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

[xviper]

With the exception of trimming the foam blocks on either sides of the factory velcro strap mounts

Makes sense.

[Phantom]

By the way, I also fly the T-33 with the 8000mah hobbystar with very minimal foam trimming. Now that I know about the additional 3oz of weight in the nose of the T-33 surgery is in order.

[T-CAT]

By the way, I also fly the T-33 with the 8000mah hobbystar with very minimal foam trimming. Now that I know about the additional 3oz of weight in the nose of the T-33 surgery is in order.

Good call . That T-33 with 3oz removed allows a heavier larger capacity battery to fit well. It takes minimal time to complete the mod., yet makes a large impact. That is always nice.

[John Bergsmith]

But the 8,000mah fit's like a glove, the stock velcro straps are perfect for it. CG is dead on and the flight time is unparalleled for a 90mm EDF. No adjustment for battery height required so no trimming of the canopy.

I keep meaning to order an 8000mah, now it’s a must do!

[mshagg]

Heh, weird to see this thread flare up - just put the finishing touches on one. Absolutely gorgeous airframe.

Balanced really aft with a 5000, but im using an outrunner setup I had lying around and put 4 coats of WBPU on there, so not exactly going by the book on assembly. A few nose weights got her back in the 105-110 range. Crazy that it recommends a 3700mah in the book, but I guess goes to show how technology has delivered bigger, lighter packs. I've read that book CG is considered nose heavy by some, but have never challenged recommended CG for a maiden.

Enjoying working my way through the back catalogue of FW planes (e.g. F-86, Me-262). They might not be as fancy (or as easy to build - the Uhu Por stocks took a hit lol) as the newer stuff but the simplicity presents as light wing loading and no-fuss flying. Reliable planes you can take to the field every time. It has also been a journey that made me realise that 1st generation jets are my cup of tea. Now to see what else is out there :)

[James]

Had just gotten out again with my Venom a few weeks ago for only 2 flights but man what an awesome jet. Definitely bringing it back out when the weather cooperates!

[Jets and Wings]

The Venom is definetly a great plane. Fly it with the Admiral 6S 5000 and some extra weight in the nose (40g)! The sound of the Venom (stock) is awesome!!!

[scootergenie]

Mine arrived on Saturday while I was at Florida Jets, so I didn't get started on it until today. I don't know why I waited so long to get this one, It's really beautiful in a Buck Rogers sort of way. Nobody in my club has one, or seen one fly, so it should be fun. Very simple to assemble. All the lights work, and the tail servos are all tested. Still have to test all wing components, but overall I'm very satisfied with my purchase. One of the nylon hinges in the elevator was glued in askew, so I just softened the glue with some lighter fluid and wiggled it loose and re glued it...no biggie. I just got the tail group and wings glued up.

[mshagg]

Got to maiden mine on the weekend. Wow, what a plane. Rotated on its own just like in the videos. A dream plane for grass ops. Not a click of trim to be had, flies on rails out of the box. Have read that it's tricky to land but seemed fairly straightforward - full flaps, keep a bit of throttle in and don't strike the tail on the flare.

Quicker than I expected for a big draggy airframe and has the most amazing sound. Meeting a mate at the field after work to put another half dozen packs through it, can't wait.

[scootergenie]

Sweet..... Glad your maiden went well. Congrats !

[John Bergsmith]

MShagg - great flying airplane no doubt. I read the comments on landing as well, mine lands very easily. Zero issues with mine so far.

[Alpha]

I agree, the Venom is a stellar flyer, easily one of my favorites year after year. The red Swiss demo is easy to see, too, which helps orienting this Batwing!

As you said, the sound is very satisfying. It's the best sounding EDF jet we produce, in my opinion.

[scootergenie]

Well, got her all together. Still have to install the receiver and route all the wires. Had fun painting the bombs, and the glue up was a breeze. Should be ready for a maiden soon. This thing takes up some space !

[sillyRabbit]

Heh, weird to see this thread flare up - just put the finishing touches on one. Absolutely gorgeous airframe.

