Swapping out the Timber RX for the V900 RX solved the problem of wing rocking at full throttle with SAFE on or off. This is because the V900 was designed to go much faster than the Timber. There is proper pitch and roll with SAFE on at full speed and at slow speeds.
I recommend the V900 RX instead of the Timber RX for the AVISTAR ELITE.

Specs:
Rimfire 46
(Max constant amps 60, max surge 100 amps) max constant watts 1100, max surge watts 1850
With a 13x4 APC 72 amps and 1400 watts measured

Castle Edge 100 amp ESC
Turnigy Graphene 5S 5000 lipos

I purchased a used Heron and installed an AR 636 programmed for the EFlite Spitfire. I’ve flown both and so I purchased an open stock AR636 but had Horizon put the program in for me. I installed the RX so the long coaxial antenna would go forward and all the wires would be tucked away aft. I had to install inline reversers on rudder, elevator, and aileron to get proper Self Level servo movement. Later I can program the receiver to reverse those RX channels and remove the inline reversers. The RX is very close to the CG and a 2200 3S Admiral Lipo can fit under the RX if an aft CG is desired. I flew the maiden with the pack forward so the restrainer strap would keep the pack from sliding.

The maiden was at sunset and was only 3 minutes long but it was enough to put down elevator trim in to fly hands
off. Then I turned on Self Level to verify proper correction. Flaps were lowered and confirmed that down elevator trim will be needed to pitch down with Self Level On. She will fly very similar to my Multiplex Cularis with its AR 636 SAFE Select Receiver....Continue Reading

A top battery door and compartment for any model offers a more convenient method to load and remove your battery pack because you don't have to pick the model up and hold it inverted. With a belly door there is greater risk of the door opening because of G loading from inside loop and landing G forces. I've seen many planes flying around with the battery hanging down being held only by the connectors! Those are the lucky ones as battery separation means a loss of control and crash damage. Battery back up methods are highly recommended but won't be discussed here. Converting the stock belly battery door to a top door can be done with a little effort and time. TheTimber 1.5 and 1.2 meter wingspan designs are discussed here.
The battery door is cut just forward of the Timber windscreen. The thinnest part of the pack gets loaded first at an angle. Once the pack is inside there is plenty of room for fore/aft CG adjustment using foam blocks as spacers. Inside the former battery compartment is the larger 60 amp Turnigy Aerostar RVS (reversible) ESC but the stock ESC will fit as well. A balsa plywood floor/ceiling separated the top battery compartment from the bottom ESC compartment and offers increased structural strength between the fuselage sides and the motor mount area and the landing gear area.

As of Feb 2019 the following pics show the different packs that can be loaded thru the top hatch. Refer to Horizon Hobby Airplane Technical people to find the largest 3 or 4 cell pack that will fit in the stock Timbet belly door. Any of those should fit the thru the modified top door and top battery compartment.
.

Why hinge the canopy? Even though there are 4 magnets holding the canopy to the fuselage you know that eventually they will lose their strength or the glue will fail and the canopy will depart when you are flying. The hinge and latch are a redundant method of keeping the canopy attached to the fuselage in case one or all magnets fail. Having the canopy attached to the fuselage eliminates the canopy being blown off the table or onto the ground with a gust of wind.

Previously I usedTyvek paper hinges glued with CA as a hinge and they worked fine for about 30 or 40 opening and closings. However my plane holder overstressed the rear hinge and rather than replace the torn hinge I replaced the front and aft paper hinges with Robart hinge pins. The plastic is ribbed and a steel axle is rugged. I used a 1/8 drill to make the holes in the fuselage and canopy and low temp hot glue to keep them from coming out. See pics

The Night Radian fuselage twists left and right and is OK. But if you are used to stiffer foamy motorglider fuselages like the Multiplex or Flyzone designs then here is an alternative to clear or fiberglass tape. Materials needed are 1/64” thick plywood and Loctite Plastic Mender epoxy. Midwest Products sells 1/64 x 12 x 24” via Amazon for $24.61 and can last a long time for strong lightweight reinforcement projects. A 16” long x 25 mm wide piece is all you need for reinforcement. A box cutter slices the fuselage about 11 mm deep at the tail end and 25 mm deep at the thick fuselage end.

