RE: ESM-P 47 build with Saito 200r3
Looks spectactular, John!!
Posted on: 8/28/2011 11:30 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "RC Warbirds and Warplanes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10690630

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi Joe, At most I used 2/3rds of the pack. And that was with a nice long flight. So yeah, you could fly 10 min on this pack if you aren't pushing it too hard, or go with a smaller pack for lighter weight. Any way you look at it, the overall power system worked great. The CG was absolutely perfect, so I'm glad I rear-mounted the servos. Regards, George
Posted on: 3/22/2011 6:28 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10416712

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi all, Maiden flight on Sunday! The plane handled beautifully, and I can say that the power system is about perfect. Plenty of vertical, good speed, and long flight times. On a 5s 5800 pack, I was flying for 8 minutes and never put more than 3800 mah back in the packs. In fact, I'd recommend 5s 5000 mah packs to save some weight, if an 8 min flight is acceptable. Regards, George
Posted on: 3/21/2011 12:42 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10414058

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi all, Just a quick update while we wait for the weather to get more spring-like. I wound up purchasing two 5s 5800mah Zippy 30c lipos for the Venture. The plane balances perfectly with one of these installed. My all up weight is 7.5 lbs. Looking for a maiden day in the next few weeks! Regards, George
Posted on: 3/13/2011 6:52 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10398057

RE: BTE Venture 60
Thanks, Joe, very kind of you to say. I can't wait to fly it, but winter is relentless in NJ!
Posted on: 2/11/2011 5:40 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10328051

RE: Is Monokote Fixed yet?
Balsarite isn't worth while. The worst part of it is that it doesn't sand well, so it stinks as a sealer. It pills up under the sandpaper. I've been told that thinned dope works well, but really you only need to sand up to 600 and cover. And yes, use Ultracote, unless you enjoy the monokote lottery. -G
Posted on: 1/12/2011 5:07 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10259003

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi inverted, I'm doing mine in electric. I've tried to lighten where possible without getting carried away. My plane is 5.7 lbs RTF without battery, and the 5 cell 5800 Zippy that I'm planning to use is 1.7 lbs, for a total of 7.4 lbs all up weight. If you wanted to go weight crazy, you could eliminate the wheel pants, spinner, and try to source a swept carbon fiber gear. I bet you could get below 7lbs all up that way, but a flying weight of 5 to 6 lbs in unachievable imo. Regards, George
Posted on: 12/26/2010 7:48 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10218833

RE: BTE Venture 60
Ok, here we go... with wheel pants too!
Posted on: 12/25/2010 5:26 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10217012

RE: BTE Venture 60
Merry Christmas everyone! Finally got the finishing touches on the Venture. Everything is present in these pics except the wheel pants, who's paint just refuses to dry :-/ Hope you like it, I'm pretty happy with the results. Regards, George Edit: having a hard time uploading pics today, must be an issue with RCU servers, will try again later
Posted on: 12/24/2010 9:28 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10215619

RE: BTE Venture 60
Thanks very much guys. Although I cant really claim much credit for the design, as it's pretty much directly taken from the car! Will post a few more pics when its done. Regards, G
Posted on: 12/16/2010 1:47 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10201114

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi guys, Got some more progress to report. Fuse is done, covered, and ready for final assembly. Now on to some finishing on the wing, then covering that. Should be ready for test flight in a couple weeks... although the weather wont be :( The camera just doesn't pick up the green correctly, it looks very aqua in these, but it's really pearl green ultracote.
Posted on: 12/15/2010 6:47 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10199814

RE: Building vs. not building
I don't really see it as one vs the other. I love to build, but I also have many arfs. The availability of high performance, light, and straight arf's for not much cash has had a big impact on my flying. I'll risk things with an arf that I'd never risk if I had 100+ hours invested in it. I think folks that look at the arf phenominon as a step backwards are not seeing the whole picture. Of course, there is a real downside in that the variety of building kits and supplies have taken a downturn. There are also huge benefits to the hobby in the accessibility of RC flying for those that dont have the time or facilities (or interest) to build, and for those of us that want to push their limits a bit. -G
Posted on: 12/7/2010 5:54 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10181888

RE: Building vs. not building
The better brands of arfs are very hard to beat these days. They are lighter, straighter, and in many cases, finished better than 95% of the builders out there. Of course, cheap arf are just what they always were... crap :) Build because you love it, because there isn't much reason to do so otherwise.
Posted on: 12/6/2010 7:38 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10181373

RE: BTE Venture 60
Evening, all! Got started on the finishing today. You can see that I've gottem some of the under surfaces done in high contrast black and white stripes. I started drawing some designs for the main surfaces on card stock with french curve, and cutting some patterns out of those designs. The inspiraiton for this covering scheme will be my dad's '31 Ford Model A street rod, pic attached. Enjoy! George
Posted on: 12/4/2010 8:14 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10176635

