Folks, I need help making a hard decision... so many jets, not enough money, gotta choose one.

So, having seen the fit and finish of several jets, of friends and club members, I've settled on the Skymaster line... that's one choice narrowed down.

My difficulty is in choosing which one? They're all beautiful. I love the F86, F5/F20, F4, F15, Jas 39... given enough years I may end up having some of them.

My level of experience so far is with a CARF Eurosport with a P160. Awesome flying jet and I love the handling. So this would be for my second jet, the first scale jet.

I would like to make the main decision criteria the ease of flying and handling. Which of the above flies best? Which is the easiest to land? We have a 300m (900ft) asphalt runway, but I still would like to be able to fly from a 500 ft (150m) runway safely.

The second criteria would be size. I can see the Jas 39 is the smallest one, but they don't look like they sell a lot here in RCU. And the F5 is huge, has to be taken appart to fit in any size car.

Thanks for all the opinions

Hermann

you left out their best flying in the choices, it's the Viper Jet

Well, there really isn't a "bad" flying Skymaster jet of any kind.....I would suggest the F-15, L-39 , MB-339 or F-86. You simply can't go wrong with any of those planes....

Oh and the MiG 29 flies pretty good too.....


Spence

Not on your list but - F-16 - easy flyer. Flys great. Looks scale.

Viper, a great jet

I have the MB339 and it is a great flyer!

Yes - what Joe said....Viper flies fantastic. I definitely should have included that one in the list!

S

Best flyer and best suited to your experience level, field and turbine is the Viper ( and I have flown/ owned all of the currently available skymaster range of models) Next I think is the MB339. The draw back with both of them is the reason why they are so good..... Size. Bigger is better! All round, apart from transport. but to be fair the main issue with carrying the viper around is length ( as the stabs and rudder are off in just three screws ) I have a viper jet in my shop right now and it really is not that much longer than the Eurosport that I have on the shelf below.
My advice would be suffer the extra inconvenience of transport and storage in order to get the better flying, easier to operate and so much better looking in the air and on the ground larger model.
Hope this helps?
Regards Al

Alo seu Herman.. my vote too is for the 339 as I haven´t flown yet the Viper. It´s a super sweet flying airplane, pretty much like a powered glider and very easy to land.

It is worth to mention that it has completely different flight characteristics than the Eurosport, so you may need to fly it first in the longer runway until mastering landings with flaps, without floating it too much.


Enrique

The MB-339 is a great plane if you are just starting with jets. It's size makes it very stable and it has great visibility. It's movements are very predictable and it has no bad tendencies. Even I can fly it.....

You wouldn't believe how slow it can fly and it won't drop a wing like it happens in some other planes. You can land in short runways without a problem with some experience. The plane does have a tendency to float a lot with full flaps especially when you are not using the supplied under wing tanks.

You can do any maneuver that you want if you have the skills......

Here is a video of my MB-339 being flown by Claudio "Lillo" Rojas or Acrored in this forum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK_a2...eature=channel

This was filmed yesterday on a grey winter afternoon. If you pay attention, you can see that the plane can do knife edge flying, tail slides, spins..... even a double snap.

I can't say anything about the Viper since is still seating in my warehouse waiting for assembly.

Michel from www.jetsrc.com have sold many Skymaster jets in Brazil and I'm sure he will be more than willing to help you.

Great Video! You have more B@lls than I do thats for sure!

The under wing stores pylons, they come with your kit?

I wish it was me flying that way....... but I'm not that good of a pilot []

I guess I do need to have some big cojones to let somebody else fly my plane that way.......

The pylons came in the kit. For this flight they were not installed since they were getting loose and we decided to take them out. For sure they help to slow down your approach....

Well where do you get a Viper other than Cermark?

Guys, thanks a lot for the recommendations. Gonzalo, the videos are awesome, a true refreshing video. It looks like a lot of people are happy doing racetrack patterns. This one is great and inspiring.

Ali, I admire your flying style and I saw your former Viper flying during the Itu Giants meeting last month. Awesome! Amazing! And you videos are my number one inspiration. In addition to the jets I'm building a Venus II to train pattern flying. I'm sure it will improve my maneuvers and make my jet flying that much more enjoyable.

It looks like the MB339 is almost a unanimity! Viper also! I'll look into them.

Enrique, I hope to see you in Manaus!!! I'll be there, no plane, but I'll go with de Santi and the Sao Paulo/Minas crew (Guerreiro, Pádua, Luciano Julião, Fernando Silva, Fernando Tachelli).

My sincere Thanks!

Hermann

given this is a SkyMaster thread.................

[sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Another vote for a viperjet. I've just ordered one from Ali, it's an awesome looking model and flies so well. I can't wait!!

Duncan

Viper the best[sm=thumbs_up.gif][sm=wink_smile.gif]

Viper or the ( not a scale airplane but the Dragon ) The dragon flies very well on a 30 lbs'er lands very nice and tracks in the air nice as well

Hi guys, How is the skymaster F4 to fly? Is that a good fun jet or real difficult to handle?
Cheers
George

I saw a Viper Jet last night at my field. Not only it flew good, but it landed like a park flyer.
Our runway is 400' long, didn't even use half of the runway length with a P-160sx.

The Viper gets my vote. Best jet I have flown. Previously my trusty old Avonds F15 got the vote, but the Viper edges it out of first place. Once you get used to how slow it flys, landings are so easy. When you first see it assembled, the size looks intimidating. Just a gentle giant.