Place a straight edge on one side of the fuselage (see pic) and use a box cutter to make multiple cuts or slices deep into the fuselage. You don’t have to go all the way through to the other side. Measure the cut to 11 and 25 mm deep. Fit the ply into the slot and push in as far as you can go. Mark the excess sticking out and cut just inside the marked line. This will ensure the ply is not outside the soft foam but insides. Any mark or slot can be filled with lightweight modeling sparkling putty. Since CA needs air to dry and there will be very little air at this joint use Loctite Plastic Epoxy as this will harden without any air to the joint. The epoxy will also give you plenty of time to position the plywood unlike CA that can harden in a few seconds. I weighed the plywood before epoxy and it was 1 gram. I smeared epoxy on both sides of the ply but did not weigh it. I estimate the epoxy at 1 gram for a total of about 2 grams weight. I usually use 3M 20 or 40 X clear packing tape know that this would weigh more if wrapped around the fuselage area. My fuselage had a slight left twist that required right rudder trim. After the plywood was inserted into the sliced fuselage I used the clear tape to pull the fuselage into an opposite twist to counter the warped fuselage.

A handle is convenient for hoisting or carrying a flying boat like the ICON A5 in and out of the water. The handle can act as a place for a hook to hang from a ceiling rod or hook. With grooves in the handle you can orientate your model in a nose down or up attitude depending on your CG and where the hook is placed on the handle. Here is an example using the 52.5 inch ICON A 5. Music wire can be used but in this case normal coat hanger wire is used to support the 53.5 ounce (3.3 pound model). You will need wheel collars, plyers, a round file or Dremmel to make grooves in the handle wire.

This technique was adapted from handles that were made for an Apprentice, Timber and Valiant foamy models.

Thanks to Lonny I have extra floats for my second modification. My land floats work great with stearable front wheels and fixed aft main wheels but I want a set for water ops. The full scale Maule has longer floats in the front and some of our models (mine is heavy and has an aft CG) need more buoyancy aft of the step. So I’m experimenting with a plug to extend the stock floats. Here is a 3.25 inch plug extenstion. The step will be in the same location but there will be more floatation buoyancy forward and aft of the step. The plug extension will be from Home Depot and it’s a magenta/light purple shade. It can be wrapped with white trim Monocote and 3 M 20X packing tape for strength and surface protection. The strut mounting plates will be relocated to the original positions for land/water swap out.

I’ll be posting this in the float flyers section for input as well as the wheeled forum....Continue Reading

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...postcount=5641

The above link will take you to the post that has more info on how to make this handle. It is an adaptation of handles that I have made for the Apprentice, Valiant, and Maule.

I really like the concept of the Radian: simple. However when its time to land you better be willing and able to force her down with tight turns and then nosing her into the grass, ground, sand, concrete, whatever. Hand catching is possible but the only way to slow her down is to get to near stall speed and risk the minor crash damage. Since most of my sailplanes and motorgliders have flaps or flaperons I decided to install my own flaps. Yes I have tried spoilers and they are better than nothing but with about the same time and effort flaps are better in my opinion.

What size? I recently installed some old Radian Pro wings that have flaps and ailerons but very little dihedral. They worked fine with AT6 Texan 636 receiver settings that were loaded in. However I felt that more flap area would be better so I increased the chord width of the flap. I put some yellow tape on the wing for a visual cue before making cut marks. I knew that because of the curved trailing edge I would not be able to have a continuous flap hinge but also knew that keeping the flaps short with a trailing edge connector link would work out OK.

The inside of the NT Radian cockpit is crowded with the electronic devices for the LED system. You can tidy up the cockpit by moving all but the white balance plug outside of the fuselage. Tools required are a small box cutter and CA with accelerator.

The best thing about my old Radian Pro were the wing socket plugs. They had long strong pins and I never lost flap or aileron contact over the 5 ? years of abuse. I never screwed the wings to the fuselage either. The painters masking tape on the wing tube gave just enough grip with the foam so the wing did not slip out and away from the fuselage and wing sockets.

To make de thermalizer or parachute landing descents properly the pitch Control surfaces need to be designed properly. A large elevator or full flying stab are the most common. For the FT Radian I’ve added 3/32 balsa pieces that increase the elevator surface area about 350%. I drilled a clevis hole as close to the hinge line as possible. The servo strains to push full up because of the pushrod system.
If I can find the right up angle with fuse descending level I will refine the design.

First test results showed that there was not enough elevator up deflection for proper level vertical descent. I was able to slow down with power off and porpoising took place but there was forward speed even with a 10 mph headwind. I was expecting a drift downwind but it did not happen. After 20 seconds I stopped the test but found out I had no elevator control because the elevator servo had moved forward in the foam cut out and was free to move around so I had not push back to command up elevator. The model stalled and hit the ground in a nose down attitude. The fuse was seperated at the forward wing mounting area and compression wrinkles were seen. The forward magnet seperated from the clear canopy. At the crash site the rudder and elevator servos still worked but because of the pushrod system there was no elevator control.

