DETAILS
The Raiden is a community designed plane by Kevin Matusik. This is the first airplane outside of my own design that I’ve officially reviewed. If you'd like to see me review others please let me know!
SPECS
| WINGSPAN | 40in |
| FUSE | 38 |
| CHANNELS | 3 |
| WEIGHT | AUW TBD |
ELECTRONICS |
MOTOR - 1400kv 250w PROP - 8x4 APC ESC - 25a BATTERY - 2200 3s SERVOS - 2x 9g |
BUILD DIFFICULTY |
Beginner – You’ve never flown a plane before, let alone done a scratch build Novice – You’ve flown a plane but have no experience with scratch building Intermediate – You’ve flown and built a few FT style planes before Advanced – You’ve mastered the standard FT build style and are looking for a new challenge Expert – You’ve mastered all build techniques and aren't afraid to improvise or tackle tedious builds Intermediate – You’ve flown and built a few FT style planes before |
PILOT SKILL |
Intermediate |
MATERIALS |
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PICTURES
The Raiden is an exciting canard plane with very forgiving characteristics. Kevin sent me a kit a few months back and I was able to walk through building and reviewing it.
I was very surprised by how light it felt in the air and by its stability. There was no tendency to stall violently, in fact, it doesn’t even nose over. It just sinks. Recovery was very easy also.
I was able to get some great air to air shots while flying the Raiden!
Loops and rolls were good but a little mushy. This is expected based on how floaty it feels. Overall this makes it very easy and forgiving to fly.
What a great flyer!
Overall the Raiden built smoothly and flew exceptional. If you’ve been looking for a unique looking plane while not sacrificing good flight characteristics then the Raiden should be your next build. Great job, Kevin!
For full details, plans, kit information, and more flight videos of the Raiden check out Kevin's articles linked below.
One thing I'm missing over here is a handful of technical details (does the wing have spar reinforced in any way, is the canard moving or fixed, is the CoG range wide or narrow etc.), and it's hard for me to believe some specs (is AUW really just 80g? That's less than most profile indoor flyers! Also: motor info is way incomplete, Kv number is not enough). It would also be nice to have a link where we could find more about the plane and it's author. But other than that, this is the type of article I'd definitely see more of; thanks.
There are tons of other designs worth sharing; keep up the good work!
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I have corrected some of the specs, good catch! For the other details I should have gone into more depth. I'll take this as feedback for the next review I do. To answer your questions now, though:
1. The spar is just foam. It uses bracing similar to the Versa.
2. Canards are fixed at a slight positive angle of attack. You could easily add a servo and make them variable.
3. CG needs to be pretty dead on but I didn't do a lot of testing forward/aft.
4. Kevin's original articles with more details and the plans are linked at the bottom of this article.
Thank you for the feedback and let me know if you have anymore questions!
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Bayboos
I use a 2212 1400-1500kv motor with 8X4 prop. It will go vertical forever with that set up so you can fly it with less.
CG is 2 7/16 forward of the main wing, I have flown it nose heavy but never tail heavy. it will tolerate a lot of nose weight.
I fly with all the throws, even the FPV version. Raiden can be very acrobatic with a really high roll rate. She'll even fly inverted well, which blows my mind with the canards pitched the way they are.
Hope this helps.
Thanks again Nic I appreciate it.
Kevin
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DAN
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https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0wis2lyeugbbgw/Raiden%20Version%205.zip?dl=0
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