Now don't all you Venture fans jump at once - this is the third Venture 60 I've built and I loved them all. The first one was a victum of elevator flutter and while pulling a big, fast loop did a "Figure 9" for which crash I actually won an award! The second was the result of my stupidity when I installed a Fuel Button and didn't sand the end of the brass tube from the gas tank. Constant pulling on the silicone tubing with the fuel button eventually cut the tubing on the sharp brass tube at the tank and filled the plane with fuel. I thought the gas that dripped out the bottom was overflow from the muffler, but when I rolled the aircraft upside down to perform a maneuver the gas shorted out my switch and I lost the radio as well as my second Venture!! This is the third (with one repair in between) and after following the Damifino Venture 60 thread I decided to do a little re-designing as well.
I took his idea of raising the foredeck a little higher and since I had already cowled my previous model, did the same again. I moved the dash back 1 1/2" to make the rather large cockpit smaller, but left the rear cockpit former in its original place. I was able to repair the wing as only a 1/2 panel was smashed and while doing so, installed retracts. Since the regular gear attaches to the fuse, I can always switch if the retracts are a bad idea and just cover over the wheel holes. I have a canopy left over from a Goldberg Super Chipmunk and it has alway seemed to me that the tiny pilot I was able to put in the Venture was too small. With the Chipmunk canopy I could put in a bigger pilot and things seem to fall into line "scalewise". Sort of looks like a P51 now! (sort of!)
My questions are - 1. which one do you like?? 2. Do you think it will affect the flying characteristics of the aircraft?? 3.[img][/img] Will I lose my membership to the Venture Fan Club?? (Please Bruce - No!)
I still have some sanding to do but you'll get the idea I think!!

Jim

I vote for the 1st one I am a big fan of the P51 so I'll go with that one.They both look good so I thisnk you should build another one.I have one to start this winter I have been getting all the goodies together so I don't have to stop once I start.This will be my second one so a little bashing will be in order.

I like the second one. Looks sleek, fast and sexy. The first looks good too. But, except for the in line engine cowl appearance, it makes me think of a P-47D on a diet. Maybe you could find a P-51 canopy somewhere.

Looking great! The sleek canopy is what I like. I have a wing kit and a set of Dave brown retracts for my V-60 so I am anxious to hear how yours works out. My retract project is on hold as I have built a float conversion this fall. Used aluminum aero tubing for struts, scale type rigging for the twin, retractable water rudders and a paint scheme to match the plane. Look for a new thread soon. I love the appearance of the Venture with the gear removed so post some in-flight pics when you're done. Thanks.

Oh yeah, here's an idea for you to really set your Venture apart from the crowd. Add a 1/4" X 1/4" balsa stringer to each side of the fuse midway between the top of the wing and bottom edge of the canopy, parallel to the fuse top and extending from the firewall to about the leading edge of the tail. You may want to add another below that one and terminate it just behind the wing's trailing edge or where ever it runs off the bottom of the fuse. The lower one can be 1/8" X 1/8". Sand the ends of them to a taper that blends to the fuselage and the cowling. You'll lose that slab sided look and gain a whole lotta comments at the field.

The second one for sure. I will be building a 4*40 soon and I'm going to raise the turtledeck much higher. I'll probably cowl it. I bet the retracts will be nice.

Nice job on your Venture 60. I vote for #2. I have a box stock Venture 60 that I really like. Also almost finished with a Bruce Tharpe Flyin King.

Jim

If it were purely from the look of the fuselage I'd go with 2. The low canopy complements the sleekness of the cowl, but they seem out of line with the thick airfoil and the straight wing. The eye expects more of a razor thin tapered wing with those lines, don't you think?

From the look of the overall plane I go with 1. The canopy greenhouse is more in line with the thick airfoil and wing planform of the sport flyer. The overall effect seems more pleasing to the eye.

BobbyG

The first one looks more commercial and the second one looks more military.I like the second one.

second one pretty smooth looking.

Sorry I haven't got back to this thread but I forgot to click the "Notify via E-mail when someone replies" and I've been busy building!! Well it looks like 6 to 2 for the second version. I have also posted pix of the pair with the gear retracted and more of a side view so the outline is more visible. I still think that the size of the pilot figure gives scale to the aircraft. The tiny pilot that I can put in the regular version makes the plane look huge - to my eye! It was in an attempt to install a larger pilot figure that I used the second canopy. Seeing this from a side view, does anyone want to change their mind?
"Damifino", the side stringers are an intriguing thought! I'll take a long look at that idea. Unfortunately with the winter weather well on its way up here in Canada, I doubt I'll get it into the air before spring as I'm getting too long in the tooth to fight the cold and snow, so flying pix might have to wait!
Thanks to all who replied!!

