Ahhhh, balance in life is just as important as a balanced plane. The Great Planes CG machine works great. The CG is at the aft end of the CG range (about 4 inches from the leading edge). I didn't move the battery under the fuel tank, but I have that option if I need to move the CG forward a little.

I also purchased a Great Planes AccuThrow machine and it worked very well also. I adjusted the trim on the elevator by turning the clevis several times and moved the push rod to the outer most hole on the elevator servo. Moving it one hole sure does increase the throw quite a lot, so I was able to move the clevis to the middle of the control horn.

One question: the manual suggests that the aileron should move 1/2 inch up and 7/16 down. It's a very small difference and mine are pretty close, but how would one go about changing the throw of only one direction of a control surface? I also read that reducing the down aileron throw more can help reduce drag on turns and rolls. So if I wanted to reduce the down throw to perhaps 1/4 of an inch and still keep the 1/2 inch up throw, how can I do this? It seems to me that if I change the down, the up will be forced to change as well.

PS
You may see in the picture a can of Pledge. This stuff works amazingly well to clean, shine and remove small scratches on Monokote and canopies. It even shined up my wheels pants.

Your plane looks tail heavy in that photo.

In the old days, there was a mechanical method to create differential aileron throw. Today with computer radios, it is a matter of programming the radio to adjust travel settings. Which type radio are you using?

I basically balanced it so the tail would rise off the table. Which part of the plane should be completely level (ie perfectly parallel with the ground)? The CG machine came with a small bubble-type level device, but which part of the plane should it be placed? Near the tail? At the recommended CG point?


[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/product_guide/transmitterprofile.cfm?transmitter_id=28]Here's my Futaba model[/link]

It's not computerized. Pretty basic.

Foos,

I have to agree with Kmot, your plane looks a little tail heavy to me as well. Try putting the bubble level on the horizontal stab when you balance it. With regards to your differential aileron comment, you are right. There isn't alot of difference in the amount of throw. I wouldn't worry about using differential aileron on the plane. Besides, you would have to move your linkages to accomplish it since your radio is not a computer radio.

Fly safe and have fun!!
David

The wing centerline should be parallel with the table top. Your fuel tank should be empty also.

Once you get it balanced upside down, just do a quick double check with it right side up. In both cases, you want the nose of the plane to be slightly heavy as opposed to the tail of the plane. Level is perfect.

Differential Aileron Throw

I had a request to post some close-up images of how I set up the throttle linkage and fuel lines. As you can see, there is no wiggle room with the Dubro 4-Stroke Throttle Linkage. I wanted to put a Sullivan fuel filter [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFU76&P=7]here[/link] on the fuel line going to the carb, but I didn't want the fuel line to stick up an additional 3 inches.

Foos,
Thanks for the detail photos!
Exactly what I was looking for.

Man is that a sharp looking plane you have.... and with the Saito sitting up front..... SWEET!

Ryan

Your going to love your Venture. Finished mine and it flys like a charm. Heres a pic of mine.
Good luck with yours

Damn nice looking build. Really like your color scheme.

Just throwing this out there - on those close-up shots, use your digital camera macro function. Field of focus won't be as deep but stuff up close will be clear.


somegeek

Foosball,
Here is my Venture 60 I’ve been flying sense the first of the year. I sheeted the turtle deck, servos for each aileron, the servos for the rudder and elevator are in the rear and a Mr. Bill doll for a pilot. It’s powered by a OS 91 FS with on board glow igniter. With the batteries as far forward under the fuel tank I still had to add 4OZ to the nose. I guess I added too much weight with the servos in the rear.
Bill

I flew this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. The screw that held on the Saito muffler came off on my first flight Saturday, but another pilot happened to have an extra nut that fit perfectly. At another point the Tru Turn screw that held on the spinner came loose, but luckily didn't came off in the air.

She flew much better I thought since I added the 5 oz to the nose. I thought it was still a tad squirrelly for my tastes, so I moved the battery all the way to the fire wall under the fuel tank. It did move the CG forward a little, so I'm looking forward to taking her up again.

I flew her much harder Sunday. I was finally comfortable that my workmanship was holding up, so I felt more confident doing loops, rolls and flying inverted. She lands incredibly easy. I great upgrade from my trainer. I love how she takes off when that tail wheel comes off the ground compared to a trik-type landing gear.

I was able to get some video. It's not great, but it's proof she flies.

And just one more thing. I'm a little worried about the gaps in some of my control surfaces. (see pics). That's a penny to give some scale. I used a Easy Hinge machine to cut the slots and pushed the surfaces together as closely as I could, but the gap remained. The gap is about half the thickness of a dime.

Should I cover the gap with monokote? Or should this be ok to fly with? I didn't hear any flutter over the weekend.

Sealing with monocote is a good way to go. I seal the hinges on all my planes using Ultracote. Use an iron to secure in the grooves and then shave off the excess with a razor.

Regarding the hinge cutter, I have the Great Planes slot cutter and I cut the slot using a guide and then remove the guide and insert the cutter again which cuts the slot about 1/8" deeper without the guide in the way. CA hinges seat fully.

somegeek

Foos,
Now that you have had it up balanced and are feeling comfortable, orientation-wise how do you feel about it? I have been putting around a little mini pulse xt to try to get a feel for how it (the venture) is going to look flying. I don't plan to do a scheme anything close to the pulse, but I want to get comfy with how a low wing looks while flying. I feel like I am cheating as they (E-flite) did a good job giving the top and bottom of the wing contrasting color schemes. The only problem is I like to fly the little guys like I fly the big guys, high and a little far out there.

Yes, the mini pulse xt looks very similar to the Venture. As far as orientation goes, the first time I flew my Venture both myself and the person helping to trim my plane commented on how the green blended into the dark-blue sky and made it a little difficult to see. It was a big difference from my trainer and required some getting used to, but now I like the way it looks and I'm used to the colors. From my limited flying time, it seems that the planes with the multiple colored bars on the bottom of the wing are much easier to see and recognize which way the plane is oriented ( ie your pulse . The top and bottom of my wings look essentially the same except for the colors, so there isn't that instant recognition that comes with seeing a stripped wing as opposed to a solid color wing. I have thought about perhaps adding another color to the bottom of the wing to help it stand out more (perhap a large circle), but I want to fly it a little more. You may want to keep this in mind when covering if you plan to fly high, especially on that maiden flight.

Hope this helped.

Beautiful plane, nice build Foosball,

it looks so similar to sig 4 star,

Now to the picture of the blue plane in the air:
i see that the elev and rudder servos are sitting in the tail, is that how it is in sig 4* ?

Alex

You scared me alex! The blue, red and white plane is a little parky (mini pulse xt) Foos's servos are under the canopy (I'm pretty sure) the only one I see with servos in the tail region is will's. As I have not built mine yet, Will, ehat made you put the servos back there? Do you fell they made the plane balance better?

Thanks

[link=http://www.rcuvideos.com/item/4K9DYFBF5ZTFBMSG]Watch some video here[/link]

I was able to upload some video of the plane to prove it flies. It's not great video, but you'll be able to see it do some loops.

Mine came out about 5 ounces tail heavy; however, Bruce noted that usually the plane comes out a little nose heavy. If I had the servos near the tail, I don't know how many more ounces I would need in the nose.

Very nice! [sm=thumbup.gif]