Balanced really aft with a 5000, but im using an outrunner setup I had lying around and put 4 coats of WBPU on there, so not exactly going by the book on assembly. A few nose weights got her back in the 105-110 range. Crazy that it recommends a 3700mah in the book, but I guess goes to show how technology has delivered bigger, lighter packs. I've read that book CG is considered nose heavy by some, but have never challenged recommended CG for a maiden.

Enjoying working my way through the back catalogue of FW planes (e.g. F-86, Me-262). They might not be as fancy (or as easy to build - the Uhu Por stocks took a hit lol) as the newer stuff but the simplicity presents as light wing loading and no-fuss flying. Reliable planes you can take to the field every time. It has also been a journey that made me realise that 1st generation jets are my cup of tea. Now to see what else is out there :)

How much nose weight? Im up to @4.5 oz to get it balance according to where the the manual shows. Using the 4000 battery motionrc recommended. even so that seems a bit much. anyone else need to cram that much weight into it?

[mshagg]

That sounds like a lot. I can check but I'm pretty sure I ended up with 1 and 3/4 Oz. But I fly it on 900g 5000 packs and used my own power plant which might be lighter than freewing's.

That said, the thing has incredibly light wing loading so if that's what you need to hit CG then so be it.

[sillyRabbit]

How much nose weight? Im up to @4.5 oz to get it balance according to where the the manual shows. Using the 4000 battery motionrc recommended. even so that seems a bit much. anyone else need to cram that much weight into it?

NM, I just went with about 124g crammed into the empty spaces near the front of the canopy. It seemed to balance slightly nose heavy on my fingertips so I went for it. It flew well. Much better than the pilot :) . My first EDF. So fast even at 50%

[sillyRabbit]

That sounds like a lot. I can check but I'm pretty sure I ended up with 1 and 3/4 Oz. But I fly it on 900g 5000 packs and used my own power plant which might be lighter than freewing's.

That said, the thing has incredibly light wing loading so if that's what you need to hit CG then so be it.

Thanks for the feed back. The math makes sense since my 4000 comes in at 642g. Wishing I had stuck with my original plan and purchased to larger battery. 3 mins maybe 4 tops with the 4000mAh and thats with 50% most the flight.

[Jets and Wings]

sillyRabbit I fly my Venom with the Admiral 6S 5000 which has 730g and added additional 40g in the front gear cabin.

[sillyRabbit]

This is not intended as a rant but I'm not going to sugar coat it. I tend to not fall in the fan-boy category. If a product is good i'll give it props. If its crap, I'll let you know. This model out of the box it seems to be a mix of both. This is also my first freewing EDF, so I was not too clear on what to expect when I opened the box. Also admittedly Im a bit of a perfectionist so little things can really irritate me. So thats why Im posting this. I would like to know from you guys who have more experience with EDFs and specifically Freewing AC whether out of the box problems I saw are actually fatal flaws, inconsequential bugs, or intended features.

1. The manual is a joke. 10 pages in broken english that show how the parts go together. I get it. A lot of this stuff is common sense, but a lot of it isnt. As a relative noob and a total beginner for EDF's Itd be nice to have a little more clarity especially when the the model is promoted as being a good place to start with EDF's. Other than vaguely showing you where CG is there is 0 instructions on initial set up. Is it, as motionrc chat support suggests, you are supposed to go to the forums like this one to get answers. We'll here I am. Regardless an initial recommendation on flap settings with elevator mixed in would have been nice
2. How hard is it to put a decal on straight? not a deal breaker because I intended to customize the paint job anyway, but still indicative of slack QC.
3. Speak of slack QC, the tube in the starboard wing panel used to mount the boom came unglued and was just bouncing around in there. I used some of the epoxy that came with the kit to re-attach and added a bit more to reinforce it. Re-enforced the other side too because I was really becoming unsettled with QC at this point and also wanted it to be balanced.
4. Both flaps were warped. one more than the other. Motionrc suggested using wet towel heated in a microwave to lay over to correct. Which I did and it did help but again not perfect.
5. The canopy had a 1cm deep dent in it about the size of a quarter. I was able to pop it out but it left a noticeable crease. not a biggie but still grrrrrrr
6. All panels covering servos on exposed surfaces do not align with surrounding surface. Even if the tiny holes in them aligned with the registration pin, which none do, I doubt they would still be flush because the servo under them seem to be too wide. this leaves about a 2 or 3 mm hard edge sticking out on horz stab and both wings. I actually filed it down on the stab to help laminate airflow a bit because the high side was facing forward.
7. Nose gear doors misaligned when closed. Im not expecting perfection here but 4-6 mm gap? Thats seems a bit too off not to affect flight since airflow into the nose gear cabin probably pushes them out further in flight.

