Hmm, well you've got me there (sort of). I'm pretty sure that as I reduced code from the real program that first showed that problem to the minimal code in my email I did have with-look-and-feel-realization in play with no apparent difference. I probably had some cockpit trouble at that point.
Still no cigar though. Now I get a display visible, but no gadget.
So, back to the debugging pit. Stay tuned.
It seems that if I change from a radio-box gadget to a label-pane things work as they should.
I now cannot get a radio-box to appear at all, even at the frame definition eg
(:panes (rb (with-radio-box () :a :b :c)))
so maybe something has regressed in that area?
Paul