Repairs consisted of using Loctite plastic 2 part epoxy to glue the magnet back to the canopy. CA was used to reinforce the magnet to foam mount,...Continue Reading

The stock Radian motor is a 480B BL Outrunner Motor; 960Kv Reverse Shaft PKZ4716 The shaft is 4 mm OD.
The stock folding prop is a 9.75 x 7.5 black plastic design with a 7mm thick base that uses a pin type axle that is held in place when the 51 mm OD spinner is secured to the backplate with two screws. I am using yellow painters masking tape to keep the pins from following out when the spinner is removed.

Using a new Glacier 1300 3S Lipo static current is 19 amps and 190 watts.
Using a new ZDP 1050 4S 70C static current is 28 amps and 360 watts

This is a 360/190 or 89% increase in power and could be used for short but fast climbs with the stock 30 amp ESC.

An aluminum spinner with matching Graupner CAM blades such as 11x8 would improve the strength and climb performance as well.

The clear plastic firewall is glued to the white fuselage foam with a soft white adhesive. Blue paint covers both and can easily be removed for sanding and applying tape, paper or cloth. I’ll be using cloth and CA to reinforce the seam/ fuselage area. Then paint. If paint cracks that will tell me to fix the crack and whatever has caused the crack.

The stock 10.75x8 Valiant prop measures 19 amps and 226 watts using a 2200 3S 45C pack.
A 10x6 Master Airscrew Prop measures 27 amps and 406 watts using a 1500 4S 100 C China Hobby drone pack.

Both fit in the modified top battery door/compartment of the Valiant. This 406/226 = 1.79 or 79% increase in power should increase speed and vertical performance and still be under control the 30 amp ESC limit.

I made 8 launches and landings over an 18 minute span to test 8 different patterns and the effect of the COB light in the cockpit. The COB strobe pattern definitely helps with orientation when flown low and beyond 200 ft. The 3M Dual Lock failed a few times to hold the light on the “headrest” cockpit bulkhead and I will need to improve this. The interior stock LED lights work OK to light up the cockpit but in flight they would be better used if installed on the leading edges of the wings. So that’s another nice to have mod.

Paul did an excellent job pointing out the OLD Radian’s shortcomings with incidence and weak structure. After fixing those issues he improved performance with removing slop at the servo output arms and flight control horns. I think the new stab and incidence has been solved but the same long servo arms and horns are used with Z bend slop. I have used CA and baking soda to make a rock hard CA joint and will try this on the nylon Night Radian holes. I usually make a drill out of the pushrod wire I am using. That way there is no slop at either hole.
Using clear tape over the wing protects and strengthens the wing with only 1-2 ounces of added weight. The CG of 91.4 suits Paul’s Radian and can be a target for anyone that has questions of their Radian’s CG.

I’ve compared both the old and Night wings and except for the fuselage ends and lights they are pretty much equal. The flaperons are the best part of the video. Those that know the value of flaperons will appreciate his flaperon design. Those that do not will say you dont need flaperons.

Paul has 2 inch wide flaperons that are bottom hinged. Most will use simple tape but with Z bend hinges from Tyvek or double sided tape you will have a much stronger hinge. I have a mockup on an old wing panel and will use Robert hinges to see if hinging can be made quicker and easier.
Paul starts the flap about 2 inches away from the fuselage and the flaperon is 23 inches long. He says that 18...Continue Reading

With most of my models I can taxi around and if needed go to System Setup on my DX9 and look at something or adjust a setting. RF is disabled and when I do this one of my models starts up the motor at low throttle. Of course I go back to transmitting and the motor stops turning. I then disconnect the drive battery and resume my System Setup work then go back to powering up the ESC and receiver. I bind all of my models with the throttle off and with loss of signal the motor stays off. Not sure if it’s an anomaly or faulty ESC. An arming switch, or plug would be nice to have in or on the model but most do not use it. I’ve purchased and used the Deans Safety Plug but want to know the source of the problem. Any one have some ideas?

I flew the old Radian in places that required confined space landings and steep approach angles. I made 12 inch long flaps and they worked but I wanted more flap area to get more lift and drag. I experimented with a segmented flap design so that the curved trailing edge could use hinges but not bind when flaps were deployed. I found a plastic tube and music wire that acts as a trailing edge coupler. Now the majority of the Radian trailing edge can be used for a flap or flaperon. Servos can be imbedded into the fuselage sides or into the wing panels. Since the FT Radian requires the light plugs be connected I think a 4 pin plug could support the positive and negative power requirements of the lights and servo. The fourth pin would be for the flaperon signal wire. Deans makes a small black or red 4 pin connector that would require soldering. Here are some pics of the flaps and a removable wing tip for a 62 inch wingspan sport wing.

I will post build pics when I start the project....Continue Reading

I lost the two wing bolts and had to purchase some from ACE hardware. I used my Dremel to remove the threads near the Philips head so I could tie a loop of fishing line around it. I can now tighten the bolt and when I remove the bold it is held to the wing with a hole and some CA glue. See Pics