I saw one at a hobby shop several years ago and thought to myself 1/2A stunt and Sterling wood can't go well together. 

Anyone who complains about the wood in a Sterling kit has never built a Berkeley kit!   

George

That boggles the imagination.

Yeah! Don't it though?

Robert

    Built a Viper about 15 years ago and powered it with a Cox reed valve motor .
I remember that the ribs were a diamond shape and had to cut a new set has the
die crushed ones were so bad . Good looking plane but I don't remember how it flew !
                 It's hell to get old .

           Bill

You may not believe it but they both got their wood from the same source. Just the quality of the wood that they were willing to pay for.
dennis

And he who bid lowest won?
Bill, thanks for your description fo the kit. I can tell little from what I have seen but i imagine the canopy being made up of triangles much like the stealth bomber. The diamond shape airfoil was something not new for the time but not done often. Still not done often.

The first diamond shape airfoil I tried was a corrugated cardboard control line model. I don't remember Which magazine it was in but I just about had to been Flying Models. I only built the wing and mounted the bell crank in it which worked rather well and was well supported. Never found out how it flew. I chickened out of the build. This was much earlier than the Viper I believe.   Does anyone remember the cardboard plane?

Robert

I had the Viper back when my son was learning to fly.  I would call it more of a sport plane for those that like to do loops, eights and some inverted flight.   Maybe that is what is wrong now in that every one thinks a plane should be NATS caliber type flying plane.  That is where I am glad we have "Black Hawk Models" doing good.  Fun airplanes that you can have fun with.  By the way I have often looked at the plans and thought of building another Viper.  DOC Holliday

I had the Viper back when my son was learning to fly.  I would call it more of a sport plane for those that like to do loops, eights and some inverted flight.   Maybe that is what is wrong now in that every one thinks a plane should be NATS caliber type flying plane.  That is where I am glad we have "Black Hawk Models" doing good.  Fun airplanes that you can have fun with.  By the way I have often looked at the plans and thought of building another Viper.  DOC Holliday

I am with you Doc. There is room for sport planes in some of our lives. From what I can tell of the Viper it is a plane capable of doing stunts. I doubt all of them well but then it would be a nice advance over a trainer that can do hardly more than a wingover or sloppy egg shaped loops. The pictures I have seen (just the photos on the box) make it look really aggressive. A "bad to the bone" look if you will. Even with heavy wood it has more wing area than most kits for half A. I know there were more than a handful that had a 24" span or greater for half A but these were in the minority and I doubt many were sport minded. I might just have to build one of these things one day but if I do I would want to use my own wood and see how well it would fare if built "right"!
The lines look pretty simple to me. Lots of straight lines and that diamond airfoil should  make it quite easy.

Robert

I photographed these two at the Brodak Fly-In.

Built one in 2000 and although it was a bit heavy it flew nice with a medalion .049.  Squares might not have been too sharp but otherwise not too bad.

Anyone got size and weight info on this puppy?

I wonder how well it would fly if you scalloped out the spars between ribs a bit and allowed SOME of the wing to have less than the diamond airfoil...somewhat like John Crocker and minnesotamodeler were working with?

Don't care for the diamond airfoil but do like the overall look of the ship.

George

Thanks Dalton and Elwyn for those pictures. Shows there has been some interest in this plane even if it were not here on this forum.

Good stuff Ray and George! I am now wishing I had the plans. At least to get a closer look.
I have looked pretty close to the bare bones picture on the box and it isn't very thick but what about a modified version with a thicker foil?
Does anyone remember if the plans were full size and showed all parts?

I ask this because I now have a problem... I now have this kit in hand and it is still sealed from the factory and looks like it just arrived to the LHS from Sterling! The last one of these I saw you know where sold for just a few cents less than 75 bucks!
 And that did not include shipping!
 And it was an open box!
 and the box had some noticeable scuffing here and there!
Now I am torn to wanting to put mine up for sale for the collectors to fight over or opening it myself and keeping it. I paid much less and got more. I am not a collector so  I don't care so much about the box condition as I do the contents.
Too, I would just as soon use my own wood rather than Sterling's "choice"!

Robert

Robert,

Since the kit is "collector grade" condition, I would try to locate plans from someone else, then keep or sell the kit. Only if noone else can help would I open the box and copy the plans. If it comes to that, copy the plans and keep or sell the kit.

If the kit has isometric assembly drawings instead of a plan, you may also need to draw the parts.

George

Exactly George, I am not all about the money but this is definitely collectors grade and to break the OEM seal on this thing would not only devalue this particular kit but would make any other existing unopened kits more valuable.

This is why I raise the question about the plans. So many plans were actually no more than a few isometric drawings and many items like formers and some sheet parts were not shown full size laid out flat as it would be found on the die cut sheet.
Not really plans at all but merely illustrated assembly guides.
More difficult to  reproduce a second model from once all the parts were used to build the single model it was intended for.

Much as I want to, for now I will resist the urge to peek inside.

Robert

OK, So the next question is ... who has plans and can get them copied, and the question after that is ... who would like a set and is willing to fork over a few bucks for gas, copying, and postage.

I would.

George

OK, So the next question is ... who has plans and can get them copied, and the question after that is ... who would like a set and is willing to fork over a few bucks for gas, copying, and postage.

I would.

George

Personally all I need is a decent scan of the plan in say jpg format. I have a sweet program called TilePrint that will accurately print the plan on most any PC printer in a tiled format. Simply tape the pages together and you have the plan with no shipping.
This program also has a feature that super duper cool. It can enlarge or reduce plans. Then you can print the resized plan in tiled format from your own printer.

I had a feeling the plan may not be complete but it does sound like there is enough to "fake it". I think most of us have enough experience to guesstimate bulkheads, formers or other cross members and have a satisfactory idea of the original and also be able to try a standard type airfoil or modification of the original diamond.

Robert

******

    O.K., I have made about eight copies for anyone who wants one.   $5.00 will cover plan, envelope,
and postage.   Let me know if you wand one.

   Dalton H.

Dalton,

I received my plan today. Excellent.

Thank you,
George

Dalton, I plan on getting one from you but these past weeks have been trying for me.
Unexpectedly there was no work at my workplace  for a number of days and it has really hurt me in the wallet. It is going to make me save three small paychecks to make my rent instead of two.

I should really put my kit on $bay but I have never sold there before. Many unknowns.
My health is really trying me now as well. Trying to keep from going to the hospital if possible because no health insurance. 

What I am trying to say is that I am interested but it may be a little bit before I can participate. Don't count me out just yet. Just going thru a valley of trials now. I will
best it yet!

Dalton one question, What is the span of the stab/ele. since I am sure that figure will not be self evident on the "plans". Or does it show the stab/ele. in full size? Inquiring minds want to know!

George Let us see something wonderful happen!

Robert