Originally Posted by dolbydarma

I'm still on my original stock Radian (except one set of new props)... Never had an issue with anything. I check the stock connectors each flight and they've never failed. I would guess I have at least several hours of air time without a single failure. I'm not saying there aren't Radians with issues, but a lot of us have had ours for years without issue.

Just carry some spare connectors because at some point the knob will twist off.

Originally Posted by Raften

Just carry some spare connectors because at some point the knob will twist off.

Mine twisted off when I was adjusting it before the maiden flight. I just went to tighten it between my finger and thumb and it sheared off. Compared to that, even those 3 tiny screws that hold the firewall seem strong.

Maybe they used to make them better. My Radian and my son's are almost new. The failures in my son's are way worse than mine. I'm all for a DIY Radian, it's a great Sailplane. My son has 3 other Parkzone planes and I have the T-28. so far, the quality problems are all Radian problems. It's incredibly disheartening to spend almost $100 bucks a couple times a year knowing each time it's due to poor quality. The Radian is awesome with quality connectors, esc, servos, etc. I am progressivly modifying to the Paul Naton Radian, the less Parkzone parts the better. I have never had a failure with my woodies I could attribute to quality, go figure!

I've been running the original stock connectors for three years now without an issue. I take it apart and put it in the box for storage, I just make sure I don't tighten too much.
--
Tom

Originally Posted by give up

Buy the foam from Parkzone, the connectors from the push rod to the control horns have come apart in my hands. Servos fail in flight and you can get quality electronics in place of cheap stuff from the factory. Then when you avoid in flight failure you'll be pleased. Been there done that, trust me buy your own electronics for your Radian foam. One more thing, shop for batteries and get quality for less.

I done now.

I was a first-flight victim of the factory 'thumb tightened" connectors but in three years have never had a servo problem or really, any structural issue. The prop hub needs to be monitored because it can crack and fail being plastic.

The stock Radian flys very, very well. There are many suggested improvements but you need to weigh their importance to how you fly.

Tweaking for maximum performance is not the same thing as increasing reliability.

Originally Posted by give up

It's incredibly disheartening to spend almost $100 bucks a couple times a year knowing each time it's due to poor quality.

What parts are you having to spend $200 a year replacing because of poor QC? I wasn't aware of that many problems.

OK -WARNING- this is just comedy ... I am not a nut- well Ok maybe i am - but I am not one of "those" nuts.. just trying to tap in to the UFO Youtubers and give them a little "poke"

Radians Hunt from air for landed or crashed UFO (6 min 23 sec)

Originally Posted by Foambird

I was a first-flight victim of the factory 'thumb tightened" connectors but in three years have never had a servo problem or really, any structural issue. The prop hub needs to be monitored because it can crack and fail being plastic.

The stock Radian flys very, very well. There are many suggested improvements but you need to weigh their importance to how you fly.

Tweaking for maximum performance is not the same thing as increasing reliability.

While i say this is my second Radian- it is really my 3rd- first Radian lasted only half a flight because it never came down- the maiden was going so well that I decided to join a hawk over the field at 7 or 800 ft.. That is when the elevator connector fail or the servo or something as I found I had no elevator control and was in a thermal- I was too new to think of spinning it in until it was almost out of sight- when and where it came down I don't know as we never found it- I ran and bought another one the next day- and changed the connectors- and I always will now....

The Radian control horns are mde of a brittle plastic and will break very easily if drilled for the Dubro connector. Here is one that broke on my second flight. Fortunately I found it. The next flight would have been my last.

Here is a better shot of the broken control arm and my fix with a new Great Planes nylon arm. I moved the new arm to a better position and reinforced the elevator with thin plywood.

I lost my first Radian to a broken control arm but didn't realized it until I saw this after the second flight on my replacement bird. I would have lost two of them because of crappy hardware. A better solution than the Dubro hub is a clevis. It would bring the push rod into better alignment. I plan to do that for next season.

