Here are a couple of pics of my 2 year old Venus II, and my buddy's Venus .40. It was maiden flight day for the small one. This is not earthshaking stuff, but I think that they are just cool.

The Venus II has an O.S. .120 FS, and a Futaba 7C radio. It has many happy hours on it and has been a solid rig for me. The Venus .40 has an O.S. .55 AX and a Futaba 6 channel radio. The maiden and later flights have been great, and the owner is very happy with his new airplane. He flew pattern back in the late 80's and early 90's.

Both airplanes are set up very closely and fly and handle quite similarly. Hard to believe that GP has ceased production of the .40 size version. I guess the market is in the latest flip-flop electric 3-D thing. Whatever.

-Robert

Nice pair. I love my Venus planes - both of them. I really like the .55 in the .40 size, and I really like having a 4 stroke in the VII.

Iwas doing some Figure M's and humpty bumps with the VIItoday and they are getting cleaner and cleaner Ireally like that plane.

I know what you mean. There is an old school pattern maneuver called the 180 degree turn. The VII does a nice job on that one- cutting the power to idle at the top lets it come down nice and even without rushing the roll-out and pull. Try that one sometime.

Here's another one- Reverse knife-edge, but starting and ending from inverted. Have some altitude when first trying it. Requires some coordination.

-Robert

Nice planes.

I have a Venus II on the bench right now.

So far i've completed joined the wings, glued on the belly pan and attached the ailerons and servos.
I start the fuse tonight  and hope to have it ready for a maiden this Sunday unless some unplanned honey-do's come up.

What prop and rpms does the 1.20FS give you.

I've finished breaking in my engine on the bench. It's a webra .91 2-stroke and i have tached it at 10,000 with a 14x8, 9,400 with 15x7 and 9,200 with 15x8. I'm keeping the build light and it's promising to be a great model.

I run a 13 x 11, which is the factory recommended prop. I get the best flight performance from this prop. I have also obtained good results from a 14 x 10. The 15 x 8 was ok, but a little slow. They all tach somewhere in the high 8k range. I am sorry that I cannot be more specific with the RPMs, I have not bothered to record them. The only drawvback to the 13 x 11 is it is more difficult to slow the model down for landing. Consequently, I have become quite good at the forward slip maneuver. Turning that flat sided fuselage against the wind really slams on the brakes. It is also a great way to make steep approaches. I suggest learning this skill.
For example, make your downwind approach a full speed in a knife edge (top of the airplane toward you) about 75-100 feet fout from the runway, and around 30-50 feet high. Chop the throttle before the airplane passes the center of the runway. Feed in more and more top rudder as the airplane loses speed to maintain level flight. Right as you run out of rudder, bank the top wing away from the runway at about 45 degrees. This will initiate your turn toward the runway. Control your rate of turn with the ailerons.You will be in a steep, controlled descent. Control your rate of descent with the rudder, not the elevator. Keep the nose down. With some practice you will release the rudder and level the wings about 5 feet from the ground, and settle gently to the runway in a three-point attitude landing. All of your flying buddies will be impressed.

-Robert