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hey all, Just a quick update... all the framing up is done on my e-Venture, with the exception of hinging the control surfaces and drilling the horns. As you can see, I cut mount points for the elevator and rudder servos in the tail. I'm pretty sure I'll need the tail weight, so better to do this now then have to go back and modify. I'll make my final decision on this after I balance it. After hinging comes covering! Regards, George
Posted on: 12/2/2010 7:37 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10172972

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi all, Now comes the really fun part of an e-conversion; doing the creative stuff! In order to gain easy access to the battery, we have to engineer a top opening hatch in the Venture's forward fuse. The way I chose to do this was to make the entire balsa sheeted section above the fuel tank compartment removable. The trick here is to construct the hatch to flow into the stock lines of the plane so as to be unnoticeable. To build an appropriate hatch, I first sheeted the cowl from the instrument panel to F2. Then I used the cross section on the plans to replicate the top part of F1 and F2 formers in 1/8th lite ply, and extended them into the tank compartment about 1/4". After shaping them to fit exactly the curve and height of the existing formers I fit two 1/4 x 3/8th balsa stringers between them and tack glued in place. This forms the basic structure of the hatch. Next came some gussets out of balsa, and some 1/32nd ply strips as a mating surface to the top of the fuse sides. This ply will help add durability to the side edges of the hatch, as they would only be made from balsa sheeting otherwise and would dent/break easily. Adding a bit of complexity was my choice to have an additional air intake into the tank compartment at the top of F1. I needed to shape a block of balsa to duct the air into the tank, while providing enough stiffness to make the front of the hatch strong. Next comes the attachment mechanism. I drilled two 3/16th holes through F1 into my hatch former from the front, and inserted two dowels into the hatch to engage the holes in the firewall (just like the wing dowels, only smaller). This provides the front latching mechanism. The rear of the hatch will be held down by two very strong rare-earth magnets. In the last pic, you can see the removable battery floor with velcro strap (battery ejection = bad!). This platform in 3/32nd heavy ply, and is fastened down with six 4-40 bolts. They bolt onto two hardwood rails glued onto the fuse sides in the same postion as the stock fuel tank floor. This needs to be removable because the ESC is mounted on the bottom of this platform, and we need to get in there from time to time. Also visible is the final piece of sheeting to cover the top of F1 and give a nice finished look. Under this small (and fragile!) strip of balsa is another laminate of 1/32nd ply, for stiffness. When its all together, the look is totally stock. Hope you enjoy! -George
Posted on: 11/28/2010 10:31 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10165760

RE: BTE Venture 60
^^^ what he said :)
Posted on: 11/28/2010 9:18 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10164271

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi all, Most of the fuse and wing work is now complete. I added a number of lightening holes throughout the plywood structure where I felt it wouldn't weaken things too much. The rearmost hole on the bottom fuse surface will double as my cooling exit air vent. Regards, G P.S. Joe, I think Bruce will chime in against covering the wing structure with fabric, as the lack of sheeting makes this wing fairly flexible without the extra rigidity provided by iron on film (monokote, ultracote, etc). Just FYI...
Posted on: 11/27/2010 9:09 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10163598

RE: Yellow P-47 Build!!
Hi again! Long time without updates, but now the flying season is right and truly finished here in New Jersey, so it's back to the P-47 project! Today's update is on the lower gear doors. This is a fussy and difficult part of most builds, and the P-47 is no exception. The kit parts are nice, but require a lot of fabrication of the mounting hardware out of plywood. My only real complaint is that the wheel wells are slightly too large for the provided fiberglass gear door covers. This makes the fit and alighnment very critical. I might ring the door with a lip of 1/8" balsa to give the covers more purchase when closed. Regular updates should be forthcoming now! -George
Posted on: 11/26/2010 7:49 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10161540

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi all, Just to illustrate how nice a kit this is, see photo below of the wing saddle to wing fit. This is without any adjustment to the saddle whatsoever. Niiiice. -G
Posted on: 11/26/2010 7:28 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10161504

