I might just have to get one of these

[Happy Days]

Just been scrolling through the internet, (as you do on a non-flying day) looking for nothing in particular.

Eyed Ebay and found this being sold from some of our German friends;




“Horizon ParkZone Radian Pro PNP”

Selling at €156 +€16 for shipping. I thought the spec wasn’t bad considering it has a full power train included and full a house wing. …………

Specifications:
Wingspan 2000mm (78.5 in)
Length 1140mm (45.0 in)
Weight 980 g (34.6 oz)
Speed control E-Flite PRO 30A ESC (installed)
Motor 480 BL 960 KV Outrunner (installed)
Servo PKZ SV 80 sport servos (6 installed)
Receiver AR600 DSM2 (installed in BNF ONLY - This listing is a PNP version)

The PNP version offers a saving saving over the BNF version can be made for those with existing batteries and chargers as the plug-N-play versions comes as plane only. Everything is installed and connected ready to go in the plane, all that’s needed is to fit and connect up a receiver of choice.

PNP Features
Ready to fly in minutes
5-channel control – throttle, aileron, elevator, rudder and flaps
Powerful 480-size 960Kv brushless outrunner motor installed
E-flite™ Pro 30A brushless ESC installed
Durable, lightweight and repairable Z-Foam™ construction
Requires a 5-channel full range transmitter, receiver, battery and charger (sold separately)

So I thought I’d enquirer a little further just to see if I could better the price. Came up with Steve Webb selling them for £105 + £17 shipping.

I might have to get myself one :wink: , just for a laugh on those windless Glide-Ins. :roll:

"Mandy,....are we maxed out on the credit card yet?" :lol:

L. Keith

[stephen.shannon]

that is a nice looking machine my friend. There's only 59 days, 5 hours and 47 minutes to the big day...... so go for it and enjoy......


I'm actually looking at something a little smaller myself right now to fly close to home i.e. something I don't have to break down and can be flying straight out of the car by just switching it on and giving it a chuck....

Joe had a smashing little Messerschmitt ME-109 on the slopes there a while back..... I must drop him a line on that one  

[Happy Days]

Or, how about this then with banded wings. Fits in your car fully assembled, take it out and chuck it in the air......Bobs' your uncle!

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__37910__HobbyKing_174_8482_Mini_Breeze_Glider_EPO_900mm_PNF_.html

[andrew wallace]

Money well spent keith  

[stephen.shannon]

Hi Keith,

I went with your advice, kinda,  

There is a Breeze Glider kit on its way to me today from hobbyking, but I went with the big brother, 1.4m WS, rather than the mini 900mm WS..... might be a bit more forgiving for a novice :lol: and with the banded on wings it'll be great for quick assembly.....

Anyway, its PNF so will hopefully be running a few mins after it comes out of the box and will suit the IDA centre across the road from me for impromptu opportunities that present themselves....

[andrew wallace]

Stephen you should have went with the radian the breeze won't fly as good as the radian  :?

[Happy Days]

Ah it’ll be fine, and only a fraction of the price of a Radian . I’m sure if you only fly it in light breezes it’ll be grand. :wink:

I think I’d dispense with the undercarriage and glue a piece of light ply to the underside of the fuse allowing it to ‘belly land’, and so reduce the risk of it nosing-over on landing. :oops:

All these new toys!  What an exciting xmas we’ll all have!  (I’m sure I wont be able to get to sleep on xmas eve.) :lol:

L. Keith

[stephen.shannon]

Yeah I thought of the slide idea alright it'll suit my landing site as well. The breeze will do nicely for the kinds of impromptu session im looking for. I've got a phenoix 2000 for the heavier winds and longer sessions

 :clap:

[Happy Days]

Well it arrived today.  At first I was told I couldn’t open the box because it was to be a xmas pressie. I managed to convince ‘Herself’ that I needed to check it out to make sure all the parts worked, as if I waited till xmas day and found something wrong the retailer probably wouldn’t replace any non working parts by then.

The ploy worked    and I was allowed to sprit the box away into the workshop. ‘She’ made me agree however that as soon as I had made sure all was in working order I’d return it to her for wrapping and wouldn’t make any attempt to fly it before xmas.
Well, you have to make compromises sometimes, don’t you. :roll:

It all looked to be in good knick. I checked the six servos and all was well. I connected a 3S Li-Po to the ESC,……and that’s when the problems started. The Speed Controller acknowledged the battery and counted the correct number of cells,…but wouldn’t arm the motor. :?:

"Bugger it," I thought, " this is one of those sensitive ESCs that will only arm when the Tx settings are just perfect for this particular speed controller." I Looked up the manual on the internet.
Spent ages setting and re-setting the throttle trim, end point adjustments, servo reverse and throttle positions, all to no avail, it just wouldn’t arm. I removed the ESC and motor to make sure the connections were in good order,…..it still wouldn’t arm.
I phoned up the retailer, they told me to contact Horizon. A long conversation with Horizons’ tech dept made no difference. :!:  :!:  

So I left the workbench and started searching through boxes , draws, presses and shelves looking for any spare ESC’s that I might have.
Finally I found one, connected it to the motor and battery,…BINGO! The motor spun up. “At last” I thought.
So, the e-Flight ESC will be going back to the retailer on Monday. :evil:

How frustrating would it have been if a complete novice had got this model for a pressie and tried to fly it!



