RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Fritz,

Do you know if Shaz ever received the new, thicker canopies? I've been waiting to hear from him also about buying a canopy.

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Mike - yes Shaz has today received the canopies !
Brg
Fritz

PS. my beauty/huge F-15 1:7 is still for sale !

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Man I love this jet.

Those photo's I posted were at the Kittaning club in PA a few weeks back. They were right before my first flight of the day. I landed after only 4 min just because the gear on one side did not close due to high crosswind. I know , sounds rediculous but it had not happened only that flight. Second flight was amazing!! near 200 mph passes....... whoa!!! Love this jet.

But landing on the second flight was a little hairy. Came in too hot. Did not use full flaps just partial and the plane was movin fast. Hit a hump in the middle of the runway due to certain club members changing the flight line to mess with the helicopter guys(me being a heli guy myself).
So a little fixing was in order. I just got it all fixed (or so I thought) and went out to fly this afternoon and man....it flew wonderfull. But upon a hard landing(wich I thought was'nt that hard) it colapsed the point that was'nt fixed that I thought I fixed.
It will take a little fixing but I think this will not be a hard repair other than the paint.

There are a lot of different jets out there, But this one is sooo cool by far. I never been happy about damage, but the flights are so much of a thrill on this baby it makes it easier to cope with slight damage.

Back to the canopy sucking in....... I have yet to see this on my jet. I am running a bypass with my evo 160 and the details are in the canopy. Do they use the thin clear lexan plastic because its hard to bend the thicker stuff to the shape?
I have some slight scratches in mine , may want to replace it.

Gary.

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Gary,

After reading all of the comments about this problem...........the only guys that don't seem to get the sucking in - regardless of how 'thin' the material is - are those running a bypass and having the details inside the canopy (preferably sealed).

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Cheers

Jan

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Jan, I run a fully enclosed bypass (so do my friend with a P160SX), and I have the detailed cockpit ;)
It is not the engine that colapses the cockpit, but the pipe (venturi effect?)
When we look at the Vipers we have here (5 in total), the "oldest" of them have thicker glass in the cockpit, if Skymaster has changed the material at some point, I don't know, but it seems so...

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Carsten,

I know what you are running, but I believe the key is the cockpit details being made a sealed part of the canopy, not just having it in the plane. I also realise what is causing the problem. Therefor, again, if the cockpit details are sealed in with the canopy, the venturi effect cannot effect the canopy because the details and the canopy is then one part, which no doubt will be a lot stronger than just the canopy glass on it's own.

Regards

Jan

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Jan

That's a great point about the cockpits and one that hasn't been thought of so far. My Viper hasn't had any of the problems that others have had, maybe this is the key difference.

Duncan

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Yup, might work, IF you can seal the cockpit (maybe the pilots are sucked thru the floor then :D)
No, seriously, the cockpit plastic is very brittle, so remember to apply some fiber etc to it. Funny thing is the cockpits that came with my Hawk 100 was covered in fiber, was much much stronger than the one that came with the Viper (which was very brittle, and would crack with the slightest touch)

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

I glassed my cockpits for that reason. The hawk came after the viper, and the glassing was due to the feedback about the viper's cockpits.

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

I got a very large box in the mail today...the Viper has arrived!! I took a few hours to unpack and inspect, have to say that the work, fit and finish is first rate. Jeff at RCI down in southern California was a huge help with the custom color I wanted and all the other items I wanted and/or did not want on the jet, thanks Jeff.

First off, you will notice that it has a black-out canopy, not a big fan of full cockpits but wanted the extra strength of the fiberglass. Second, I will be doing all my own plumbing and gear door installation with BVM airline, RAMs, and CF hinges on all the doors. I will also be mass balancing all control surfaces.

Would like to take all of you that have gone before me and posted all the VERY helpful info on what you have discovered, I'm sure that I will be asking a lot of questions.

Steve

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Hi at all

I'm sorry for a simple, and perhaps, stupid question,... but i need help for a Servo Installation :-(

How did you do the servo installation in the front gear. I use a Futaba BLS 452, and if the servo is installed, i can't retract the gear because the servo block on a metal rod on the gear ?
The DS8511, which is used in the user manual, has the dimension 40x21x38 mm instead of 40x20x37 mm at my Futaba Servo
Any idea how to solve the problem ?
Of course, one solution could be to remove the rod, but i think there was a reason to mount it :-)

Best regards
Rainer

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

If it was me, I would shim that servo up 1/8 inch and be done with it....

