Hello everyone. I had a maiden today with my Venus II and YS 110S. Flew great until the second flight it deadsticked. The fuel tank and a hole in it from vibrating up against the interior rib former that holds it in place. Not to be confused with the ply tray that hold the battery and rear of the tank, I am talking about the rib halfway between the battery tray and the firewall inside the fuse. I was not happy. Does anyone know what Dubro tank is the replacement for this tank? I am planing on cutting back the rib formers and installing foam so this does not happen again. Thanks,

dave in Maryland

The plane comes with a 14oz tank, but different from the 14oz Dubro tank sold separately. It should work though. Did you mount the tank at the CG? If so, anything should work with minimal modification. I had the 14oz bubbleless tank in mine and it fit.

My tank neck was sticking through the firewall installed as it was designed to be. Now that you mention it I could just install the new tank there on the battery tray not rubbing any ribs and move the battery back behind the servos but I don't think at that location there is enough depth in the fuse and when you connect the wing you are going to hit the top of the tank. Let me mess around with it and see. It did seem a little nose heavy for what little I was able to fly it so moving things back should not hurt

FWIW, I put a 24 oz Du-Bro (yes, 24 oz!) tank in my buddies Venus to feed his thirsty .120 AX. I wrapped the tank in bubble wrap to prevent fuel foaming, which you may get by rigidly fixing it into the hole in the firewall. Works like a champ. We see about one click of elevator trim change from full to empty.

There are posts about moving the battery back to the CG. It's really easy on this plane - minimal work. Scan back to somewhere around page 25 and have a look. Since you have the YS, you might as well. No need for a heavy full tank so far from the CG. Really makes a difference in flight characteristics.

Hi everyone,

I purchased a used Venus II this month and have flown it several times so far and like it a lot. I bought it with everything but an engine and receiver, and stuck a new shiney OS 120 FS pumper in it which I think is perfect for this plane. The low end torque seems to pull the plane through verticals and loops at half to three quarters throttle and I am really think for me, a beginner who wants to get into pattern flying, it'll be fine for a while. I do also want an electric plane similar in size or a little larger some time next year, maybe a Wind S Pro! I can dream, can't I?

Anyway, I have a question right off the bat. I was given two cut cowls and a brand new cowl with the Venus II. The two cut cowls were cut for different engines so they have excessive cutaways at some points and not enough in others. So I mounted the cowl that was closest and did a decent job cutting away an area for the exhaust pipe. I taped areas of cardboard over the excessively cut areas. Now, I want to use that cut cowl as a template and trace what I need on the new cowl.

The question is, both the cut cowls have a large cutout on the bottom for what I think is airflow. How large of an opening do I need, if at all, on the bottom of the cowl. I'm attaching some pictures for clarity. Thanks in advance!!

Cappa,

The cylinder is totally outside the cowl so you do not need any air exit in the bottom of the cowl.
If the cylinder was inside the cowl the rule of thumb is the air exit needs to be 2 times larger then the inlet.

Okay, so if I make the hole smaller than the one shown in my picture, but the cylinder head is still sticking out, which it will be, you're saying I don't need any cut out underneath the engine? That'd be great - a nice clean look!

Correct, bit of course you need a cutout for the muffler, so there will still be a small hole in bottom.

One thing though, the ENTIRE cylinder won't be extending out anymore after I cut the new hole, as shown in the attached picture. I'm just thinking there'll be no air flow across the rest of the engine or muffler pipe without some kind of entrace hole, which I guess I'll have with the new hole, even thought it's smaller, AND an exit hole, which I seem to be lacking if I don't remove some of the bottom of the cowl.

That plane originally had an OS 120AX mounted on it. The bottom cutaway is to fit the big box muffler. There are pics in this thread if you want to see it. You will need to cut out some to fit around your muffler, and also to make sure the cowl fits around the fuse/firewall - it's a tight fit.

Also, the engine was pushed back closer to the firewall to help the CG. Because of this, excess material has to be removed from the bottom to allow the cowl to spread out a little.

Making a template out of another cowl doesn't work as easily as we'd like it to, since they aren't made to stack that way. If you do it that way, make sure you cut inside your lines, fit everything up and make adjustments.

I wouldn't worry too much about cutting holes for cooling until you've got it properly mounted and tested out. You can always cut more later, but putting material back isn't easy.

I'll post pics on the resulting new cowl. I think it'll work out fine. The only thing is, I really don't need to cut much if anything from the bottom of the cowl and the part of the muffler that extends beneath the plane is behind the cowl pretty much. SO I won't have any air flow around the engine. I guess that's okay though. I have a temperature gauge so I can check the temperature without the cowl immediately after a flight and again with it, the same way.

I think it would be wise to measure the distance to the front of the cowl, remove the engine, and try dry-fitting the new cowl over the firewall to the appropriate location. See if it will in fact slide on far enough without being cut. If not, you have to remove material from the bottom of the cowl. I know I'm not the first one who had to do that to make a VII cowl fit.

In my opinion there will be enough of the cylinder outside the cowl to provide ample cooling.

