Construction Article and Review of Great Planes "Venus .40" ARF

Construction

I've completed all the major sub-assemblies, and continue to be impressed! The parts fit is excellent, and the quality of the components is very good. I have had an opinion in the past that Great Planes kits were "overbuilt, (heavy) but sturdy". Well, things have changed. Great Planes has continued to adopt new design practices, which include building lighter structures that are still quite strong enough for flight loads. This means that right out of the box, the kit is built straight, and so there are no alignment issues.

I'll add some photos of the interior, as well as a few of the smaller steps in assembling this kit, but wanted to get a feel for the final look. So, here are a couple of photos with the major parts temporarily assembled.

This is a sleek looking model that is a great value. It's one of the best ARFs I've built.

I couldn't be happier with the fit of all parts. ...No surprises or bad news.

Finished, and ready for flight later today!.

First flights are off grass, so I'll install the wheel pants later.

1/5th scale Williams Brothers pilot... Dig that glossy hair! The pilot was installed using a short piece of 1/4" dowel glued into the bottom, then glued through the deck. I used Zap "Goo II" to attach both the pilot and the canopy. It works great and resists vibration.

To save my rudder servo some wear and tear, I installed a Klett (Goldberg) tailwheel assembly.

I added all the included trim sheet markings, except for the gold stars.

Can't wait to fly this later today.

Click the link below to go the "Trimming & Flying" page.
>>> Mike James

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