RE: BTE Venture 60
Here's my first contribution to the e-conversion discussion. As you can see, the stock firewall is thick 1/4 inch heavy ply, so it is way over built for e-power. The weight of an electric motor is much less than that of a glow engine (speaking of the motor only, since that hangs cantilevered off the firewall), and the vibration is greatly reduced. As a result, much less structure is needed for e-power. This is fortunate, because the LiPo battery and ESC will be located in the fuel tank compartment. On this model as with most glow designs, that compartment is practically sealed, and that would lead to a quick overheating of the battery and/or ESC. To fix this, I've excavated out the firewall structure using hole saws and a scroll saw. The topmost hole will vent the battery compartment (above the fuel tank floor), and allow for easy removal of the to-be-designed top hatch. The middle round hole gets even more air over the battery. And the bottom hole will vent the ESC directly (below the fuel tank floor). All of this has a nice side effect of lightening the firewall structure a good deal. Some folks choose to use a much thinner ply firewall on e-conversions, but I don’t believe in that approach. I'd rather rely on that strength to allow such ventilation holes to be made safely. The motor is an e-flite Power 46, to be run on 6S 5000 mah packs. This is overrating the motor a bit, so I'll be pushing it pretty hard, but other have reported good results doing this. I'm shooting for about 1kW total. Also, note that the mount for the motor is offset to the left. This is to allow for 2 or so degrees of right thrust while still keeping the prop centered on the fuse datum line. Right thrust is your friend if precise aerobatics are your thing. Enjoy! George P.S. This kit contnues to impress. Setting up the fuse formers and sides tonight, and I've never seen pre cut interlocking ply structures go together with such ease and accuracy. This is like cheating :) P.P.S. Happy thanksgiving all!
Posted on: 11/25/2010 10:31 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10160040

RE: BTE Venture 60
I will glady document and share my e-conversion. I've done this before, with a Goldberg Tiger 2, and learned a lot doing it. Weight is key, so shaving ounces is always on the radar. Also cooling the battery is compartment is a problem in glow designs. I'll be using an e-Flite Power 46 brushless motor, with an e-Flite 60A ESC. These are the same components off the Tiger, where they are consuming about 550W on 4S 4000mah LiPo's. The plane is 5.75 lbs, so performance is good but not great. This power system has a lot of unused power capacity, so I'll be running either 5S 5800 or 6S 5000 in the Venture, at around 1KW. If I can keep it close to 7lbs all up, performance should be excellent along with decent flight times (8 minutes of aerobatics is the goal). Regards, George
Posted on: 11/25/2010 8:32 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10158583

RE: BTE Venture 60
Hi guys, Two questions on the Venture: 1) The kit calls for zero degrees of right thrust. Does anyone have an opinion on this? I've never met the airplane that didn't want a degree or two of right thrust. Is the Venture 60 different in this regard? 2) Does anyone know of a carbon landing gear that would work with the Venture? I'm doing an e-power conversion on mine, and I'm going for lightness everywhere possible. The key element of this gear is the rearward sweep, so any carbon fiber unit would need a similar sweep. Thanks!! George P.S. This is by far the nicest kit I've worked on, and I've built a fair number in the past 20 years...
Posted on: 11/24/2010 7:11 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10157520

RE: Top Flite 1/7 P-51 Build
BTW, Rush fan? :)
Posted on: 11/12/2010 10:16 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10132121

RE: Top Flite 1/7 P-51 Build
Hey guys, long time no speak! I found something that might be of interest to stang builders. http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLG400 These are e-Flite electric-mechanical retracts. My friend bought a set for a different plane, but they'd be perfect for the TF 1/7th warbirds. They look and work very nice, although not quite as nice as the LADO's I used... but hey at least you can GET them. And the price is right! Take care -George
Posted on: 11/12/2010 6:16 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10131678

RE: Yellow P-47 Build!!
Please let us know what Yellow had to say on this topic, thanks! -G
Posted on: 10/19/2010 9:09 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10079797

RE: Yellow P-47 Build!!
Hi Mark, I've set aside the P-47 project for the flying season, but it's about time to pick it back up again, so should have some updates for this thread soon. As for the right thrust, I checked my firewall, and like yours, it seems square. I didn't include any right thrust in my mount, and as you know the instructions don't seem to call for any. However now that you pointed this out, if I were to do it again I would probably include 2 degrees just for good measure. Regards, George
Posted on: 10/19/2010 8:31 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10079709

RE: Top Flite 1/7 P-51 Build
Mine came out pretty nose heavy. I had to use quite a bit of BB's and epoxy in the tail. Regards, G
Posted on: 8/13/2010 8:56 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9930512

RE: Top Flite 1/7 P-51 Build
Hi Sean, I'd have a look at the new OS 55 gasser. It has dimentions and layout more like a glow engine. Regards, George
Posted on: 7/23/2010 1:18 PM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9883452

RE: Top Flite 1/7 P-51 Build
The wheels looked great imo. I didnt notice the slightly smaller size from scale 4". I dont think changing the wheel size or strut for that matter will fix the problem of retract depth. You either need to 1) angle the mount deeper into the wing, or 2) add offset to the strut (what I did). With an 85 deg retract (LADO), the retracts will not be perfectly perpendicular to the ground when extended if going with option 1, but thats better than not retracting fully imo.
Posted on: 7/23/2010 10:59 AM by Author "gmohr" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9883179