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

More pictures here:

Enjoy,

Gonzalo

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Pilots look good, but why no main gear doors?

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Hi Dave

Thanks. This would be one Solution. But due the rotation, if the gear is retracted, i have only 11 mm space between the rod and the Servo. So a shim of 1/8 inch perhaps didn't solve the problems. But i will try it out to be sure.
A upside down installation of the servo and the gear can be retracted. But this couldn't be the solution.
With upside down mounting the angle of the push rod is app. 45 degree !!
The best would be to shift the servo app. 7 mm away from the Gear,... but here the metal plate ends before. Perhaps i have to extend the mounting plate with another metal plate. I will try out that.
I mean, there are so many vipers on the market, and i didn't heared anything about difficulties with the servo mounting in the front gear.

Best regards
Rainer

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Hi Rob

Perfect :-)
The Main Gear Doors has to be closed during Landing and Taxi,... like the original one :-)

Edited:
Sorry Rob.
I saw only the landing pictures. I didn't saw the the pictures with the missing main doors :-)


Best regards
Rainer

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

My guess is that the doors were either damagedin an incident, or more likely kept opening during flight due to the poor rams SM supply. Regarding the nose retract clearance I have not had any issues. It is clearly not right therefore contact SM for a replacement. This one obviously slipped past there stringent QC process!!

I have nearly finished my VJ and have to say these are FAR from ARTF machines! At the moment I can't see me buying another SM product.

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

The rams will work fine, it's the pick up points for the rams that is wrong.

My viper had an issue with the nose gear hitting the fuz, but only after a couple of months of flying. If you take the oleo off the front retract unit, you will see that there is a bush used for spacing. My spacer had moved up the leg, making the oleo drop down on take off and foul the fuz when retracting. Really it needs a new spacer making, but i stripped it, moved hte spacer to where it was meant to be and used a punch to make sure it couldn't move again. This is a different issue to yours, but maybe it's this causing the servo to foul?

Duncan

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

One of my main gear door hinge broke before flight..... this is the second time so i decided to remove both doors. I am about to install the new metal hinge replacment from BVM..... they are exactly the same but in metal.
I also find out the airplane flies exactly the same with or without main gear doors. My main gear and doors works perfect with the supplied rams, airlines etc. I only use a very large bottle for air from Dreamworks and the same for the brakes.
I do charge to 110PSI my main gear.

The more I fly the Viper the more a like it! it is a superb flying plane.

Gonzalo

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Congrats Gonzalo, I am sure you will have lots of fun with the Viperjet, I have been flying mine like crazy.
Haven't had any problems on the doors or cylinders. They work perfectly...:D
Usually when hinges break is because they are not well aligned, maybe that is your problem.

Saludos,

Michel

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

No, the Skymaster models I have (Viperjet and Hawk 100), and from the ones I have seen here in Denmark, the hinges are brittle like a biscuit, the slightest touch, and they break!
They should have been of some "soft" plastic instead, they brake for no reason (we have all here, more or less, changed the hinges on the doors etc)

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Gonzalo.... do you have a link to the BVM hinges ?

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

http://www.bvmjets.com/Pages/Skymaster/accessories.htm

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Hi Duncan

Thanks for the input. But the problem is, it seem so, a wrong mounting plate at nose gear. A colleague of mine, which is flying the large viper too, told me, his mounting plate is a little bit longer and he has app. 6 mm space between the metal rod and the servo.
I sent already a Mail to SM. Morne has no idea about that, but a replacement is not yet in discussion :-(.
I attach some picture with a ruler. Perhaps you, or anyone else, can check the distances at your Viper. Sorry for the european ruler :-) everything is in mm.
A calculated solution would be to mount a seperate 4mm aluminium plate onto the already installed servo mounting plate to move the servo app. 10 mm more into cockpit direction. Then the gear should retract,... but i'm not yet ready and really willing to that. The landing gear costs a lot of money and i expect a working one for the money :-)

Best regards
Rainer

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Dear all

The failure was found. It is a not tested and modified, or complete wrong, gear mounting plate.
Will see what SM is doing now.
Thanks to all who read my former mail and tried to help me.

A colleague of mine built off his working gear and then we are able to compare those gears. On the left picture the working gear, right the non working gear.

Best regards
Rainer

By the way: Why are the uploaded pictures so big ?