RC Helicopters
Eric Hawkinson, 319 Yellowstone Ave., Billings MT 59101; E-mail: [email protected]
IT'S ANOTHER GREAT month to be enjoying the sport of Radio Control helicopters! You'll be getting this approximately midsummer, so this is peak flying season for most of you, and even the new spring projects are finished and getting comfortably tuned in.
While I continue to wait for the long-overdue JR Voyager 50, I did get a surprise from Horizon Hobby in the form of a new 30-size Almost Ready to Fly (ARF): the JR Venture CP.
Judging from the price and specifications, I have no doubt that the Venture CP is designed to be a serious contender against the Thunder Tiger Raptor 30's current reign as king of the budget 30 helicopters. This is no small challenge; the Raptor has dominated sales for years and is an inexpensive, good-flying helicopter with simple, low-cost repairs and a good-working control system.
The Venture will at least make a dent in Raptor sales. Street price is slated to be approximately $270 for the prebuilt model; this is only slightly more than the present kit price for the Raptor 30.
Lucky for us, the ARF Venture doesn't include an engine. This means that rather than being forced to take whatever engine the vendor has "connections" for, you can install the engine of your choice or one you already have. In most cases that will mean the O.S. .32 SX-H, which fits perfectly and is a good choice.
When you open the Venture box, you are presented with a project that will require less than five hours to get into the air. If it's not your first helicopter project, three hours should be more than enough. The entire frame set is built, including the control system and head with all linkage rods installed. The tailboom requires simply twisting the end of the tail drive installed belt and looping it over the tail drive gear, then tensioning the belt and tightening the boom holder and the single boom support rod.
The fuel tank is already installed and ready to hook up to your engine or header tank. The frame set is rigid and has a molded extrusion that immensely strengthens the lower frame. The landing-gear struts (installed) are attached with rubber "lord"-type mounts, which should help prevent frame damage in an "incident." The installed cooling shroud is strangely distant from the top of the engine head but much better at directing air than in the Raptor or Scaud. I had no cooling problems.
The clutch and start system is similar to other JR helicopters, but it is a new style. JR has had reliable clutches in its machines, and I'd have been happy to see the Ergo 30 clutch in the Venture, but I have no reason to believe that the new clutch will be any less reliable. The flywheel is relieved for the clutch shoes similar to the Kalt 30 Baron, and it can be installed in two directions to minimize runout.
The instructions explain how to check this, and my sample had significant runout with the clutch installed one way and virtually none when I rotated it 180°. The clutch is held to the flywheel with two 3mm bolts (with threadlock). The clutch has a one-way bearing, so any 6mm hex start shaft extension will work to start the Venture.
I was surprised to see that the engine mount is plastic. But as with the frame set, all the bolts have captured lock nuts to go into, so it is as rugged as the bolts. There is no adjustment of the mounts or bearing blocks, except for some axial adjustment to allow clutch alignment. The kit comes with 8x25/50mm wood blades and 4mm mounting bolts. It also includes two hybrid servos a la the Vigor; the pre-installed setup is for beginners and is a stable arrangement. An optional flybar and KST-style paddles increase the responsiveness considerably at the expense of a bit of pitchiness as is usual with the KST paddles.
The control system is 120° CCPM (Collective Cyclic Pitch Mixing), which almost any modern helicopter radio can accommodate. Besides having all the servo pushrods already assembled to the proper length, the Venture kit includes the proper heavy-duty servo rams — for JR or Airtronics servos. The manual, which is extremely good, gives you all the information you need to program the Venture for mild or wild control response.
The molded plastic canopy is already cut out and installed, with mounting grommets, when you open the box. After 10 minutes to trim and install the windshield and another 20 for the nice-looking decal, it's done — a very nice kit.
I have flown the Venture quite a bit with
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
