Stellaship's Venturi Evo

Stellaship · April 03, 2015, 11:29:58 PM

It's turning out my visit to Mad Dogs was expensive as it tipped me over the edge to get a Venturi Evo. In the days afterwards when I'd settled on a paint scheme in my head, I knew it wasn't going to be long before I pushed the buy button!
Whilst there's quite a bit of info on Venturi builds, thought I'd do a build thread to get some tips from folks on here.

Wing ordered yesterday from flywingwings.co.uk . Just taken advantage of the 10% off at www.allendale-stores.co.uk to get the EagleTree Vector plus airspeed sensor. And got an EZUHF Tx module and 8 channel lite receiver on the way from firstpersonview.co.uk .

Flyboysee · April 04, 2015, 12:07:22 AM

Nice! Looking fwd to seeing this - great of Rob to come as well!

HerkyBird · April 04, 2015, 12:49:50 AM

Wow, that's a serious jump in with both feet, a big wing, another Vector and a move to ezUHF, I'm looking forward to the build and I can't wait to see this one at the next MD too :)

Billy_boy_2010 · April 04, 2015, 01:16:26 AM

Sounds like it's going to be a really serious bit of kit.

Brucey · April 04, 2015, 05:25:29 AM

Nice one mate. But I do feel slightly guilty ;D
With the ezUHF set it to extreme hopping for the frequency.
Look forward to seeing the build.

iPeel · April 04, 2015, 08:03:20 AM

Great stuff, welcome to the owners' club. :)

What power setup are you thinking about?

Stellaship · April 04, 2015, 10:43:11 AM

Thinking of going with something from Hacker as I've heard good things. Maybe an a40-10l, but need to investigate a bit more. Be interesting to see if you get more performance for the money, or if it just goes to the marketing dept.

iPeel · April 04, 2015, 10:47:59 AM

I think it buys you more consistency and is less like spinning the reels & seeing if you're a winner.

The E-Flite power 25 1250 is a good motor too, a bit heavy but definitely gave me more grunt than my current SK3 1250kv.

Billy_boy_2010 · April 05, 2015, 09:05:43 PM

Quote from: Stellaship on April 04, 2015, 10:43:11 AM
Thinking of going with something from Hacker as I've heard good things. Maybe an a40-10l, but need to investigate a bit more. Be interesting to see if you get more performance for the money, or if it just goes to the marketing dept.

TBS recommended the Hacker for their zephyr. They then moved to the OS 3820 1200kv for the ZII and blamed the move on quality control issues from the hacker. Whether this is true, or if it was a move to increase profit margins, I don't know. I'm very fond of my OS motors though :)

Stellaship · April 16, 2015, 12:28:33 AM

Should've mentioned before that progress is likely to be s l o w.

Stuff started arriving. Kit looks great. Got the center section together. Had a slight issue in that it didn't seem to be gluing right and I ended up with a lot of glue everywhere and it not very firmly stuck together. Strange. It was late so I gave up. Woke up in the morning and realised the inevitable CA on my fingers didn't feel like it normally does. Guessed it was because my CA had gone off! New tub of thin CA and it was easy-peasy to get it solidly glued together! It does mean I've ended up with a couple of joints around the camera box not quite as snug as I would like. But I still like it, there's something strangely satisfying about a thin ply structure!

Further progress delayed by tidying up a bit to make some room! And selecting a motor. Phoned up SMC for some advice on which Hacker motor to go for and they weren't the most helpful. Hacker website has a PDF with recommended combos for different planes, but nothing quite right in there. Then used the customised eCalc site they have and settled on an A30-10XL with a 10x6 prop. Power should be adequate. Got that, a speed controller and some servos (Hitec 5485hb, as recommended by Brucey) ordered. Enough shopping, time to get some building in.

Brucey · April 16, 2015, 07:09:23 AM

Looking good so far!

Stellaship · October 15, 2015, 10:30:03 PM

Progress ground to a halt over the summer, but picked up the build in the last few days. Some photos of progress to wake the thread up. Soldering iron is just there for a shot of what I call 'The Liquidator', got fed up of trying to solder the ridiculous sized cables that come on batteries with a sensible sized soldering iron and so bought a ridiculous sized iron.

Loving iPeel's dremel tip for cutting out foam :)

Wings are half painted. Wish I hadn't gone for one colour all over as it required the purchase of an extra can of paint!

Starting to tackle the wiring now, which although seemed a lot to start with shouldn't actually be that bad now I'm into it.

Quick couple of questions:
1. I want to apply a design with some vinyl cut stickers, should I put these under the laminate or on top of the laminate?
2. Anyone recommend a good place to get vinyl cutting done?

iPeel · October 15, 2015, 10:34:19 PM

Quote from: Stellaship on October 15, 2015, 10:30:03 PM
1. I want to apply a design with some vinyl cut stickers, should I put these under the laminate or on top of the laminate?
2. Anyone recommend a good place to get vinyl cutting done?

1) On top of the laminate, it sticks really well and will never peel off.

2) Me. :) I can cut up to 20cm wide, as long as you want.

Stellaship · October 19, 2015, 10:47:24 PM

Thanks. That's a very kind offer which I will take you up on, PM incoming!

Stellaship · November 08, 2015, 11:20:33 PM

Bit more progress. Not sure if the components cut into the bottom of the wing is a great idea, wanted it to look neat from the top for some reason, but obviously a bit more vulnerable under there.

Made my own parallel connector with the help of a bit of Sugru - you can just see it with Sugru applied in the side of the centre section shot.

Obligatory mock up shot to show I'm getting there :-)

Followed iPeel's flap method with the laminate so I can get some glue in the slot for the spar. Any tips on getting it in there, planning to use Por and I'm thinking it's going to gunk up the slot rather than running nicely down.