MoreRockets.com Super Viper

I"ve built many rockets over the years but decided to do my very first build thread using this rocket. It seems to be a nice kit, will use all the parts, but will most likely replace the elastic shock cord, and will leave out the motor block so I can use my 24/40 RMS case.

I won't do a complete step by step since the directions are very well written and easy to follow.

Here's the obligatory unpacking photo.

First step is to glue the wings together. I used super glue and kicker. I lightly sanded the sides, but won't worry too much about the joint seems. They will be smoothed when I use filler on the wood grains:

I drew lines on the sides of the tubes to assist getting them aligned and glued to the main tube. There are nice alignment guides included in the kit for the third tube on top and for aligning the wings and tail fin.

All the tubes are aligned and glued.

Here's one of the changes I made to the instructions, I mounted the engine hook almost flush with the end of the motor tube to accommodate my 24/40 case:

That`s very cool ,I like that. Where would a fellow get one of those ,straight from the vendor ? Any info on this vendor ?

Nice build ,I`ll watch this one !

Cheers

paul T

I got mine straight from www.Morerockets.com Opinions will vary on this vendor, but they gave me excellant service, though I now see they've sold the company to someone else. Website still is functional, looks like they are still accepting orders.

I don't know if it's a temporary thing or not, but More rockets website seems to be not working now.

I didn't do much today, filled and sanded the wings and tail, and drilled the cannons to make them look a little bit more realistic:

I haven't been doing too much on this rocket lately, don't you just hate it when work gets in the way of your hobbies? Some progress, I decided to use label paper on the wings and tail fin. Turns out, the label paper I used is heat sensitive from a laser printer. I used an old Monokote iron to seal the label paper adhesive and it did quite interesting things to the labels. But it'll be ok, since I planned to paint it anyway.

qquake2k said:

Looking good! I've always liked the Viper. Somewhere I saw once someone that had scratch built several different sizes of them. Very cool.

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Might be this one you were thinking of:

https://www.vernarockets.com/id26.html

She was one of my inspirations for building this kit.

Dr. Sue is another who built a series of Vipers of various sizes:

• https://www.payloadbay.com/gallery/v/other/viper/
• https://www.drsuesrocketworks.com/

-- Roger

dr sue and verna!

does Gldknight know he is making a chick kit ?

gldknght said:

Might be this one you were thinking of:

https://www.vernarockets.com/id26.html

She was one of my inspirations for building this kit.

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jadebox said:

Dr. Sue is another who built a series of Vipers of various sizes:

• https://www.payloadbay.com/gallery/v/other/viper/
• https://www.drsuesrocketworks.com/

-- Roger

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Maybe it was both of them. Regardless, they're very cool rockets!

KenRico said:

dr sue and verna!

does Gldknight know he is making a chick kit ?

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I didn't know this. Guess I'll have to give the rocket to my wife. After I finish building it and fly it a whole bunch of times, just to make sure it works, of course.

Oh, yeah ... my wife also built a Viper clone.

-- Roger

qquake2k said:

Maybe it was both of them. Regardless, they're very cool rockets!

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Scroll down here: https://www.vernarockets.com/id26.html for the short list of Red Squadron members, and yes, all of Sue's Vipers are scatch built. Personally, I think hers are the best I've ever seen.

Some of youse "roosters" should be so good. :wink:

Verna
www.vernarockets.com

I made some more progress today. One of my wings had a bit of curve to it along the centerline in the body tube, here's a photo of how I fixed it when I glued it to the body:

Verna said:

Scroll down here: https://www.vernarockets.com/id26.html for the short list of Red Squadron members, and yes, all of Sue's Vipers are scatch built. Personally, I think hers are the best I've ever seen.

Some of youse "roosters" should be so good. :wink:

Verna
www.vernarockets.com

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Not to derail my own thread too much, but how does one become a member of Red Squadron?

I have one of these and it flys great. I also have one in my build pile. I am planning a 4 inch upscale.

Made a bit more progress last night and today. I used some west systems epoxy and silica to make some very small fillets on the wings, and engine tubes. I'm trying not to add a bunch of tail weight to what seems like a tail heavy rocket. Anyone know where the center of pressure is supposed to be on these?

Good thread. I think the vender for this kit is changing the website. Not sure what that means for the kits.

Nice build... need to keep watching this so I can get in the mood to build me new viper!!!!

Thanks for the compliments, everyone. I've added the paper strips in between the turbo tubes, then covered them with label paper for a smooth finish in a hard to sand area.

I've got one more step before getting this rocket into primer, building the canopy. This is done by folding a printed canopy and gluing it to a wood "spine".

Here's the canopy attached. This took some work. I used a metal straight edge to make nice neat folds and had to sand quite a bit on the wood spine the paper is attached to in order to get the canopy to snuggle down nice on the body. But, my viper is now ready for primer.

Well, I've finished my Super Viper. I just realized I never got any pictures of the rocket in primer or naked paint. Oops, but here are a couple of it finished and decal-ed:

That's one beautiful rocket! Kudos on the finish! Have you flown it yet and what were your impressions?

I have one of these which I've just started building. While I like the basswood fins, I was a bit disappointed that the front and rear sections of the wings don't line up (one is slightly wider than the other). I've had to sand the back edge down a fraction of a mm on a table sander. Also I'm seeing some of the warping you had experienced; however I'm also planning on using label paper to coat the wings and I'm hoping that will help a bit.

I just got this kit for Christmas and got it assembled this week. Instructions on the engine mount installation were kind of confusing, "push the mount in until the centering ring is in the tube and flush with the body tube" I was not sure if this means the engine mount is flush or the rear centering ring should be flush. I mounted the engine tube with the rear centering ring flush, then added a boat tail. A fun build and should look nice after paint and decals.

GlenP said:

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I just got this kit for Christmas and got it assembled this week. Instructions on the engine mount installation were kind of confusing, "push the mount in until the centering ring is in the tube and flush with the body tube" I was not sure if this means the engine mount is flush or the rear centering ring should be flush. I mounted the engine tube with the rear centering ring flush, then added a boat tail. A fun build and should look nice after paint and decals.

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Sweet! I may have seen that one on Ebay a few weeks ago.

I have one built and flown a few times. Looking at it on my desk shelf, the rear-most centering ring is flush with the main bt and the motor tube itself sticks out the rear by about 1/2" (eyeballed). The cone you made looks nice and I'm assuming it's not mounted yet, so I'll add you'll likely have to cut a slot in it otherwise the first time you lift the clip enough to put in a motor you'll make an ugly tear in it...don't ask me how I know. :wink: