Author Topic: Mario Rondinelli's Venus information (Read 10074 times)

Allen Brickhaus · « **on:** April 16, 2011, 11:00:07 AM »

I am attempting to put together a package to publish Mario's Venus and was looking for background information and assorted pictures to use in a future article. Any help would be appreciated.

Allen Brickhaus

PerttiMe · « **Reply #1 on:** April 16, 2011, 11:13:20 AM »

Looks like Peter White of Australia was pleased with his Venus at 2009 Aussie Nats:

"""""
My five year old Rondinelli Venus handled the conditions pleasingly with the HP40 Gold Cup running well. Up until early in 2009 I had been flying it quite slowly at 5.4-5.5 second laps and was never happy with it. Around that time I accidently set it leaner, giving a 5 second lap which completely changed (and improved) the flight characteristics and the feel. Now flying at 5.1-5.2 seconds per lap it will definitely see a lot more air time.

Peter White
AUS 8765
"""""
quote from http://clamf.aerosports.net.au/majorcomp/nationals-2009/nats-2009.htm

I don't know if this is the same Peter White who is a member here.

Vicstunt has a picture of Peter White's Venus in their plans section:
http://www.vicstunt.com/Plans/Pages/Venus-Rondinelli.htm

Frank Simpson · « **Reply #2 on:** April 16, 2011, 12:46:54 PM »

You might want to contact Frank McMillan if you haven't already. His Venus is a great flyer and has been passed around to a few people.
Best wishes,
Frank Simpson

Allen Brickhaus · « **Reply #3 on:** April 16, 2011, 03:42:44 PM »

I have flown his and he and I have already spoken. Looking for more. Kathy and I were in San Antonio a couple of years ago.

Allen

Randy Powell · « **Reply #4 on:** April 16, 2011, 07:00:33 PM »

Might try Pete Peterson. he's been flying a Venus for a year or so. He knows quite a bit about Mario, too.

Allen Brickhaus · « **Reply #5 on:** April 16, 2011, 08:59:21 PM »

Thank you,

Allen Brickhaus

Steve Helmick · « **Reply #6 on:** April 16, 2011, 11:53:56 PM »

Allen...Maybe I'm getting senile...ok, probably...but I recall emailing you a bunch of pictures of Pete's Venus when it was pretty new. He flew it before VSC last month, but back trouble prevented him from flying it in the contest.

Steve

Allen Brickhaus · « **Reply #7 on:** April 17, 2011, 08:04:06 AM »

No, I got those. I was looking for shots of the era of which it was being flown for the first time. Thus shots from the '60's is what I am seeking. I have a friend who will be building the Venus and we will use his construction shots for the article and he will get full credit for the build in the article.

Allen Brickhaus

Shultzie · « **Reply #8 on:** April 17, 2011, 10:09:04 AM »

enhanced

Dan McEntee · « **Reply #9 on:** April 17, 2011, 10:12:21 AM »

   If my memory is correct, he and Bob Gialdini were good friends, and were reunited at the banquet at a past VSC . Might have been one of the mid to late 90's edition of VSC when the banquet was held at he Roadway hotel. I'm guessing that veteran modelers from that time period and area would have old photos.
   Nice looking airplane! Good luck with the project and look forward to seeing it.
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee
  Florissant, MO

Allen Brickhaus · « **Reply #10 on:** April 19, 2011, 05:38:07 AM »

Thanks,

Allen Brickhaus

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #11 on:** June 20, 2024, 06:32:26 AM »

Does anyone know what happened to Allen Brikhaus' Venus Project? Was he ever able to find a plans source and publish an article on it?

Thanks!

frank williams · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2024, 04:30:56 PM »

Several years back I got a copy from someone (?) from Canada I think. Its too large to fit through the SH filter. Send me a pm and I'll forward you a copy.

Dennis Saydak · « **Reply #13 on:** June 23, 2024, 11:05:06 AM »

Quote from: frank williams on June 22, 2024, 04:30:56 PM

Several years back I got a copy from someone (?) from Canada I think. Its too large to fit through the SH filter. Send me a pm and I'll forward you a copy.

Frank, that'd be me. I also have a letter from Mario with info about his Venus design. It's a pretty bird for sure.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #14 on:** June 23, 2024, 02:14:02 PM »

Quote

I also have a letter from Mario with info about his Venus design.

Could you post that here so people who are interested in the Venus can see it? It is a shame that the Venus was never featured (as far as I know) in any of the model airplane magazines of its day other that a picture in American Modeler.

Thanks!

Dennis Saydak · « **Reply #15 on:** June 24, 2024, 04:46:12 PM »

Scott, as requested here's the information Mario provided:

frank williams · « **Reply #16 on:** June 24, 2024, 05:56:49 PM »

Thanks Dennis
I remember now. Thanks for posting the letter also

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #17 on:** June 24, 2024, 06:56:35 PM »

Dennis:

Thanks for posting that information. Do you know of any additional pictures than those posted here?

Brent Williams · « **Reply #18 on:** June 25, 2024, 12:23:52 AM »

Here's a reduced sized look at the Venus plans.

Steve Helmick · « **Reply #19 on:** June 25, 2024, 10:31:59 AM »

That picture posted above by Frank Williams is (99.9% sure) the one Pete Peterson built and flew. We talked about it this weekend at our contest. He said he used a .46LA in it, and gave it to Joe Gilbert at VSC.

The most critical bit of info I can offer is that the landing gear was too soft and flexible for the size of wire, because it was so wide. He used a cable connecting the two axles, but even on a good landing, the cable usually broke. Bigger cable still broke. I think he started with .015" and then .018", but may have ended up using .027" leadout cable.

When CF landing gears first came out, I recall a few other local Expert class fliers having to use a similar cable and having the same exact problem with snapping the cable.

Steve

Joe Gilbert · « **Reply #20 on:** June 25, 2024, 08:44:45 PM »

This is Pets plane, Mike Palko’s son Kyle with me in photo. Yes it won!, The Venus is a very capable airplane. Really nice flying model.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #21 on:** June 26, 2024, 06:17:20 AM »

Quote

The most critical bit of info I can offer is that the landing gear was too soft and flexible for the size of wire, because it was so wide. He used a cable connecting the two axles, but even on a good landing, the cable usually broke. Bigger cable still broke. I think he started with .015" and then .018", but may have ended up using .027" leadout cable.

There was a plan years ago (maybe the Stunt Machine?) that showed very widespread fuselage mounted gear and how they made that work. Basically they bent up a set of regular gear with a torsion mount (like the Venus). They then took pieces of (maybe 1/16th?) wire the length of each gear leg and then wrapped (in a figure eight pattern) and soldered those to the 1/8th wire at 3 points (middle and near each end) with really thin copper wire. The smaller wire set atop the larger wire seperated by the width of the copper wraps thus creating a mini I-beam (hopefully this explanation makes sense to you). This greatly stiffened the gear legs so they wouldn't bow upon landing - all movement was from the torsion bar portion of the wire in the mount.

I did this with my Neptune and when it lands on grass it just "sticks" and you can see the gear moving up and down as it rolls across the grass. Importantly, I made this gear removable so I could rebend it since over time it tends to sag a bit at the corner joint where the landing leg wire is bent to the torsion wire. But I've only had to do that twice.

Larry Fruits · « **Reply #22 on:** June 26, 2024, 06:09:13 PM »

The landing gear that Scott is describing was shown on Jim Lynch's Volunteer plan. May have been published in Flying Models magazine. Works great.

Blessings;
Larry

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #23 on:** June 26, 2024, 07:22:47 PM »

Thanks for the correction! The Volunteer - another of my favorite models!