Hi all..i love VENUS 2 too..she's already give me 4 trophy from 2007,until 2008..my venus equipt with OS 120AX stock muffler with extention,tank Mk 500cc right on the CG,with lippo batt 7.4V for rx,and electrodynamic regulator,all digital servo with ball link...power was very good with coolmix 15% of nitrous...mostly i fly with 16x8 apc,in windy i change to 15x10 apc...and i fly fai scheduled(P-09) with V2,the last tournament of this year i only got 5th poisition[:@]...BUT...the other competitor plane was azzurit,berryl,miss wind,wind s..and all of those plane was electric......so...what can i said here is...Venus 2 can do everything,with very cheap setup..[8D][8D]...if you fly sportsman,or intermediate class,or even like me fly FAI schedule..this plane is the best choice(glow engine) with cheap setup..

But,for next year im planning change my plane to electric...or buy another plane like a WIND S 110..

Best regards..OKY..

I'm switching to the Wind S 110 pretty much just for electric convenience. Venus II really does fly pretty nice. I like 16x8 w/120 AX or 15x10 w/ 4 stroke.

This morning I cut the new cowel for my Venus II. Came out pretty good and I think I'll get plenty of air flow through. I cut a slot larger than necessary for the muffler on the bottom to make sure I have adequate cooling. Got a couple knicks in the fiberglass and plan on painting with a nail polish the same color. Also, wish I had worn a long sleeves and put on my respirator as the fine fiberglass dust went all over the place and it itches

Has anyone had any problem with the wing not mounting securely to the fuse on their Venus II? I have had several people comment on how the wing looks loose and sure enough when checked it can be wiggled fairly easily both side to side and up and down, albeit by a small amount.

Also, is the mounting plate with the blind nuts supposed to be gapped underneath the wing? I've had a couple people tell me that my plate should be up higher so it contacts the wing instead of recessed a way down the way it is, and that this might be part of the reason the wing can be wiggled.

Last, how tight can those nylon bolts be tightened before stripping them? I'm using a large screwdriver and tightening as tight as I can without exerting enough torque where I feel it would strip the threads. Is there a torque rating on the bolts? Thanks in advance.

I tighten the nylon bolts until I feel them just start to snug up, then one more 1/4 turn. You don't want them to stretch. Are both bolts definitely finding the holes? I definitely did NOT have a problem with wings being loose when I had the plane, I am 100% sure about that.

If it's wiggling up and down there is definitely something wrong - something's not bolting in right.

I'm 100 percent sure the bolts are in the threads correctly, and their is significant torque applied to the wing bolts, just shy of stripping, I'm very confident of that as well.

You'd have to see what I'm talking about in person. Maybe I'll shoot a video and post it here. It's not rocking up and down to the point most people would even notice it. It's something you can see from the vibration of the plane when running. The wing has no mounting plate on the bottom of my wing, as shown in the manual, unless it's recessed under the covering and I cannot see it. Like I say, there's a gap between the bottom of the wing and the mounting holes, and that doesn't seem right. The assembly manual shows something that looks like a mounting plate that would fit in this gap, but I'm probably interpretting it incorrectly. Nonetheless, the wing does move IF you apply slight pressure at the wing tips fore and aft. I wish I knew how to eliminate it. It would seem a couple dowels in the wing bottom and through the fuse would 'lock' the wing in place so it couldn't be pushed to move at the wing tips.

The wing bolt plate is on the other side of the wings, under the belly pan. It's there.

Having the space between the mounting holes lets the wing secure to the sides of the fuse, and not to a point in the center of the plane. This would give it a little more stability and ensure there is no gap between the plane and the wings.

Maybe you could try a new set of bolts? Maybe they got stretched or stripped? It shouldn't take much force to screw them down, and as soon as you start to feel resistance, stop.

Also, maybe check some other planes and compare the wiggle room? Just an idea, but I know my Yak has a little 'play' as do the SebArt planes at my field (I asked the same question with respect to my Yak).

Just thinking out loud, but like I said I don't remember anything out of the ordinary with that plane. I was shown to carry it to the flight line by grabbing a spot on the wings and feel that I really would have noticed something if it wasn't right. If you want to post a video I'll take a look at it.

Just went down to the basement to shoot a video of the 'problem'. Down there I had a bigger screwdriver than I use at the field. When I tightened the bolts, I think I got more torque on them without feeling as though I was going to strip them and when I went to try and move the wing, it only would move 1/32 or 1/16 of an inch forward or backward, ie. alot better than at the field. I think the problem was I wasn't tightening the bolts enough believe it or not. I'll post a followup if I notice anything different at the field next time and I threw the larger screwdriver in the field box for whenever that is.

cappaj1, just to double check, when you assembled your wing, did you put that plywood wing bolt plate on before gluing on the belly pan? If you did not, then the nylon bolts would be digging in to the soft balsa wood of the wing. Hope what I typed makes sense. Let me know if you want me to elaborate.

-Chris K

I bought the plane used already put together and the seller has told me he has the plywood wing bolt plate in place yes! Thanks for asking though.

I'm using a YS 120 taken from a plan whose expiration date was this past spring. That plane had plug-in wings, so an underbelly pipe was not an issue. With the Venus, does anyone have an under-belly pipe that they can detach from the wing in order to remove the wing? I could go out the side with it, but I can't find a header to go from the side of the engine in that direction. Central Hobbies sells a 90 degree stack, but it's much smaller than the pipe. Maybe there is an adaptor that can go from the end of the stack at one diameter, to the end of the tube at a larger diameter?