I'm getting ready to start a BTE Venture 60 and was thinking of a few mods like 2 servos for ail, perhaps clipping the wings and (most importantly) cowling the engine.

My question is, do you complete the cowl over the engine or does the cowl detach? If it doesn't detach, how do you get to the engine for maintenance?

Lastly, are there any good instructions to be found on building the cowl?

Thanks,

JB

Go to Venture60.com.

Then go to "Maine", click on "Dan" for an idea for a cowl.

Go through the entire web site for some ideas.

Hope this helps!

Take a look at what I did with mine. Go to the http://www.venture60.com site and scroll down to Washington, click on Jeff and see my engine cowl. I mounted my .91 4 stroke on the side and built a balsa cowl between the cheeks. I added a chin scoop to make sure the engine got enough air in the carb intake. I also added 1 inch to the rudder and made a dual elevator pushrod for the separate elevator halves. I have since found out that this might not have been a good idea, I am getting flex in the pushrod and both halves do not go up the same when there is a lot of air pressure on them. You would have to go with a more solid pushrod to each half or use the joiner between the two as per plan.

Jeff
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/JeffMDuffield/rcplanes.html

[email protected]

Great pics guys. Thanks for the ideas, but I still don't see how or if the cowl is removable to mount the engine or do maintenance. Sorry, Newbie here.

Of course it's removeable!!!!!

HOW WOULD YOU MOUNT THE ENGINE IF IT WAS'NT????

Easy Jafrh! There's no hard and fast rule here. It's pretty easy to build up a soft balsa cowl on the nose that doesn't have to be removed for engine maintenance. The obvious trick is to make the hole big enough for the engine to pass through. That means it will have to be at least as wide as the mounting beams. This can look very neat and professional if you nicely round the hole. If you want to go the removeable cowl route, you can make the opening fit a little tighter around the engine. I question whether that will look any better than a nicely finished permanent cowl on a model like this.

There was a feature article in R/C Modeler a couple of years ago on building up a cowl on a model like this. I think the article was based on a Tiger, but it was applicable to similar sport models like the V60. maybe someone else has the exact issue information...

Thanks for the continued suggestions. And, Jafrh, obviously this was the question I was posing. Being new to this I wanted to understand exactly how all these great cowl jobs I see on this site are attached/removed. Although you have a knack for stating the obvious, you've not really answered my question.

I looked at the cowls on the Venture 60 site, but I'll admit to being a Newbie to all of this. The ideas are spectacular, I just like to know what I'm getting into first.

Thanks again Bruce. My kit has arrived and it looks great.

JB

My apologies - I can be abrupt at times - Did'nt really mean it the way it came out!

No harm done.

The article Bruce is referring to is in the September 2000 edition of RC Modeler. I know this because I used it to cowl a Tiger 60 last weekend. It requires a bit of sanding, but 80 grit paper eats it up pretty fast. It's open enough to slide a Saito 91 in and out easily. Building it was actually a lot of fun.

Thanks H8w8n. I'll try to get my hands on it.

JB

Yeah, thanks "hate waitin'". Knew somebody smart would come up with the right issue. Gotta jot that down for future reference...

JeffMD2's photos on the Venture60 web site shows some of the construction steps involved. This is exactly the purpose and intent of the web site - for users to share ideas about this fine plane. I hope others will photograph and share their Venture 60 with the web site.

Check this thread, it will help you out....

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.a...=BTE%2CVenture