I hope that you all enjoyed last month’s review on the Great Planes U Can Do 3D and would like to hear comments from you on your newest project. If you would like to see an article on a certain plane or kit just drop us a line or two and tell us what you would like us to review. Better yet, if you would like to do a review please feel free to do so and we would be glad to help any way we can. This month’s review is going to be on the Great Planes Venus 40 ARF.

Upon receiving my kit, my first step was to inspect the contents of the box. I found nothing missing and every thing was in good condition. I did have to take the heat gun to the covering in a couple places but it wasn’t anything that was overly time consuming. I was surprised to see that the bottom of the wing was Pink, of all colors, with three white stripes at each wing half. To be honest, the colors work well together when the plane is in the air.

The first step in the instructions was to glue the wing halves together. I mixed up my 30-minute epoxy and found the spar in its plastic bag. My first problem with the Venus is the wood spar is balsa and only about three inches long. In most kits I have built or seen, the spar is six inches or so long and made of hard wood. Great Planes must know more about it than I do so I went with it? A month later while flying the Venus, my wing folded. I wasn’t flying fast or in a high G maneuver. The wing had folded an inch past the spar. I felt pretty confident this had nothing to do with my building or flying so I went home and called Great Planes Tech center and explained what had happened. They told me to send the plane back to them with a letter explaining what had happened. So I did what they asked and two weeks later I had another Venus in my hands. I called back to thank them and ask what I could do differently in my next kit so I wouldn’t have the same problem. The Tech at Great Planes told me to fiberglass the wing centers. I do think that this step should be included in the instructions and the kit should be supplied with the fiberglass. After fiber glassing the wing I have not had another problem since.

The rest of the building went per instructions until I came to the elevator. The elevator is in two halves and each half has its own push rod. The instructions are to run the push rods and tie them together with two supplied wheel collars. This was not going to work on my Venus. Over a period of time those wheel collars will loosen up and that could make for a very sloppy flying and unsafe airplane. I would like to say in defense of all ARF’s out there that these planes are meant to get pilots off the building table and to the flying field as fast as possible. There are however many things you can do to make them safer and fly better.
To solve this problem I used two elevator servos, one for each half. To do this I moved the throttle servo out of the supplied servo tray and put the two elevator servos in the tray along with the rudder servo. To get my elevator servos working together I used a servo reverser. I could have put the elevator servos on different channels with my computer radio but opted to just go with the reverser do to the ease of adjustment. Now, what about the throttle right? I used some scrap ¼ balsa I had left from another project and made my own just in front of the supplied servo tray.

For the servos I used all standard servos except on the rudder. The Venus has a very large rudder and I wanted as much of it as I could get. So I used a heavy duty Hitec servo with a long servo horn. The servo gives me power and the horn gives me that little extra throw I wanted.

For power you have many choices available to you. Two stoke or four, the Venus is rated from a 40-51 2 stroke and a 50-70 4 stroke. I went with my favorite choice the OS FX46. I must have at least seven of theses motors and I’ve always had good luck with them. In 2-stroke the OS 50 would be a good choice as would be an Enya 50cx. The Venuses I have seen that have 4-strokes power plants perform very well. I would stay more in the 70 range than I would the 50 range. I don’t feel the plane will perform as well with the smaller motor.

I have had the Venus 40 for almost a year now and really enjoy having it in my hangar. It is a very good flying airplane and looks really good in the air. I find the Venus to be a very capable airplane with no bad habits to stall at low speed. It has really improved my flying in every way. I’m sure if you are new to precision flying, or would like to start without spending big bucks on a true pattern plane, this is the one for you.

The flight performance of the Venus is to say the least is very impressive. The rudder is very functional and will perform knife-edge with as low of a throttle setting as you want. The Venus tracks true in any attitude you put it into. Rolls are very axial and strait, and can be very fast if you increase your throws. On landing the Venus slows down very nice for three point landings. All said the Venus is a very good choice for any type of flyer. I will say that this is not a trainer. It could make a very nice second airplane for the right person, but it isn’t a good choice for a person who hasn’t had a lot of time on the sticks.

If you are interested in pattern or want a plane that traces like its on rails then the Venus 40 is the perfect plane for you. There hasn’t been a weekend that I’ve gone to the field without my Venus 40. It’s hard to find an airplane that flies this well in all conditions.