Nice vid!! Thanks! What cam?
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Hi Dubd

Very nice maiden :-)
My one is April 2nd, if the weather conditions are well of course :-)
Could you tell me your CG and the rudder movement. Especially rudder and elevators. According SM, rudder movement should be approx. +/- 20 mm.
It seems to me a small movement for a knife edge flight, on the other hand in some other threads in different forums i read about a rudder movement of +/- 60 mm

Thanks in advance
Rainer

Janne, thanks! Not sure on the camera. The guy works for a television studio and it looked expensive.

Ramses, that wasn't my maiden flight, just the first flights at a small field. I have over a hundred flights on the Viper. I'll check my rudder travel tonight. My CG is around 235mm.

Rainer

The rudder travel on Ali's Viper and mine was close to 65mm

Cheers

Duncan

Hi Duncan

Thanks for your report.
I adjusted now the CG to 235 mm too, because i built the upper tank direkt above of my former CG of 250 mm. During the first Rolluot to check the functionality we detect, if the tank is full on CG 250 mm and i lift the head for app. 10 cm, the back goes down to the ground because the weight is now behind of the CG.
Unfortunatelly I'm not able to adjust the rudder movement to 65 mm. The maximum movement is app. 35 mm due the limitation on the rudder.
By 35 mm the rudder is closed to the surface on the fin. My Servoarm is 35 mm, do you have a longer servo arm or did you remove some glas by sanding the fin ?

Best regards
Rainer

That is a very tall vertical fin on the Viper, I have mine with very little movement in a flight mode and a bit more in the landing configuration. When you start putting a lot of throw on that large of a fin you induce a large amount of side load (might be why people have had there fins depart there airplane). Just like on a full size jet, the rudder throw is greatly reduced at higher and higher speeds.

Hi Rainer

I used an aluminium JR servo arm cut down. I'm not sure if the rudder now comes hinged? But on mine I had to cut the slots in the rudder to create the movement

I copied Ali's model for my throws, maybe he used alot of rudder in the knife edge circuits he does? I've not seen anyone else do them with any model, let alone a big viper.

~6-7 cm on mine too with JR alu arm and Digitech carbon horns.

Great point, but without a lot of deflection, it takes a lot or speed to hold knife edge without losing a lot of altitude.

Hi guys
Can anyone tell me if there is a set of trailing links on the Market that fit the viper? I have emailed Sandor but he has stopped making them! Most of our flying is off grass that the farmer insists on driving over :-( Cheers

Ian, Sandor has stopped making them, but I believe Ali bought all of his stock, so it might be worth checking to see if he has any. If not contact Selleri (Sverrir) as he had some he no longer needs.

Duncan

Ian,

I will check later as I think I have a new unused set of 3 Digitech legs for the large VJ. PM me your mobile number.

Rob

They've got a new owner, he even got my VJ for free with them...

Sorry for asking but are'nt original Skymaster retracts/legs ok to use that you have to switch to pro lynks?? Curious to know as i have not started building mine which has the original SM set.

Thanks, Rgds

Probably but when you do much flying from grass that isn't 100% smooth you tend to use every leverage you can get.

I never used the original legs on mine so I can't compare them.

Ian,

Really sorry but I've just looked for my VJ T/L legs and can't find them - I must have sold them and can't remember! A function of age I guess!

To be honest I never used them despite flying it off of grass. That is a postive thing I can say about the Skymaster VJ is that the standard oleos work very well from grass and are good quality. The Digitech things were also pretty heavy and I doubt would win any beauty contests!

Good luck with your VJ,
Rob

Hi Rob
No problem I will use the standard ones for now! I am sure they will be fine! Thanks anyway Ian

Hello Guy's!

I'am looking for the Digitech nose leg (Tractor design) LOL
I allready have the tractor mains and I love them!
Sandor told me shipped everything he had got left too Ali.....but according to Ali these trailing link gears wheren't in the box [&o]

Maybe someone will sell a nose leg to me?

Regards, Henk

Hi Henk.
I wont be sure till I ask the guys at the shop to check through the stock we have ( when we open in the morning ) You could always try the Icelandic Volcanic Yeti ( Sverririririirirrrriiriirer) As I know he wont be in need of his Russian tractor legs any time soon!
Regards Al

G-DAY
I have a set of trailing mains from digitech if anybody is interested we can come to some arrangment
REGARDS JOHN

Hello John,


I have the mains
I'am looking for the nose leg.

Regards, Henk

Only ordered the mains mate and they've moved on to a new owner.

Well... After a long wait due to lack of time, bad weather and above all the canopy issue I maidened mine today among with a re-maiden of a friend of mine. All went very well, the VJ is a great machine and the biggest difficulty on flying it is believing how a big and heavy airplane can land so slow. Most time of the flight was at 1/2 throttle with the Rhino.

And what I liked about it:

- How smooth it flies
- How nice looking is, and very visible is it on air due to size and paint scheme.
- How easy is to land, presuming you do it slowly.
- It flies as good or better than a sport job, but it´s scale.

and what I didn´t:

- Very thin plastic canopy, warped, cracked and above all the lack of peace of mind for flying it at higher speeds due to this.
- Lack of a engine hatch for better monitoring the engine start and cooldown.
- Pain in the back after removing the car seats,hauling the plane to the club, two workbenchs, etc.
- The fact that this is not a exclusive airplane, so I can´t impress my friends saying this is a very special limited produced in very small numbers signature series unique jet.

By the way Anton, wish to congratulate you by this fantastic airplane you produce in your country.

Enrique


ps.
in the pic I really look dumbfounded... taken right after the maiden. haha

I am finally ready for my maiden. After waiting until now for a replacement canopy BUT after it was installed
the sides still were very easy to push in and deflect! SO I added a simple hoop made out of russian plywood
and painted white. This duplicates what is in a T-45 Goshawk, not scale I know for this plane BUT it added a huge amount
of strength to the canopy sides and this plane is meant to be a fun sport plane not a scale entry! SO... see pics
I also added a neat smoke system with a 32 oz smoke tank... watch for the video soon!!!