it's a little on the heavy side but in line with what I would expect for a two meter airplane. My Skymaster / Xtreme Jets Viper Jet is about the same size and weight at 26# dry. They say 24 but once you add a cockpit and such you are pretty much there. Part of the issue with the Ventrix is the extremely heavy Top RC Odyssey landing gear they suggested. Picking up the wing before and after gear installation is almost scary how much weight the gear adds.
I am an old hardcore patter builder and competitor at heart. I would NEVER add an extra unnecessary gram to a pattern plane, but those were fragile and very lightly loaded by comparison. The pattern builder in me is impressed that you can get a jet that size RTF at 13.2 Lbs.
Approximate component weights:
- Turbine installed 2.3 LBS
- Electric landing gear, wheels, brakes, and controller 3.2 Lbs
- Servos Promodeler, excellent servos but very heavy 2.2 oz X 8 = 17.6oz 1.2Lbs
- Various batteries (Life 3200 Mah 9.9v for turbine, 2x2500 Mah 2s lipo for receiver, 3s 2200 for retracts/brakes) about 2Lbs (give or take)
- Receiver, 20 feet of servo extensions, fuel tanks, gyro, UAT, etc, lets say 1Lb but I bet is's more than that.
So before a single sheet of balsa or light ply is glued together, we are already at 9 Pounds 7 ounces (approximately), so the entire airframe, cockpit, covering, pilot, paint, screws, horns, clevices, and everything else would have to be 4 Lbs 9oz to get to 14 pounds.
Again, with over a half pound if lead in the nose I am definitely on the heavy side, but not unreasonable for a jet this size. I have had to rewire my mind from my pattern days and build for a more heavily loaded flying experience. I would never put a pilot, or rubber wheels, or lead in a pattern plane, heck we wouldn't even build in a carbon fiber wing or stab tube that was an extra 1/2 inch longer than absolutely necessary. I build carefully and let the weight come out wherever it does and fly it from there.
So far so good.