Great Planes Venus .40 ARF
Here in Anchorage, we only have a few weeks at most until the snow starts, and I want to cram in as much fun as possible. Since I crashed my "old reliable" Ultra Sport .40 earlier this summer, and have been looking for another .40-size plane to have around for inexpensive aerobatics, I bought a Great Planes "Venus .40" ARF. I have to say that I'm seriously impressed.
This is a very nice piece of work! I've attached a couple of photos of the kit contents, right out of the box. Several nice features:
The firewall has already been fuelproofed. The tail surfaces have a nice airfoil taper. All parts were individually bagged and separated, including the very complete hardware packeage with tank, spinner, wheels, pushrods, and all the other items you need. The glass work on the cowling and wheel pants (Yep, glass, not plastic!) was VERY nice, and pre-pregged in the appropriate matching red color. The color scheme is very nicely done in 9 colors (!) of Monokote. The canopy frame is pre-painted, (and on the INSIDE, where it makes sense) and makes even a sloppy attachment look neat. Pushrod housings for the elevator and rudder are already installed.
It's a traditionally-built kit, so repairing any damage that might occur is the same as any other wood kit. It's a good clean design aerodynamically too, so I'm sure it'll fly well. I'll be assembling it in the next few days, in it's "stock" configuration, and using an OS .46FX with 10/8 APC prop and a Futaba radio.
At less than $200, I consider this a good buy.