RE: Next Q-500 Plane after a Viper, Is there one?
Ed,
If your looking at the shotgun, v-gun, ninja, neme-Q etc, then you must be looking at a 428 airplane because these are all only offered in that configuration. The Vortex is also available in this class of airplanes, and it's in the same price range as these airplanes and it's performance and championships speek for itself.
I do disagree with what Sahartman21 said about the wood fuse compared to the fiberglass fuse, you will find that the wood fuse is a much stronger fuse and therefore less twisting in the turns which will add up to more speed in the end. If you come from this game that far back, I wouldn't be too worried about breaking the airplane on landing, you evidently have plenty of flying and landing experience.
There are several 424 airplane's that are available also for under $200 dollars if that is what your looking for, you can read some of the other area's of the forum to see that for just a few more bucks than a viper, you can improve the quality of your aircraft tremendously.
So it depends on exactly what your trying to accomplish, but I don't think the shotgun, v-gun, ninja and neme-q are available in the 424 configuration, but the hurrikane, seeker and vortex are. The vortex 424 can also be used with 428 if you wanted to graduate slowly.