DH Venom rebuild

Most models will give some sort of indication just before the stall.My Panther will start nodding it's nose but not the Venom.
On its first and second flight a couple of weeks ago she would tip stall as the model was being flared even at a fairly fast landing speeds.
I took the venom back to my workshop to check the wing tip incidence , and normally you should see about 2 degree washout but on the venom we had 6.3 degree wash in on the right tip and 3.4 degree wash in on the left tip.
After some discussion it was decided that we would put in 4 degree aileron up flex and I fitted stall strips to the root wing leading edge to make the wing root stall before the tip.
First flight yesterday looked like we had made an improvement but on the second flight Jon started the landing glide and you could see the venom was not happy dropping it's wings and Jon battling on the sticks trying to keep the wings level she dropped her port wing and went in.

What a bummer. Dave not having a good year. Is it to be repaired?

Stuart

Sorry to see that Dave, as the title is Venom rebuild, I assume super Pete will have it fixed before he goes to bed tonight?

The impact with Franks runway resulted in total wipe out of the u/c oleos, sheared off the left wing and both booms sheared at the joints.
I can't understand how a basic school boy error was made in the build of the venom as the ribs have the washout tabs on the ribs built in so it is near impossible to get it wrong.
Anyway Dave has given me the task of rebuilding the venom correctly. Today i have ordered up all the balsa/ply/glue and fibre glass resin.
Iv made a start by stripping the bottom sheeting on the offending outer wing panels so i can jig them up on the bench with 2 degree washout and re sheet with 1/8 balsa. I will keep you entertained with text and pictures as we go

Chris73 wrote: Sorry to see that Dave, as the title is Venom rebuild, I assume super Pete will have it fixed before he goes to bed tonight?

If the model shop was open today Chris it might have been on the cards

Looks like the skin came off pretty cleanly Pete, that's good news!

It was a sad end on Saturday and is still bothering me, it's never nice to damage someone else's model. All of the previous 3 landings had been uncomfortable and resulted in some kind of stall. We thought the aileron reflex and root stall strips had improved it, but I think on the last landing the stiff crosswind was the final straw. Having looked back at Phil F's video the nose wasn't even raised and the left wing dropped severly and it was too low to recover it.

We did one flight with Pete's Panther soon afterwards and landing that in the conditions was pretty uncomfortable and that model is a pussycat on landing.

I'm hindsight we probably should have just made a decision to sort the wing out, I think it was just an accident waiting to happen. The crash has now forced the wing repair and I'm sure once Pete has worked his magic it will be a nice flying model.

I think Dave B is still speaking to me as well

Not a good day for Dave or Jon for that matter. :sick: A lot of rework had been put into that air frame by Pete and Dave B. With the kind permission of Dave Bright he has allowed me to release the video to the Club members and I am sure you will all feel for Dave plus Jon who was on the sticks at the time.

The video of the two flights are shown plus some lighthearted editing in the early part (Sorry Big Dave, could'nt help myself :lol: ) To get it up to Utube I had to reduce the resolution from AVCHD to 480p but will look better on the Youtube site rather then here.

A sad end to Saturday for sure. Certainly not the nicest of conditions either. Seeing the ensuing damage from her dropping out of the sky with no warning was gutting to say the least.
I had just had a really good flight and apart from feeling a bit heavy on the sticks, she did fly and present well. My error (obviously) was giving her to Jon to land :silly:
Joking aside, there was no warning and at that speed and height, nothing to be done, no matter who was on the sticks.
Need to say a massive thanks to Pete for all his help so far with the venom and now for his work in salvaging the crumpled bits from Saturday. The Venom is going on a bit of a diet too; with plans to get a decent amount of lead right up in the nose (currently filled with sand/cement!!), heavy scale wheels replaced with lighter units and any other weight saving measures, together with wings with wash out - she should be much less of a handful below 25mph!
Thanks Jon for being a sport and taking the majority of the flak for this
Thanks also to Pete Willis and David T for helping with my Legs!

Once the airframe is back together later this week I will rub her down ,back to the gel coat.
The. paint finish at the moment is a least 1mm thick in most places so this will save weight.
I'm off down to Sussex models later to pick up some more bits and bobs ready for a full on rebuild this week.
Mrs C is delighted with the prospect of not seeing me much this week as she can sit in peace and watch all the crappy soaps.
It's also been decided that once I have cut a hatch in the nose and got rid of the sand and cement,i will build a two tier tray to house the radio,ecu,valves and pump,uat and battery's.

I have over 5kilos of lead shot, handy for fitting into odd shaped spaces. I've got a big slab of lead as well. If you'd like some, let me know.