Cliff

Originally Posted by scottdearinger

OK -WARNING- this is just comedy ... I am not a nut- well Ok maybe i am - but I am not one of "those" nuts.. just trying to tap in to the UFO Youtubers and give them a little "poke"

More people need to retire, buy radians, and make videos. You two are hilarious
Josh

perhaps because before i had 2 (still have, and fly them) 2 meters sailpanes that were a handful, and then i got a rad, i see things under another perspective.
or maybe, as i said before, am the luckiest fellow in the planet.
but my rad has been just great. it was until now that i faced a problem: when launching, the prop flew away and the plane fell. i saw where the prop/spinner fell and picked it up. i noticed a small nut loose inside. when i came home i removed the 2 screws that hold the spinner in place, lifted the spinner and installed and tightened up the nut and the screws and it is again ready to fly. so from now on, i will add this to my check list. that's all.
am i complaining? of course not! besides this, the plane has been just wonderful.
so a small incident like this means nothing. things get loose now and then. in any plane. but nothing else has been wrong. nothing. maybe after all this time the makers solved the problems that some have faced-as it happens with all new products-just look at the cars recalls! but, brittle horns? loose wings? whatelse?
no crashes, great landings-the club has a small runway that looks more like an aircraft carrier deck (small), so it's great for practicing close landings-without crashing. hunting for thermals at dawn, when i fly, is quite a challenge, but am beginning to get the feeling and stretching the times a little bit every flight.
couldn't be happier. lucky? maybe.

Originally Posted by cliffkot

Here is a better shot of the broken control arm and my fix with a new Great Planes nylon arm. I moved the new arm to a better position and reinforced the elevator with thin plywood.

I lost my first Radian to a broken control arm but didn't realized it until I saw this after the second flight on my replacement bird. I would have lost two of them because of crappy hardware. A better solution than the Dubro hub is a clevis. It would bring the push rod into better alignment. I plan to do that for next season.

Cliff

Okay, youse guys have now got me all wound up and spooked about that stock control horn. First, in 3 years of Radian and Radian Pro flying I have never broken one. I have ripped the tail boom off in a crash where the only thing left holding the tail feather to the rest of the fuse were the 2 control rods and horns. So I have now hexed myself with that last comment and will surely snap one on my next flight

In the last couple of years I have used Gold 'n Rods on the PKZ horns as a normal mod for me before any maiden.

As I was close to installing Gold 'n Rods on my Stubby V 2.0, I decided to see what I could do using the stock control rods and horns. One observation I have is that the swivel is stressed in the hole because the control rods come at them from the fuselage not in the same plane as the horns rotate. I always try to not stress the horns by having the rods coming at the swivel in the same plane as it rotates using Z bends. This is not an issue when using Gold 'n Rods and their clevis. But it is a problem with a swiviel whether it is the Dubro shown in my pictures or the original PKZ.

So starting here https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=DBDE7...5DDCB92%211359 is my attempt to de-stress the installation. I used a 5/64" dremel bit in my fingers to enlarge the hole in the horn. I do this when using the Gold 'n Rods clevis. But for this swivel installation, I CA'ed the washers on the horn to reinforce the enlarged horn hole.

BTW, I also tried for the first time a tip from Naton about using CA on the horn hole at the servos to build up a CA bearing to reduce thrashing and slop. Wow! does that work great. No wingle room on the ELE and RUD at all. I also bent in a Z at the servos to get the horns working in the same plane as the rods. The horn is not pushing up or down from its plane of rotation.

Enjoy... Alan

Alan, now that you are providing details of your way to relieve stress to the horns, i must say that the only functional thing i have done to the rad is that i bent the pushrods so there is no stress; the 1 to the rudder just to an angle so it does not force the horn and runs smooth into the sleeve, and for the 1 to the elevator i did a 'z' bend. both run as smooth as it can be.
i didn't mention this before for it seemed to me an obvious thing to do, but, as i see that it is not done regularly and is a big issue, better say it now, in case it is of some help.
it is the only mod that i think the rad needs, and it is an easy 1.
regards

Originally Posted by jgalexander

More people need to retire, buy radians, and make videos. You two are hilarious
Josh

It's all Scotts fault I tell ya he sees people and sometimes it scares me