Colorado Don sends these updated photos and thoughts about his Venture 60...

"My plane has several modifications including a shortened wing (66 "span) with dual aileron servos.  I moved the landing gear forward 3/4" for my grass field.  It is powered with an OS 91 FS (4-cycle) spinning a 14x6 prop.  The total flying weight is 8 lbs 1 oz.  It has impressive vertical performance and I love the way it lands.  Thanks for a great design Bruce!

"After some 60-70 flights I decided to update my Venture.  I've recovered my Venture to make it more attractive and visible while flying. I did make several modifications to the plane to reduce the previous 8 lb 1 oz weight and improve its flight performance (especially since l live and fly at 4700'). I moved both the elevator and rudder servos to the rear of the plane. This allowed me to remove 1.8 oz of lead for balance and remove the 1.5 oz pushrods. I switched to 3" Kavan wheels for a .5 oz weight reduction. Lastly, I modified the RX battery location by building a tray to mount the battery in the rear of the fuselage, this moved my CG back to 4" from the leading edge. The plane flew better in this configuration and the inverted flat spins were improving (closer to being flat)."

"I did decide to take this improvement exercise one step further with the installation of the new Saito 100. This motor is 2 oz lighter than my OS 91 fs and swings a 15x6 prop at 9200 RPM. I am very pleased with the plane's performance now. It weighs 7 lbs 12 oz and has very impressive flight performance.

"The plane continues to exhibit all the Venture characteristics that Bruce has engineered into it and now has the performance that catches everyone's attention.

"NOTE: My photos show .5 oz of lead added to each side of the fuse for the 4" CG balance to offside the weight of the APC prop. My LHS did not have any wood props on hand, but I do have some on order and will remove this lead upon installation of the wood prop. Just FYI, the APC 15x6 prop weighs 2.8 oz vs .8 oz on a 14x6 wood prop previously used on my OS 91FS engine. Changing to a wood prop and removing this weight will further reduce the plane's weight by 3 oz."

Bruce's Comments:  Interesting point on propeller selection.  I've always been a fan of wood props, mainly because they will do less damage to your body if you goof up and get tangled with one.  A wood prop will break while a glass prop will keep slicing and dicing.  Yeah, APC's are known for their aerodynamic efficiency and I do use them on occasion, but the weight difference is significant, particularly on models that tend to come out nose heavy like the V60 and Delta Vortex.

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