spadeng

I have been looking for a replacement for my Somethin Extra and ran across the Venture 60. From what I have read Bruce Tharp hand selects the balsa and cuts all of his kits pretty much by himself wich makes for an excellent kit. I have a couple of questions on mods I was looking at doing to itwhen I get the kitchen pass to press forward with the purchace.

1) I was wanting to put in hatch mounted aileron servos, I like the slick look and was wanting to experement with flaperon-elevator mixing, and flaperon landings. Is this a worthwhile mod from the single aileron servo in the stock model?

2) I read abourt clipping 1 bay off of each wing to improve the roll rate, this seems like it would have to modify the ailerons as well, is this a worthwhile mod?

3) Are the carbon fiber pushrods worth the $17 compared to balsa pushrods?

4) And finally I was wanting to power this with a OS 61SF if I can fing a good price on one (I wish OS still made the SF line, I have 3 .46s I bought used and are great engines, but that is another thread) what is a good prop for this plane and will it nessisitate the longer landidng gear.

Any other helpful insite on this plane would be appreciated

yel914

Spadeng, The BTE Venture that I bought several years ago was easily one of the highest quality kits that I'll probably ever set eyes on. It spoiled me for other kits so for that reason, I'd get one while you can. This plane is different than a SSE so don't expect too many similarities. The Venture is much more stable in flight and won't do an aileron spin nearly as fast. But it's still an excellent model. I installed servos in the wings with hatches which work very well and look good. I also clipped a bay off each wing and like the way it flies better than when I had it with a full wing build, it just lands hotter. I've flown mine with an ST.61 which flies it OK, but recently switched to an ST.75, which really woke it up. Mine has a custom fiber glass cowl so it weighs more than a stock one. Carbon fiber pushrods? I use Golden Rods so I can't help you there. Hope this helps with the decision.

piper28

Don't know about using flaperon, but the dual elevator mod is pretty easy. Bruce sells the parts for doing this, although I'm sure you could do it yourself too. If you check his site, the dual aileron servo instructions cover doing the hatch mount like you want.


Personally, I've moved the elevator and rudder servos to the back. I haven't balanced it yet, but I'm going with a Saito 91, and I've seen people say that doing that tends to balance that engine out nicely.

Heh, in the time since I started building this, the kit has gone out of production and come back . I looked at some pictures from early on in the build recently, and realized that was 3 years ago. This in no way is a reflection on the kit, it's entirely my fault it's taken this long. I'm really hoping to have it done in the next few days, it's agonizingly close.

overbuild

I built the Super Flying King 60 size it was one top quality kit.I have a Four Star 60 which I built and now fly.My question is what are other builders thoughts on the wing construction of the Four Star 60 vs the Venture 60.The Four Star 60 uses more braceing between the ribs and to me the Four Star 60 wing may be stronger.

airbusdrvr

I have flown hundreds of flights on my Venture and you'll love it.
1)Individual (hatch mounted as you call them) are easy to do on the Venture. I did that with mine and I'd highly recommend it.
2)I "clipped" my Venture one bay on each wing and it flew great.
3)My guess would be no. Couldn't hurt, but you would save very little weight.
4)A 61 two stroke would do fine. I initially flew mine with an OS 70 four-stroke and it was fine. It would not do unlimited vertical. I happened to have a Saito 125 four-stroke(similar weight as the OS 91 four-stroke) and that was fun. The vibration does take a toll, however. The plane should fly fine with a 60 sized two-stroke, and no, ground clearance will not be an issue. I'll attach a pic of mine with Saito 125 and the huge prop it required.

spadeng

This is the consensus from what I have read. To answer some of Overbuilds questions-from what I have been reading Bruce Tharp designed the 4* 40 and 120 when he was at Sig, then another designer made the plans for the 60. The Venture is a evolution of the 4 star 40, it will knife edge better and has no yaw tendencies with elevator inputI think that is correct. It is a light built plane and I havent herd anything but praise on the quality of the kit...I hope to get one soon (pending the kitchen pass)

Klaatu

My Feedback: (4)

Do you like to fly planes or fly props? You know - do you actually like to fly the aero-plane or do you like a big prop on a big engine to muscle a box around the pattern?

Do your builds come out light or heavy?

Flying a light plane with a good .61, no problem - adjust as necessary. A prop on a heavy brick may need more power.

Bob Yeager

My Feedback: (5)

1) Dual aileron servos is the way to go.
2) I intended on docking the wing by two bays (one on ech side, naturally ). I was having so much fun building the wing that I forgot all about docking it!
3) As I recall, I used Sullivan Gold-N-Rods. These are somewhat sensitive to heat fluctuations. The pushrods are pretty much your call.

Mine was powered by an OS FX .61. I felt that it was somewhat underpowered, but I was flying at 5,000+ feet altitude. The prop clearance was adequate with the stock landing gear. Mine balanced perfectly with no added weight.

You may find something of interest at this web site. http://venture60.com/

Good Luck!