Originally Posted by madmodelman

I'm on record as saying that if I was starting out on jets again this would be my choice of airframe as it has a massive flight envelope and can be used from beginner to expert status.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Gary.

Originally Posted by Jgwright

Just got back from then flying field. I recently bought a second hand Viperjet that had only a handful of flights. Unfortunately the owner had cut the ducts out and my first task was to reinstall them. This is definitely not as easy as cutting them out! They were strengthened in places with fibreglass bandage and the joints were held in place with duct tape while I joined the inside of the Y shape where it was easy to get at with fibreglass tape. This left the outside of the Y where the had been cut. I joined with this Proskin. The Proskin held the parts nicely together and aligned.

I used the servos that were in the plane which were 20 Kg Hobbyking servos in the flaps and ailerons. The rudder was a Savox servo and a Hitech in the elevator.
The wing surfaces did feel a little 'spongy' but in the air seemed ok.

The engine is a very old Simjet that I bought some months ago that needed some TLC. I fitted new bearings and balanced it. It came with a modern Xicoy ECU but did not have a starter fitted. I soon fitted one and got the autostart working well. Tests at home seems fine.

After a little delay in tweaking the settings on the ECU we got the engine running and went for a takeoff. Dave Wilde was my pilot as usual. We flew off grass at Raydon and it was soon airborne. It immediately became apparent that this was one very clean airframe and even at low throttle settings was pretty quick. I am not quite sure of the power of the Simjet but reckon it is 20lbs or so. The plane weighs 23 lbs dry and it flew most of the time on 1/2 throttle. It seems that anything much more is severely overpowering the airframe. The maiden was spent checking pitch changes deploying flaps and trim min out. The send flight was a fuller routine and we were delighted with it. The great thing about using a old-timer engine is that they rev a bit lower and have less throughput so are a lot quieter. I was amazed at the fuel consumption on both flights we only used 2 litres in 7 minutes flying. Just goes to show how you can get performance by conserving energy in the airframe by not slowing too much in turns and nice smooth large manoeuvres. The second landing was nice and slow with no bounce. This is a great plane and everything that we hoped. It can be thoroughly recommended to everyone. This is a great thread with lots of info. I would only add that I would not cut out the intakes. The plane flies great on the stock tanks with Cg at 35mm behind the centre of the spar.

Originally Posted by jetster81

Hi John, you obviously feel strongly about not having intake ducts or you would not have gone to the length of reinstalling them. to what effect? also do you have much trim change during the flight with the tanks where they are positioned ?

Originally Posted by mikedenilin

I don't see the equipment tray. I think you are missing the bulkhead for the nose gear. It should be simple make one yourself, or you can buy the complete wood parts from factory. Mike