RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Ali, the pilots look great! I'll get some more out to you and also find out about the military version. You sure make 'em look good!
Talk to you soon,
Lowell

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

We finished up Joey Tamez Viper Jet and took it out this weekend for the maiden.
Very uneventful and we were surprised that the gear seemed to work no problem(we have seen some struggle). We used BVM high flow valve and two air tanks. Worked great. One door did manage to depart in flight.
We installed a P200 since we had one available and we used a BVM P200 bypass and a BVM F100F tailpipe I had from a F100. They dropped right in, perfect fit. Very low temps, in the low 4's.
The airplane is very nice, just a bunch of little aggravating issues that are easily corrected.
Couple of things to look out for:
MOST IMPORTANT!! After only 4 flight the wing retaining aluminum sleeves were nearly pulled out of wings. Couple more flights and the wing might have slipped off!!! Wing gap kept growing after each flight.
Wing tubes and stab dowels can slide into wings unevenly. We glued the stab dowels permanent.
Been mentioned here ALOT, but there are many hard points missing in flying surfaces.
Cockpits look great but are made out of some low grade plastic and wont last. Before the first flight they were pretty beat up.
canopy glass very low grade soft plastic
fin missing most of glue inside and main former was detached. We changed to pull pull with solid carbon plate through rudder.
cockpit started deforming in sun
Landing gear mounts are insufficient. One wing had a broken former glued in place. No support at all. We added carbon support braces.
Some of the pro version work was a little sloppy and our white version had white spray paint covering the proversion work done. Fit was good, but whats up with the white pray paint?
Nose gear door cylinder was just glued to fuse wall with no support. Popped off before was even flown.
Winglet holes too big on one side so when tightened they gapped really big.
Tanks create alot of back pressure when installed per plans. Have to pump very slow. Bottom tank want to start balooning.
Intakes glued very sloppy and look nasty(INSIDE). They are very rigid though and feel very solid.
PROS:
plane comes out CG perfect with little to no weight with batteries in nose.
Big and pretty
Wings stabs and fin fit to fuse and front to aft fit perfect. Overall excellent fitment of all parts. Canopy little off.
Nice gear, struts wheels and brakes
BIG!
Flies beautiful and very stable. Very wide envelope.
Breeze to land.
Easy to assemble.

Overall very nice aircraft, would probably fly great even with P120, Joey took off half power and flew there the whole flight. Half power take off climbed out very nice. She needs alot of flap deflection to slow down well for landing.

Hope to get it in the air again this weekend.
Scott

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Congrats on the maiden Scott, I flew mine at Cal jets, they are nice jets. Take Care. Joe C!!

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Hi, Scott

Thank you very much for the review with suggested, I will meeting with my staffs as soon, and we will check out all your points..and I will promise to you for Improve these points ....Thank you again.

Best regards

Anton

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Scott/JT,

Did you had to do any major structural mods, specially for the wing/stab attachment?
I have a friend who asked me to post the question, he is building one right now.

Thanks guys,

David

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Ali

I did 2 flights last weekend with the Viper that i bought from you..
I have to agree with you.. the jet is amazing and i recommended for every pilot and very easy to fly....

Thanks again for everything...

Regards

Heraldo

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

OMG the vipers are reproducing!!! http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/o...led/scared.gif

Snakes on a plane!!!

Darn nice airplanes too...http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/o...villed/yup.gif

Raf

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

MOST IMPORTANT!! After only 4 flight the wing retaining aluminum sleeves were nearly pulled out of wings. Couple more flights and the wing might have slipped off!!! Wing gap kept growing after each flight.

Scott can you please explain how you repaired this? I've noticed one of mine after 8 flights is loose [>:]

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

I would just add a few more points to what Scott has said about the build:
1) Watch your live hinge lines on the flaps and ailerons carefully. Both of mine have "stuck" due to cracks during flight. I've had to cut back the wing surface twice to prevent this. I think air pressure pushes them tight and the control surface catches a small part of the wing surface. Cut back enough skin to prevent this. The plastic used on the live hinge cracks very easy and will stick up just enough to get stuck on the wing skin.
2) Recheck the glue holding the front windshield in place. Mine blew into the fuse on the 8th flight and made the plane very difficult to fly. Upon inspection there was only 1/16" of an inch of windshield holding it in place. The windshield was cut so close to the opening size it just did not have enough surface to glue to the fuse. Sitting out in the sun made it weak and I nearly lost a plane because of it. I have always cut canopies 1/4" more minimum around the edge to make sure enough glue is used.
3) Hysol a piece of 1/4" aircraft ply directly under the existing landing gear plate and use blind nuts instead of wood screws to hold the gear. The wood screws will easily tear out with a hard landing and take the plates out with it.
4) The glue joints holding the main gear doors air cylinders in place are very weak. Put some Hysol around them and they will stay put.
It flies great! I'm sure Anton will make the changes so it flies many times.

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

I had to cut out a box surrounding the aluminum sleeve, then I glued in some plywood and sandwiched the sleeve back in. There was very little glue and nothing else holding them in. They had nothing to hold on to except a little of that brittle glue.
Scott

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

hi,
jclittle and Scott
You can document with a photograph of the items noted, because I'm building two Vipers and I am interested in these issues
Thanks again for these comments very interesting

Regards
Norbert

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Norbert - is there something specific you want a photo of? I think the words in the posts are pretty easy to follow. Please let me now.

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

some pics
pic one is wing sleeve repair
pic two is carbon plate to reinforce landing gear mount

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

pics
pic one is internal of rudder showing no glue and former not attached
pic two is fitment of bvm bypass and tailpipe

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

pic

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Nice. Make sure you glue the ventral fins in properly. You'll love getting this jet looooow! :D

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Excuse my English jclittle is not very good and it's hard for me to understand certain techniques,but with the photographers of JTs Hobby I understand the two main problems. Apply the reforms in the model quickly, you step photos of my work at the moment.

Thanks again for everything

Regards
Norbert

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Norbert - nice building! In case anyone is wondering if the wing attach mod needs to be done, here is a photo of the tab and all the glue that was holding it in place. It was loose and probably would have pulled out in another flight or two.

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

First Flight...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo96Cv3zZxs

Regards

Heraldo

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Well done, congrats!

SM is making really nice stuff..

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

very nice

Ron

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Congrats Heraldo...:D Nice flying...

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

Hola amigos

Thank you very much for the pictures Jclittle, it is now clear.This weekend, will make corrections because the viper is almost finished, maybe next week is the premiere.

Regards
Saludos
Norbert

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: ">I'veheardof issues with the vertical stab coming loose; it&rsquo;s understandable because it&rsquo;s held in place with only one clamp on the main carbon fiber rod. There is nothingsupporting the areatowards the leading edge. So I removed the stab and cut a hole through the skin on the bottom of the stab just in front of the 2nd carbon rod. Iglued in a thick hardwood block that fit the cut out with hysol. After the hysol set,I temporarily placed the stabback on the fuse, then from inside the fuse Idrilledinto the hardwood block. Then removing the stab Itapped the hole for a 4-40 hex screw. Then you can place the stabback on the fuse, clamp down the main screw, then install a 4-40 bolt into the wood block - its solid now and should not come loose or have any movement in the air.</span></p>

RE: Another Skymaster Viper
 

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"">I did the same to my Viper vertical and it works great. I also drilled a small hole on the underside of my stab so I could access the clamp bolt. </span></p>

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"">I needed a way to remove mine for transport reasons and this setup works great.</span></p>