I am still waiting for my viper to show up. Apparently there was another holiday and some difficulty with the paint crew. Hopefully it will be in soon.
Tone

My viper finally arrived. The box was wet and beat to help but the jet inside looks okay.
From surfing the forums there are a couple of changes I noted and will list here.
1. It looks like the did some strengthening work to the inlets and wrapped them with some carbon tow. Seem pretty solid to me so far.
2. There are L shaped phenolic brackets to mount the servos in the wings and rudders.
3. There is carbon cloth reinforcement in the wings.
4. Wing ribs look to be plywood not balsa.
5. Trailing edge of the wing appears to be wood coated with some sort of fiber reinforcement.
6. Servo mounting plates are pre slotted and predrilled (most of them)
7. The rails for the edf are pre-slotted and in place but NOT glued to the fuse. Once I get it cut out to fit my edf I will Hysol it to the fuse.
8. My jet came with two extra wood plates besides the lipo tray. After speaking with Matt from Fanjets, I believe these are for the turbine version.
9. My ailerons and one of my elevators were a little tight and rub a bit. It was easily relieved with some masking tape and a small file.

I took a bunch of pics of the unboxing and the parts. I am waiting for my Hysol to arrive and I ordered clevis's so that the pushrod can recess into the wings without opening up the slots too much. Also I am going to attach the wing tips with silicone so that they are removable. I got the suggestion from one of the guys on this forum.
Thanks,
Tone

Remember to put flap horns a bit farther back to get a better movement angles.
Another way is to make the linkage totally internal, by running linkage through trailing edge to the flap upper leading edge, as the hingeline is on the bottom.

But external is easier to keep in shape.

Originally Posted by Ceeray

Remember to put flap horns a bit farther back to get a better movement angles.
Another way is to make the linkage totally internal, by running linkage through trailing edge to the flap upper leading edge, as the hingeline is on the bottom.

But external is easier to keep in shape.

When you say farther back do you mean closer to the trailing edge or closer to the servo? I would think that if it was closer to the trailing edge you would lose some movement. One thing I noted is that two of the controller horns are shaped differently. They are thicker and taller. I am assuming that these are the ones for the flaps.
Tone

Originally Posted by TS8103

When you say farther back do you mean closer to the trailing edge or closer to the servo? I would think that if it was closer to the trailing edge you would lose some movement. One thing I noted is that two of the controller horns are shaped differently. They are thicker and taller. I am assuming that these are the ones for the flaps.
Tone

Nevermind Ceeray, I realize what you meant after I posted. The wheels in my mind turn slowly sometimes but they do turn. I think I will mount the taller horns on the flaps with the relief towards the the leading edge. This will place the connection point of the ball link further back and allow for more throw.
Thanks for the heads up.
Tone

You actually want the connection point centered over the hinge line to give you symmetrical throw in both directions.

Originally Posted by Robert Belluomini

You actually want the connection point centered over the hinge line to give you symmetrical throw in both directions.

Sorry, typo, I was refering to the flap movement but was physically working on the elevator. Brain fog. I worked overnight 13 hours. May be time to hit the hay lol. I corrected the post.
Tone

One thing I just noticed was that the carbon rod is solid carbon and pretty heavy. I expected a hollow rod. The solid one was surprising. I also had to epoxy in some plywood spacers to the elevators to close the gap enough to fit. It works pretty well so far.
Tone

You got the flap horn idea right. I had to redo mine tp achieve a larger movement. This plane likes 70 degrees of flaps..


I put my elevator servo other way round I think..
Cannot remeber anymore as its R.I.P.. lost a wing while airborne, it was not the strenghtened one..

Here are some pics of the new wings. Note the trailing edge is now part composite, the ribs appear to be plywood and the carbon cloth added to the wing surface.
Tone

Tone, on the flap horn if the slot is already made just glue si it angles away from the hinge line. That will give you best mechanical advantage.

I used a different control horn. But you get the idea.

Originally Posted by Robert Belluomini

Tone, on the flap horn if the slot is already made just glue si it angles away from the hinge line. That will give you best mechanical advantage.

Thanks for the heads up Bob, that was my plan after speaking with Ceeray. I am going to glue it in with the taper towards the leading edge, this puts the ball link connection point the furthest away. This should give me the most travel possible. Also you are correct. The slot is already made on the new viper and there is a wood block there for support. From what I have read on the forums the wood block support is a newer addition.
Tone

Sounds good!

Here are some more pics. Pardon the mess in the background. When I am excited to build clean up takes a back burner. This jet is the first time I have ever used Hysol. I used the E20hp since I do not want to wait 24 hours for glue to set up. What a fantastic product. I used it to mount all my servo brackets to the wing plates and the pin hinges to the rudder. Here are my latest observations.

1. Freaking love this jet, Andy did a great job on the finish.

2. The canopy holes needed to be opened up and adjusted slightly. No big deal, there is a small gap (about 1/8") between the removable canopy and the stationary one. I think I may add some weather stripping or something similar to fill it in.

3. The holes for the carbon spar for the stabs and the rudder had to be opened up a bit to get the rod in. Once the rod gets in the entrance it fits nice and snug.

4. I decided to use clevis rods on my linkages on the servo side. This way it can sink below the surface of the wing. The ball links would require opening the slot for them to recess and I am not a fan and think it looks ugly with really wide slots.

5. I had to source some M3x10 screws and nuts to mount my servo's to the supplied brackets.

6. I did not want to screw through the wing plates and after talking to my friend Greg and Jag-rc came up with a solution. After anding the plates with 80 grit sandpaper I used the hysol to mount the servo brackets to the wings. I then put some E-6000 industrial adhesive on the side of the servo and screwed them to the brackets. That way the servo is mounted to the hysoled brackets with screws and glue to the plate with E-6000 (think shoe goo, it is really strong and rubber like but can be cut with a sharp knife if the servo needs to be removed.

7. I started mounting the main gear doors. I tested a couple of positions by temporarily fixing them with hot glue. I had to notch part of the recess for the doors to get full deflection. I am still trying to figure the geometry for the nose gear door. I have tried several position but the door seems to bind on the step of the recess. I will have to play with it a bit

8. I made a wood bracket to hold the retract and mount it in the "Y" area of the intakes I got the idea from one of the guys on the Viper thread. I think I am going to use the E-6000 for this one. Hysol if too permanent and if I have to do maintenance on the servo or break a servo arm I will never get the servo out.

9. I was also able to make a vertical bracket out of basswood to support the lipo tray. I made a large oval shaped hole in it to allow wires to pass through. I used the outside of the fuse as a template for the plate. It was a great fit. The lipo tray screws to the plate so that it remains removable.

That about it for now. I had to go out of town but will get some site specific pics when I return
Tone