Pinocchio - A John Venti Classic Kit

16 Jun 99 - WCL figure added.

Pinocchio - Front Quarter Pinocchio - Front

N° of launches / time 7 9 mins
Wingspan 24" upper, 15" lower 0.61 m upper, 0.38 m lower
Wing Area 156 in² 10.1 dm²
Flying Weight 12¾ oz 0.36 kg
Wing Loading 11.8 oz/ft² 35.9 g/dm²
Wing Cube Loading 11.3 - Between Aerobatic and Scale groups  
Motor Graupner Speed 280
Propeller 6 x 3L 4 bladed
Batteries 10 x 600mAh NiMH
Speed Controller Gordon Tarling Micro-Star 10 BEC - 6 to 10 cells - BEC
Receiver Hitec Feather - 4ch - PPM - 35MHz
Servos Rudder - Hitec HS-50
Elevator - Hitec HS-50
Static motor parameters  Not Yet Tested
Flight performance WES motor & propeller - under-powered but flew well considering.

Graupner Speed 280 with Titanic 3:1 gearbox and a 6.9" x 6.3" (175 x 160) propeller - Still under-powered but flew well considering.

Graupner Speed 280 with 6 x 3L 4 bladed propeller - not yet flown.

30 Jan 00 - This is new model I have just finished for the next BEFA indoor meeting. I will have to fit in a test flight before then, when I can find suitable weather outside. The kit was designed for a 0.5cc to 0.8cc (0.03 to 0.049 cu. in.) motor and the stated flying weight is 14 oz (0.4kg). By reducing the thickness of the sheet materials used in the sides & formers I have managed to reduce the all up weight by 38%.

5 Feb 00 - Managed to squeeze in a quick test flight outdoors today. The little was about 10 mph and a little stronger than I would have liked, but I gave it a go anyway. The concrete surface proved a little too rough for Run Off Ground (ROG) so I gave it a hand launch. The model climbed away from my hand with only a very slight push. It was a little under-powered and was losing height slowly. On landing on of the undercarriage legs snapped on the rough surface - it turned out that leg was very brittle and easy to snap. The other leg was quite flexible despite having had the same heat treatment. Having repaired the undercarriage and fitted a slightly larger propeller in place of the CETO item, I hope the performance has improved. I'll attempt to retest it sometime this week.

13 Feb 00 - First flights completed indoors. The model flew well, but is still under-powered and a little quick for indoor flying. I am going to try and source a more suitable motor, which unfortunately will most probably be heavier. However, I also intend to make a larger wing for indoor use to reduce the wing loading and allow slower flights.

4 Jun 00 - Installed a Graupner Speed 280 with a Titanic Airlines 2 gearbox (3:1), running on 7 NiMH 600mAh cells. Performance was marginal with the model managing to get to about 30' high (10m) maximum.

10 Jun 00 - I decided to remove the gearbox and add 3 cells to the battery pack as a 1st experiment. I have also .removed the undercarriage as it wasn't really string enough for outdoor use.

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