Jim

I still say stick with the small canopy. Who says the pilot has to have forward visibility? Use the big head, just cut him until he fits. I had a Super Sportster with half a plastic Easter egg painted like a helmet. Looked very convincing.

Looks like 400 MPH just setting there! Stay with the Modern, sleek, fast look. I couldnt get a Venture so consider yourself lucky! Im 30 minutes from Damifino here in NC and he has been helping on my four star 120 build as well as RCpilet out in Colorado. This is my first kit build and its a big one. I have hacked the cockpit back 4.5 inches, fabricated 1.5 inch wing tips and will do a blasa cowl as well. The front deck will also be rounded.

Your plane looks awesome, Id go with the modern, sleek, fast look but hey, its your bird~!

Good luck

I trimmed about a 1/4" off the bottom of a Williams Bros. pilot to fit in my Midstar. It worked out OK. But it you decide to trim yours (It is a Williams Bros. right?) you'll loose that flat surface area on the bottom. So make sure you secure him in the cockpit well.

Well I've trimmed the pilot even smaller because I had to trim the Venture supplied canopy to fit over the new foredeck! It is the canopy from the crashed Venture so I had to make do with it. Yes I kind of like the streamlined look of #2 as well. Now to figue out what to cover it with. Used transparent red Monokote before - don't know if I want to do that again. Being a dope and silk guy for most of my life I never developed the knack of doing multiple colours with film. Make it solid and put on decals was my credo! Do you actually cut the film over open framework to lay down second and third colours? Or do you lay it on top and spend a year picking at the tiny bubbles? Oh me! Does it ever get easy?

I like #2 it has a retor "30"s look about it. Something Howard Hughes would be envious of.

Don't cut film from the open framework. The strength of the Venture's wing relies on the film having a strong bond to the structure. In fact, Bruce Tharpe highly recommends iron-on film for the kit. I've used the window cleaner method for applying multi-colors with great success. The method is detailed in a thread here on RCU. I've also used Lustrekote paint for stripes on Monokote. Works extremely well because the paint sticks to the film like stink on Sh*t.

Well to bring this thread to a close, I finally did get my Venture with retracts to fly this late summer and it looked beautiful in the air. Unfortunately I had no one to take pix so I recruited someone from the "gallery" to shoot while I was flying. Only one or two reasonably good photos resulted as is shown here.

In the middle of the third flight, there was a very loud "BANG" that sounded like a gun shot. I was making a sweeping turn over the field when the left wing panel snapped at the root and the results are shown in the following pix! I realized then that opening the wing to install the retracts meant removing the covering from a large area which weakened the structure too much. Thus it failed in the wheel well area - but it sure didn't go quietly!!
The following shows how the engine had to be dug out of what was thankfully a "soft" field. Although one wing was found at the other end of the field, I have grouped it in the forensic shot to show all the pieces.

The final dignified end to a beautiful model was carried out today at our Club's Annual "Frozen Finger Fun Fly" which we run each year on Jan 1st. We always present burnt offerings to the "Great God of Flying" and I thought it was a fitting way to end a bad experiment by trying to appease our "Hobby Deity" with the ashes of Venture #2. These pix show this offering along with the hope that I have "nothing" to offer when this event takes place once again a year from now!!!
I hope eveyone has a Happy, Safe and Accident Free New Year and that you don't "collect anything" to sacrifice on Jan 1 2008!!

Definitely #2. Too bad about the crash. I guess that means you can build another one though.

A properly crashed airplane has no need of repair!
That was about as good a crash as can be had, but still, I am sorry to see it happen.

What is the next one going to be?

Bitter. And such a beauty with the retracts.

Now, the next one ought to have tapared wings and a reenforced sheeting around the retract bay. Still have the bubble canopy for the Venture 60-D model?

I have the same ceremony for my rekitted models. Strip the hardware and to the pyre. I'd rather return them to air and ashes than look at dusty sad pieces stuck around in the rafters.

She looked nice SuperCub Man. Really great effort. Sorry about the crash.