Little Keith.

[jumbo]

"Bugger it," I thought, " this is one of those sensitive ESCs that will only arm when the Tx settings are just perfect for this particular speed controller." I Looked up the manual on the internet.
Spent ages setting and re-setting the throttle trim, end point adjustments, servo reverse and throttle positions, all to no avail, it just wouldn’t arm. I removed the ESC and motor to make sure the connections were in good order,…..it still wouldn’t arm.
I phoned up the retailer, they told me to contact Horizon. A long conversation with Horizons’ tech dept made no difference. :!:  :!:  

Little Keith.

Hi Keith, don't want to be captain obvious but you did calibrate the ESC to your transmitter right? Throttle to 100%, power ESC, throttle to 0%. However I am sure you tried this, also to note is sometimes Futaba radios have the throttle channel reversed I have been told. (been spending the last few weeks fiddling with ESC's for the second quad I am building).

[Happy Days]

Thanks for the advise Jumbo :clap:  but yes, I had already tried that. And yes, you are right about Futaba gear needing to have the throttle operation reversed for most ESC’s to work properly.
I tried all the tricks of the trade I knew but it didn’t work so it’s now on it’s way back to the retailer who has agreed to exchange it. ( For one that works,……hopefully! :lol: )

Being philosophical for a moment; I suppose one has to expect the odd piece of mass produced electronic gear to ‘slip through the net.’
I susspect that the Chinese haven't got quite as good quality control systems set up yet as some of their Asian counterparts. :roll:

L. Keith

[stephen.shannon]

Glad you found it now and not on the 25th.....

I've had two dud esc from hobbyking and giantshark, so it does happen. In fairness to hobby king their faulty esc blew my ex and they replaced both free of charge.

[Happy Days]

And here we are exactly one month after the non working ESC was returned to England, I’ve received a replacement one. :clap:

Just connected it up, and it works. How about that!  The curious thing is the retailer only took 24hours to take the money from my debit card. :?:  

Now the model has to be put back into its box so herself can wrap it up and put it under the xmas tree. :!:
(What strange ceremonies we humans go through) :roll:

L. Keith

[Fred]

That is a strange thing to do!
Fly it, pretend it crashed, cry (pretend crying also, not your real man cry).

With enough pitty, you might get another one. BAM! 2 gliders!

This plan might work!  :lol:

[Happy Days]

So, on Sunday this  new member of the Keithy’s squadron had it’s first flight. Big Keith came along on a particularly bitter winters afternoon to witness the inaugural flight and give marks out of 10 for technical ability and artistic merit.

The first thing I noticed with this model is that getting the aileron and flap servo leads connected and then ‘tucked away’ inside the fuselage required very nimble fingers. Knowing that the temperature at Nine Stones was likely to be in the sub zero range I fully assembled the Radian at home and managed to fit it in the car for transportation to Big L. (I’m glad I did)

Arriving on the North slope around 11am the first thing that strick me was the sheer number of parked cars. And this on a day when there was nothing but hard frost on the grass. It turned out that there was some kind of sponsored walk from the car park up to the top of the mountain and back. The cars were parked everywhere. Some were double parked onto the road causing a small amount of havoc for traffic trying to pass though. But enough of such trivia,…….what of the flying?

Well, as Big Keith and I stood on the top of the slope, near the car park, we could barely feel any air passing our faces. Maybe there was just the faintest breath of a slight wind, but only for a moment. Armed with a very old 3S Li-Po of 1200mAh (1200 when it was new anyway) capacity the model gently lifted out of my hand with about 30% throttle spinning the prop.
Having never had a Hybrid glider (power glider) before I was interested to see what she could do.

With no flaps deployed and on full throttle she stuck her nose up into the air and simply climbed at about 45 degrees. At aprox one hundred feet higher than the top of the slope I cut the motor. To our surprise she managed to find a little bit of ridge lift and floated around. Out of the lift she descended slowly but with 20 degrees of flap she reduced her decent appreciably. At 45 degrees of flap she just kept stalling, diving, and then levelling out for a moment before stalling again ect.
Aerobatics? None, absolutely none whatsoever. After a very long and steep dive she just, and only just, managed a loop although she pretty much ‘fell out’ of it at the top. I barely managed to get 180 degrees of roll out of her, let alone 360 degrees. She lost a lot of height while inverted. Not really surprising with a flat bottomed polyhedral wing I suppose.

Overall she is a very gentle and sure footed model with no vices’ that I could detect. Landings were simple, slow and again I use the word ‘gentle.’ All in all it was a very relaxing flight or two in a rather less than relaxing temperature. She will do well for me on those warm becalmed summer days where I can go hunting for possible lift of either the ridge or thermal variety, without the need for that “walk of shame” to recover her. And if I find I don’t need the thrust from the prop, I’ll simply remove the Li-Po and the prop blades and return her to her purist glider state.

She’s certainly worth the 120 quid I paid for her with only a rx and battery needing to be supplied by myself.

Yes, it was a good afternoon on the slope.

Little Keith
ps, sorry there are no picies, the cameraman recond it was too cold to take p[ictures. (He's such a pussy!)