DH Venom

Maiden completed today by my good mate.

Pete and I had attempted maiden earlier in the week but a faulty fuel solenoid on the PST put a hold on it. A quick call to Wren saw a replacement valve turn up in time to try again today!

We were plagued again today by a blown glow plug, but offers came from all around of spares- Thanks to all, I think Simon's ended up in there in the end.

The Venom is weighty for her size but Pete is confident that we can get the right amount of lead in the nose (once all the sand and cement mix is out!!!! ) and with it as far forwards as poss, it should negate the need for quite so much ballast.

Take off was exciting. She started 'wallowing' around just after takeoff which made for some breaths held but all powered through alright in the end as Jon lightly fought back.
Model flew well although a little nose heavy.
Landing too was eventful with one hell of a sink rate with full flap. She plopped in short of Franks strip.

Second trip out was better on takeoff. We'd removed some weight from the nose and Jon took off with take off flap. I had a good stint on the sticks and she felt very nice in the air - quite docile and performed very well with the PST.
Jon kindly landed her however, even coming in with more speed, she still dropped a wing as soon as Jon flared. This sheered the nose oleo (made of chocolate) Speed seemed good. Consensus is to try crow to keep the wing from stalling.

All in all, very happy!! Massive thanks to the master builder for his speedy and awesome work! Couldnt have got her in the air before 2025 without you Pete! Thanks Jon for taking the sticks for me....
Thanks JRI for taking these photos

Few tweaks to complete, but all being well, should be out again next weekend!

The exciting take off shot....

My pleasure Dave

The master builder has also discovered information that states the wing should have 2 degrees wash out.... the behaviour yesterday suggests it probably doesn't! Crow and stall strip on the L/E should cure it!

That's interesting, I was looking at it yesterday and noticed that if anything the tip tanks looked angled up at the front slightly, if that's any sort of indicator.

I'm sure a bit of aileron reflex will sort it out, then stall strips at the wing root if necessary. I remember the BVM T33 I used to fly had both.

I have a wing incidence gauge I will bring next Sat.When I built my Panther it stated on the plan you must set the wing tip drop tanks at 2 degree washout the same as the wing tip.I think with the venom the builder has not built in any washout and has not taken enough care when fitting the drop tanks.It is well documented on the forums that tip tanks can cause the wing tips to stall if not fitted correct.
As with my Hunter I built in 2 degree washout at the tips and the under wing tanks were set at zero incidence as per the wing root .

After a significant unplanned sink rate yesterday, one of the main oleos is quite bent. This together with the issue that these oleos clamp only into the retracts meant they've had to come out for inspection and a better securing method.

See photos - considering the oleos aren't solid at the point they clamp in, it's no surprise they bend easily. I plan to find some rod to fill out the top of the Oleo. I will then drill and tap the retract body and file a flat on the Oleo. Some of the ground speed lost yesterday at takeoff was down to the oleo rotation causing tow out/in giving a braking action.

Thoughts on my plan of attack?

We need the engineers to chip in Dave,which we have many in the club

Looking here too.... I've read of people snapping several of the MR (eurokit) nose oleos.
www.altecare.com/struts.htm

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flyingpete wrote: We need the engineers to chip in Dave,which we have many in the club

I can arrange an appointment this place - but not Thursday & Friday -01425 620553