Tim,

After fiddling with the setup awhile it seems difficult to do much better (with the power system) than you have. The Venus II is a bit of an odd duck. It seems to be between a .60 size plane and a .90 size plane. For that reason, I keep ending up with a 7S power system. That's not ideal, IMHO. I suppose it would be OK if you had smaller planes that could fly on 3S and other ones on 4S packs but usually 3S planes wouldn't be using 4000 mAh or higher packs.

If you are ever asked your opinion at work about the development of a new pattern plane of similar size. Get them to design it around an 8S power system and get them to make a Rimfire 140 that has a KV around 250-270. Then get some of your high profile pilots to show up at some local contests with it. I think there is a market for a good quality pattern setup that is less expensive than today's 2m planes. Especially in light of the economy.