Hello everyone,
That's my plane Paul is referring to, so I guess I'll chime in. I got the pilots from Aces of Iron. Here's a link to the site:
http://www.acesofiron.com/3rd_scale_civ.htm
They are the 1/3 scale sport pilots and I can't recommend them highly enough. They are light and have great detail. They are only busts, so I made my own shallow cockpit tray from balsa with a light fiberglass. This set-up gives a lot of clearance for equipment underneath. The entire cockpit comes out with the canopy and is very rigid yet light. I made my own instrument panels in Photoshop and carved scale seat backs out of light balsa. I only used the dash covers from the Skymaster cockpit. You have to remember this model is around 30%. The real Viperjet only has a 30' span. I looked at a lot of photos and decided the 1/3 scale pilots were closest in size (maybe a touch too big.). I also bought 1/4 scale but they looked too small. Anyhow, that's what I did.
On another note, Paul is referring to my wing tube bending. It only bent about 4 degrees on the right side. I DO NOT want to get everyone alarmed and/or get flamed. Fact is that it happened and I would be remiss to not let folks know so they can check theirs. Mine pulled the aluminum tab out when it happened (photo attached). I fixed it and tweaked the tube back into shape and have flown many more flights with no incident. I wasn't flying too hard and have never landed the plane hard. I don't think it's even possible to land this plane hard! So just keep an eye on it everyone.
That said, I had the same issues as everyone else who has posted. Ali, Jeff T. and the others were a great source of info to get this plane in the air, which I did in about 5 weeks. And that gets me to my point - this is one of the best planes I have ever owned or flown. Jet or prop. With all of the small issues attended to, this is a sturdy and well-built airframe. Use common sense when assembling it and it will serve you well. So I am not criticizing, just passing along info, as have the others before me. I love this plane and the service/support I have received from Jeff Tolomeo at Skymaster USA.
Buy one, fly it and enjoy it. It's all the fun everyone says it is.
If anyone wants more detail on the cockpit or the actual graphics files I created for my dashboards or N numbers, let me know and I'll put them up for download.
Enjoy, it's just a hobby!
bb