Revisited And Remixed
A lot of miles have passed between my Vypers and myself. I have learned so much from these planes, and on every level too. I think I am flying better, and I know I am building better, but more on that later.
While the Vyper kit is a joy to assemble, the plane is still all about the flying. The Vyper is so different that at first I thought it didn't 3D as well as planes like the Extra and Edge, but it does. It just takes a different technique. You have to hold the nose higher and use more throttle, but like this she will drop right into post stall flight pretty effortlessly.
What sets the Vyper apart from any other plane I know of is it's ability to go back and forth from hardcore 3D and high speed precision. For a more detailed report on the Vyper's flying, check the earlier article on this blog titled The
Vyper Strikes, Part IIKen has been so busy with his business and SEFF that we haven't been able to shoot any Vyper video. I found a few clips I had previously edited out and overlooked, so I repackaged the Vyper videos, changed the tunes, etc. I think this is a better representation of what the plane is capable of, at least in my incapable hands.
Assembly
This isn't going to be a build section. It's just a few notes about how smoothly the Vyper goes together. Many of you know I usually have Jim Demeritte do the assembly of my airframes. I do the installation of the power system and radio, but getting the tail lined up and making sure everything is straight is something Jim does a lot better than me. When Jim moved across the state, for one, it sucked he wasn't around to hang out with any more, and for another it also threw a lot of logistical problems at us for getting planes built and delivered.
So, I knew at the very least I was going to have to build a few on my own.
I know I can build a model airplane reasonably well, but over the years I have just run out of patience for aggravating projects. That's why I started having Jim do them, but a 3DHS plane is so nice that it's actually fun to put one together. Everything fits and goes together exactly the way it is supposed to. The only part that gives me a bit of a problem is measuring the tail to make sure it is on there straight, but I think I have a weird bit of dyslexia when it comes to this. All the lines on the ruler run together. I simply can't see it.
Originally I was not going to build this Vyper myself. I was fitting the servos, motor, ESC and such so it would already be done when I'de get the plane back from Jim, but it went together so well that I decided to finish it myself.
To get around my dyslexia with putting the tail on, I measured the best I could and pinned the stab in place. I'de measure it over and over, and I'de even walk away from it for a few hours. Eventually when I could get the same measurement three times in a row I glued it in. Pinned into place the stab can't move, and it doesn't get any easier than running some CA into the joints.
Like I say, I wasn't going to build this plane, but when I opened the box and everything is was so nice, I couldn't resist tearing into it. Since building the yellow Vyper I've built two more, one green for day and one green for night. As of this writing, the green day Vyper flies perfectly (as does the yellow), but I am waiting for servos to finish the green night Vyper.
Mostly when I build I stress out about alignment, but with these two flying so perfectly it proves that either I can get them right or it doesn't matter if they are off just a little. It's probably a bit of both, but now I've got plenty of confidence to go into the next build with.
I have desperately wanted to try night flying, but both clubs in my area won't allow it. I had tried a little whenever I would visit Sarasota Silent Fliers Club (SSF). Mostly it was my friend (club president) Earnie's Slo Stick, and it was great fun. Earnie dared me to do it with a bad ass 3D plane, so here we are.
I had flown a few friend's foamies at night, but it is not even close to being the same thing. It's just dinking around with foamies. Still it was good because it showed me what I would need for lighting and what kind of pattern would show up best. I ran out of time, money and lights, and was afraid I didn't have enough, but that was far from reality. With the right colors and light pattern, orientation was zero problem.
Of course, I was a bit more than merely concerned going in. I had never done anything like this before except for flying slow foamies in a circle, so 3D at night was really going to be jumping off the deep end. I took off and, naturally, got some altitude, cranked off a few rolls and passes and thought "I got this," and I never really thought about anything more than just flying the plane in my usual fashion.
Get the lighting right and you don't have to change anything....just fly.
When I used to build and cover my own planes from kits, I would cover them solid blue on bottom and yellow on top. I flew them like that for years and that's what I got used to looking it. This provided an orientation that was very much instinctual for me. Which is why I kept covering my planes like that.
The lights swept back into an arrowhead pattern, and we've been looking at those all our lives. We all know instinctively which way an arrow is pointing, so this was a great pattern. I don't have any trouble seeing it and it's very easy to maintain orientation. I didn't hardly even take much time to feel things out. I could see the plane so well that I was comfortable flying just like I do in the day.
The only thing I found that was a bit disconcerting is that the ground is closer than it looks. I found this out in my sunset warm up flight when I could still see the ground, and almost hit it a few times. Then it was just a simple adjustment to pick it up a bit and make sure the plane never slipped below eye level unless it was right in front of me where I'de have a better perspective.
I'm guessing this loss of orientation to the ground has to do with the horizon being dark, and the pilot having nothing for a reference. Maybe this will get better after I get some more night experience, but it still wasn't much of a problem. I just had to make an adjustment or two in my flying, or maybe it was even as simple as just getting used to it. Either way, after a couple of laps around the field I didn't think about it any more.
Landing wasn't much of an issue because the blue lights on bottom makes the whole runway glow.
3D Night flying with a hardcore, full blooded rock-n-roll badass airplane like the Vyper is something you can't really prepare yourself for. No, I don't mean it was hard because it wasn't. The part that shocked me was what a serene, almost spiritual experience it was. I was at ease and at peace almost instantly. There were no other people, cars, trees, buildings.......nothing but me, the Vyper and the sky.
It is impossible to explain what a moving experience it was for me. I grew up flying model planes, and I have spent untold thousands looking for something like this. I just didn't know what it was until now.
Light Installation
I hate complicated things, but I tried to make the light installation as simple as possible. The new green Vyper is a much neater and cleaner installation than my first effort on the yellow Vyper. I learned a lot on that plane and carried it forward to this new green Vyper, and that's why you will see that plane here.
In the photo below, you can see the hole I drilled to route the wires to the stab lighting, at the top you can see where I connected to fin to the lighting on top. The top wiring has it's own leads, so the fin is just jump powered off that.
Below are the wires which power the wing lighting. Those go into the wing, and I fished them through where they come out of the rib and into the fuse through the same hole as the aileron leads.
And here's the wing lighting wires. I spliced in mini deans connectors so I can remove the wing when I need to. The brown wire running on the floor leads to the lights on the tail. I'm going to secure that once everything else is set.
Everything is all run forward under the battery tray and up to the deans connector. The extra plug sticking up connects to the lighting for the canopy.
Wires to the tail run down the fuse and come up through a hole in the tail. This is behind where the pull wires cross, and they come up right between them. I kept this wire reasonably tight so no slack would get tangled up in the pull cables...another reason the next night plane is going to be an SHP with the servo in the tail.
FINAL NAIL
VYPER ROCKS!
Thanks for making it this far!
