ORIGINAL: daven
From what I've seen and heard, the wrinkles can be quite bad on the Vipers. Also, I've heard that the covering they use is an odd material that doesn't seem to shrink well. Good Luck. I'd probably strip it, and recover myself, or better yet, fiberglass and paint.
Yup, the covering job on my Viper is one of the worst I've seen on an ARF. It's supposedly Monokote, and the spare roll of Monokote I bought when I picked the plane up at the LHS matches. Mine was covered with wrinkles. Be prepared to use high heat to get them out. Had to set my covering iron on 400 deg to get rid of most of them. There is still some " elephant skin " on the V tail I can't get rid of. Like Daven said, you may want to think about recovering or glassing and painting. The build quality on the Viper is not bad at all. Good glue joints and everythying fits pretty well.
Test005 this is my first glow powered speed plane as well. I'd be interested in how you come out with yours.
Dave