I was able to get it up in the air. It flew well but way out of trim. Getting back on the ground was traumatic :). But I did somehow manage I think once I get it dialed it will fly great and that is all that really counts but I still go to wonder if some of the things like the servo cover panels and gear doors are un-correctable or just typical stuff you just deal with and fix. I mean, if any you had opened the box and saw some of this stuff listed above, would you have reboxed it and sent it back or moved forward? Again, not trying to start a flame war. Just want some insight. Any constructive feed back would be appreciated.

FWIW, I got a second flight in with an assist from someone more knowledgeable with EDF's. He did ask about recommended set up. I told him there was none in the manual. He seemed surprised. He added a bit more expo on pitch and roll and mixed in a bit down elev with flaps. He also helped me with trimming it out. This flight was better but on landing it didnt quite flare like I had hoped and took a little one hop came back down on nose gear. The door popped off, which I found. the spring that actuates it went who knows where. Encouraging though.

[Alpha]

sillyRabbit I appreciate your post and feedback, thanks for sharing!

The Freewing 90mm Venom was designed in 2012, which in EDF world terms is a light year ago. It remains our least expensive scale 90mm jet to this day, despite it being a fan favorite for its sound and and flight characteristics. That all being said, I think a lot of what your mentioned are artifacts of its age. It isn't as refined as, say our Freewing 90mm Super Scale F-4,but it doesn't cost nearly as much, either.

The Venom's manual, you're right, it's sparse. The servo covers? They were seen as a revolution at the time but yes, today a couple millimeters seems off to someone who flies more recently developed foam jets. The canopy dent... That shouldn't have happened and would definitely irk me as well.

Since the Venom's time, I have led the development of about 50 aircraft so far with Freewing, FlightLine, Skynetic, and others, so I can appreciate the rapid evolution of product feature sets and audience standards. Put a 2013 80mm F-86 up to a 2019 80mm L-39, for example. At the same time, the lifespan of a given product is measured in several years, ideally ten or more, yet within a year or two of its release we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we weren't innovating with the latest releases (better manuals, tighter plastic door clearances, less handling dents in canopies and foam, etc).

This rapid evolution may at times put some older aircraft at an uncomfortable contrast with others. Suffice to say when an aircraft becomes a liability, we discontinue it, but so far we're known regardless of age to keep popular, viable, well requested models in production, as the Venom is. The 64mm Panther and 70mm Rebel jump to mind as well. They're not 2020 tech, and part of me doesn't like the idea of being judged in 2020 by those 2010 aircraft, but hey, they continue to be popular birds for what they are so we continue to produce them as they are.

My point in all this is that many, most, of our models are the best representations of the hobby at the time they were developed. Not everything can have been made this year with this year's tech. The good news is that we do backdate certain aspects of models where/when possible, such as "V2" power system upgrades, new colors, new features, etc. The mold most often is not changed, but manufacturing processes, assembly techniques and materials (glues, paints, decals), and handling guidelines are retroactively applied to all models on today's pipeline, regardless of if it was first designed ten years ago or last month.

The alternative would be to discontinue a model after two years, which, as many customers are grateful for, we are neither able nor inclined to do.



Please continue to post your experiences with your Venom as you dial it in. If it's any encouragement, the Freewing 90mm Venom is among my Top Five favorite EDFs to fly, in any size, at any price point, in any material, from any manufacturer. I just don't look at it too closely.