blue sky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS8Qiek5NPo

Paul

Originally Posted by McMoron

Btw, you don't really need high end (eg. Hyps) lipos flying her, unless you are going for small cells, under 1Ah.
.

Funny vid its a classic ! I know Hyperion's are bit over kill, but i love them

Originally Posted by McMoron

Has anyone successfully wrapped the wings in some kind of cote (ultracote, oracover etc.)? The underside is slightly cambered which doesn't make things easier, but I've read about Orastick, which is more or less a self-adhesive version of Oracover. What is the melting temperature of Z-foam? I'm a little wary with the stock stickers/ white foam, I've almost lost a two of my foamies before...

People usually advise some reflecting stickers on the leading edge, would some chrome/silver Oracover/Orastick suffice in this department?

I use Solartrim it's self adhesive and come in lot's of colours...


Parkzone Radian



On my 2m Phoenix 2000..




..

Originally Posted by kaptondave

I have a pair of older eyes also and have problems keeping track of it at times, especially against a milky sky. I have done some tests of visibility enhancements and have concluded that the best is to just paint the bottom of the wing a solid dark color. My eyes cannot discriminate stripes and high-vis colors at a distance.

Here is a source for prismatic tape that I have used on the leading edge of the wings. It is pretty good at catching the sun and giving a glint.

http://www.hilaunch.com/

+1 on the dark color. I painted one wing black and one flourescent green on my old radian and the black wing showed up much better. My new radian now has two black wings and is very easy to see.

Easiest color to see on a glider thread and a very interesting picture.

That picture illustrates it well. I'll be going with black on the bottom of my wing and horizontal stab. Thanks for the link and the pic.

Daddy-O