You 2 guys should no put the question to rest on how much extra a painted in the mould weighs and a custom paint weighs out of the box , lets see how much paint really weighs .  Nice birds by the way !

Yes I,m very happy whith the quality of the plane.

UUUAaaaauuuuuu!!!! 45 minuts is the new record I try another time

[link=http://frettavefur.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?id=4000]Nice scheme,[/link] congrats!

Are any of you putting a Jet Cat P70 in your Viper? If so, what distance are you setting the bellmouth of the pipe to the NGV on the P70? I pushed the turbine as far up as possible, and using a 7/8 inch gap, the pipe is still slightly long. Curious as to what others are doing?

Bob

Mine install a Merlin 90

Mine is 8,4kg out the box,thats all the bits that came with it. No radio gear,UAT etc....Just the way it comes from Skymaster.

Thats 18.52lbs in the other english..

Hey Kenneth,

Is that the 2M viper? Sounds more like the large viper bare weight - I should go weigh mine.

I'll have to look u and Marco up next time I'm in Singapore - missed u the last time.

PaulD

Bob,

The P70 is a realatively long turbine for the thrust. Can you flip the turbine mount over to move the engine further forward on the rails? Are you using the bypass or just the bellmouth?

PaulD

I did flip it over to get the turbine centered. No bypass, just bellmouth. I'm going to work on it a little more today and see if I can move the turbine a little more forward.

Bob

Another Picture.

Not very happy with the Viper at this time.

1. Verticle fins were drilled wrong. One was 1/4" off of the panel line. Drilled new holes and had to relcate to correct position. Need to fill open holes in fuse and try to match paint.
2. Horizontal stabs: couldn't get my HS 5645 servos in due to the servo mounts being spaced to far apart. Had to go with a full size servo and now it's splitting the skin because it's so tight.
3. Missing steering hardware.
4. Screws missing for horizontal stabs.
5. Paint wasn't what I thought it would be. Glue on the surface in many areas.
6. Directions for mounting pipe aren't matching length of pipe I have. To long and need to work around issue.

This is my first Skymaster and thought it was going to be a much better kit than I was given. Never had this many problems with any on my FEJ or Fei Bao Arfs.
For what I paid for this kit I'm not very impressed. If Skymaster was down the street I would take it down and get a refund.

Is everyone else having these issues?

Hi,

Sorry for your problems. We will use it to better train workers.

This is not a SKYMASTER jet. There is a huge difference between Skymaster and Xtreme jets not even considering the price difference. The only common thing is the owner Anton Lin.

Regards

Morne

That is something I did not know. I thought they were all made by the same workers. Just a sort of all in relabeled combo offering. No criticism intended Ali

This may be a silly question but what is the difference between Skymaster and Xtreme Jets?

1 mouse click ?

http://www.skymasterjet.com/

Don't have a link right now, but search RCU for this. I did see something with the pipe being too long on another one. They were also addressing the servo fitting issue too...

Would it have not been better to hysol a couple of blocks in place for the servo or choice to mount on, rather than butcher it by squeezing an over size servo in the stab?

I thought blocks were given in the kit exactly for this reason, to allow people to choose where to mount the elevator servos

Thought about the blocks but didn't think I would get a good bond with the glue. Because it was so deep inside I wouldn't have been able to etch the surface as well either.

Bill how did your tailpipe come out...did you need to alter the length? I have my turbine mounts as far forward as possible (on the former) with a 1" in gap between the turbine exhaust and bellmouth. The pipe is inside of the tail cone but very close to the end and is touching the walls. I did put a few coats of the BVM heat shield inside the cone. The instructions indicate that the pipe should extend beyond the rear former by 10mm (not even close).

Jjet, Not sure I understand your problem. Is the tail pipe out of the tail cone or inside of it. If it is inside just move it back and move the engine back to keep the spacing.
If the tail pipe is too far out you will need to make new rails for the engine mount. In post 124 of this thread you can see that my 2 front engine mounts are in front of the former on the rails. My pipe also is a very tight fit to the tail cone. This is why I cut the cooling vents into the bottom of the fuse. Also in post 124.
Hope this helps.

