Official Freewing de Havilland DH-112 Venom V2 90mm EDF Jet

[JayP]

Oooooooooh man. You've got me way tempted with bigger jets with the new MiG29. A 120mm Venom? Not sure how I could say no to that.

[Wrthog]

Anyone know if the stock esc will handle 8s

[Wrthog]

A 120 vampire would be fricking wicked!

[xviper]

I doubt it. I always thought you needed a "HV" ESC for 8s or more.

[JayP]

Stock ESC is 2-6s.

I wanted to go 8s with my second Venom, but the lack of space put me off. Changing the EDF/ESC isn't so hard, but hogging out the foam to fit the bigger battery and then getting the CG right seemed like too much trouble.

[Wrthog]

2 4s 4000 fit just fine

[JayP]

Right on, good luck!

[PaulZ]

2 4s 4000 fit just fine

Not sure this bird needs 8s but good luck! Let us know how she flies?

[xviper]

Not sure this bird needs 8s but good luck! Let us know how she flies?

It doesn't. It may be one of the few planes out there that is quite fast and powerful right out of the box. But then, all the "Tim the Toolman Taylor's" out there, it's never enough.

[Wrthog]

It’s not that it needs it speed wise this bird is dumb fast! I was looking for less amp draw. Longer flight times. Hw150 ordered as well as freewing 8s fan motor combo

[Corsair nut]

Ran a a4 80mm in mine. Fast and awesome flight times on 5800s

[Corsair nut]

Heres a video of mine with a 80mm

https://youtu.be/u93n9Mjpsw0

[Mikdys]

Bought the Venom V2 a few weeks back and some 6S 6,000 packs to go in it (C/G perfectly set with these). So far, so good. Had the third flight with it today (I can get it to take off and fly AOK) but I'm really struggling with the landings. Three "bad bouncers" with it now and 3 rebuilds of nose, wings and tail booms. If I crash it again I don't think there'll be anything left for the Gorilla Glue to get a hold on!

I've seen the videos and read the write ups but I just can't seem to land this 'plane. Some questions:

* would it be advisable to set up really low rates and high expo' and switch to these for landing (to stop me "flaring it up too much")

* should I be using flaps for landing (full or part)?

* I've tried "no power" and "powered" approaches and I can't get it right with either. Is the technique to "land it like Concorde" with flaps and a high incidence fighting against the power? If so, how is this done exactly?

* would I do less damage if I go for "belly flop" landings do you think and land it like a glider (I fly off grass)?

Thanks for any input.

[xviper]

I found this plane to be a "bouncer" on landing. Landing on grass is better than landing on a smooth, prepared runway, but it was still difficult to "grease" the landings consistently. I replaced the stock main struts with trailing link struts from another plane of a similar size and the bounce has been dealt with. I still do the occasional bounce but not nearly as much or as bad as before. I also found that landing without flaps produced better results. Using flaps for landing can tend to cause the plane to be too floaty and any kind of bounce can cause the plane to rise again. Without flaps, the bounce seems to be absorbed better. Landing with flaps and no bounce is quite possible but requires more finesse and better throttle management.

[Mikdys]

Thanks for the info' about the main struts - you don't happen to have a handy link to where I could buy some do you (or a picture of yours)?

BTW Are you the xviper from back in the day on s2ki.com by any chance?

[Phantom]

Bought the Venom V2 a few weeks back and some 6S 6,000 packs to go in it (C/G perfectly set with these). So far, so good. Had the third flight with it today (I can get it to take off and fly AOK) but I'm really struggling with the landings. Three "bad bouncers" with it now and 3 rebuilds of nose, wings and tail booms. If I crash it again I don't think there'll be anything left for the Gorilla Glue to get a hold on!

I've seen the videos and read the write ups but I just can't seem to land this 'plane. Some questions:

* would it be advisable to set up really low rates and high expo' and switch to these for landing (to stop me "flaring it up too much")

* should I be using flaps for landing (full or part)?

* I've tried "no power" and "powered" approaches and I can't get it right with either. Is the technique to "land it like Concorde" with flaps and a high incidence fighting against the power? If so, how is this done exactly?

* would I do less damage if I go for "belly flop" landings do you think and land it like a glider (I fly off grass)?

Thanks for any input.

I'm going to have to go the opposite of Xviper here and say the only EDF jet from Freewing easier to land than a Venom would be the Saber.

Opposite of his suggestion because you do land the Venom with flaps, full 80 to 90 degee barn door like flaps! Unless you have a hellacious headwind or nasty cross wind, then drop those flaps! Big winds you should still be using flaps just 15 to 20 degrees of flaps. These split flaps don't alter the camber of your wing and therefore greater than 20% of flaps on her translates to pure glorious drag. Use this drag, it's your friend.

This bird is one of my favorites, I've got one flying and 2 more in the box for when they eventually decide to discontinue it like they do with a lot of great jets like the Euro fighter.

You don't land this plane let a jet, you land it like a conventional plane. Power on for winds, 80% of my landings are power off or just enough to hear the EDF, like 10 or 15% throttle.

On downwind pull the power to about 20% throttle, drop the gear, drop take off flaps, keep the nose level and watch her slow and start a gradual descent. Turn base and drop the barn doors, transition the nose from level to a nose down pitch attitude. Turn final keep the nose down until you're in ground effect about 3 to 4 feet of AGL for this bird. Relax your right thumb on the stick, so that the nose levels with the landing surface, let her continue to slow, when she starts to descend again slowly and gradually pull back on the right stick to a slightly nose high pitch attitude and she touch down like a high winged tricycle gear trainer.

You'll be amazed how slow you are able to touch down, in ground effect. Try that out of ground effect and you'll be rewarded with a nasty tip stall. With the cushion of air beneath your wings in ground effect provides a nice buffer too prevent the tip still from occurring.

That's what makes this jet and others like it with similar flying characteristics so easy to land. Because you don't have to learn high alpha, settling in with power management or any of the more traditional jet landing techniques. She lands like any conventional airplane.

Bouncing is a byproduct of touching down with too much speed. It can be exacerbated by a bumpy surface, but a bounce is the result of landing while still going fast enough to fly. If you follow the normal landing technique I described above, you'll land at your stall speed, if the wings are stalled, they produce no lift, you stay on the surface and no plane rebuilds are neccessary.

A pursuit of every pilot RC, or full should be to land their bird at the slowest airspeed allowable for the aircraft's weight, configuration and environmental conditions. This ensures the best ground handling control.

My 2 cents.

[xviper]

Thanks for the info' about the main struts - you don't happen to have a handy link to where I could buy some do you (or a picture of yours)?

BTW Are you the xviper from back in the day on s2ki.com by any chance?

It's been so long since I did that mod, that I can't remember which plane they came from. Here's a picture of that strut. As you can see, it needs a little foam removal to fit. I went to the Motion site and looked at all planes about the same size as this Venom and found one that had the trailing links and bought a pair of struts.

Yes, I am. Still post now and then on S2KCA.com. Still meet up with the S2000 guys here and in the USA now and then. What was your username back then? You can PM me so we don't mess up this thread too bad.

[Mikdys]

Thanks for the replies - I might give that landing technique a try (I have been trying to bring it in fast like a jet!). I've nothing to lose. If I end up making repairs again I'll add some different struts like Xviper suggests.

[Wrthog]

Think the Avanti rear mains would work?

[Wrthog]

Also, have you guys seen they have the “high performance” edition now with a 9 blade fan and 1900 kV inrunner? $435 I’m just wondering how much extra umph!! This set up will have compared to the freewing 8s fan set ?