Greetings readers:

Well, thought I would give a post Jets over Kentucky report with Viper and Jet Central Cheetah.

1. First and foremost my continued gratitude and appreciation to Bill Hatcher of Hatcher's Hanger for his skill and complete attention to detail with my Viper. Not a single issue with anything. . .nothing. . .not one thing needed addressing

2. CG was decided to be exactly 1/2 of the distance between rear and forward CG as recommended by Xstreme Jets (Anton) This was set with UAT full and pilot/cockpits in place. Again, perfect but just a tad on the nose heavy side. As fuel burns off, it settled in nicely.

3. Fuel: With both tanks full, We flew Cheetah for 8 minutes then landing and taxi back. We constantly had just above 1/2 tank of fuel remaining after each flight. Cheetah is a very economical turbine with serious thrust and nozzle velocity. And yes, we pressed hard in more than one flight noting Jim Hiller's twilight chase of Larry Kramer and his Rhino powered KingCat ! The chase was on and the race was a tie.

4. Vent holes in the bottom of the fuselage prooved most worthy of the effort. Glas was always warm but never hot to the touch. A recommmended mod.

5. Retracts, brakes, cylinders for doors were installed (reinstalled) as received. Not one issue. Air filled tires were set at 20psi with a hand pump and held pressure all week.

6. Highly recommend the use of the AirPower EV5U all in one valve component. Perfect and eliminates hours of work with the normal servo / valve install. Use Airpower water filter ($14.95) for the air fill system. Either install in the jet or on the fill line from compressor.

7. Control throws and setting. Factory recommended setting are again, tried and tested. They work. Expo and rates to the individual pilots preference.

For those of you who may purchase or have purchased paint in the mold colors, go to your local Ace Hardware store and purchase at least one bottle of "Flitz" polishing compound. I spent almost 8 total hours rubbing out all the finger prints, glue spils and what have you to get the Viper to look good. Then about an hour polishing with Maguires detailing spray wax. Effort was well worth it, but should not have been necessary.

Last, while the fuse may appear flimsey (oil cans) in the area below the main fuel tank, we did nothing to reinforce it. It is simply shell over bulkhead construction and is good as it is. Not one issue with the fiberglass in this area or any other area.

That's it. . .I hit the highlights. If you have any questions, post them and they will be answerd.

"HEY ANTON. . .WHERE IS MY SECOND VIPER ? "IT IS OVER 18 WEEKS ! ! ! ! I need my jet !

Regards,
Eric Clapp

Bill the pipe according to the build instructions is supposed to be 10mm past the tail cone former. With engine as far forward as possible and a 1" gap between the turbine tail cone and bellmouth. My pipe is right even with the tail cone end and touching the tail cone. I've coated the tail cone with heat shield but don't feel very comfortable without an air gap for heat. Thanks Bill.

Jjet:

Exactly why the vent holes in the bottom of the fuselage are recommended. See above post.

With fiberglass tail cone installed, bring pipe out 1/8 to 5/16 past the glas. Adjust turbine in the mounts to distance turbine nozzle per the turbine manufacturers recommendations. Jet central is a minimum of 1" for the Cheetah.

Once this is done, you will see little to no opening around the pipe between the pipe and glass exhaust cone. Heat will have difficulty escaping. Please note, there are other posts by Duncan and Ali stating their opinion regarding this.

As I stated, this is why I opted to use Bill's optional fuse vent pattern. This actually comes from CARF in one of their IMAC aerobat planes. Bill's trick to lay these out made it a very quick operation.
Unless you are looking for them, they are rarely noticed even by the trained eye when the jet is in the air.

Best regards,
Eric

Eric,
Do you have a template for the cooling holes at the rear of the fus?
Ian Burridge.