FanFacts H
ello again! It is mid-February as I write this and we have just recov- ered from our 19 degrees below zero temperature, so there has been no flying here! However, I was able to get away for a few days to wonderfully warm Surprise, Arizona (upper 60’s to mid 70’s) for the annual Desert Jet Storm event. As the only jet event on the continent in February, and consistently flyable both in temperature and wind, this is—as they have been adver- tising—“Winter’s Premier Jet Event.” Given some changes in the way Arizona regulates things, no overnight parking was allowed this year, so the usually large con- tingent from California stayed away. Us Colorado residents were only outnumbered by the locals, so of course, we flew and flew and flew!
One of the three airplanes that made me look twice was the Jet Legend produced 1.9-meter Viper Jet that is available from Global Jet Club (
www.globaljetclub.com). The Viper is available in a variety of levels up to and including already test flown. This airplane intrigued me at several levels; first, the basic specs. It sports a 72.5-inch wingspan and 75-inch length with a dry weight of 22 pounds. The sample airplane was incredibly well assembled at the higher ARF level and flew very well on its KingTech K100 turbine.
Also impressive was the degree of break- down possible for transportation. While the surface did have some scuffs and scratches from shipping, the fact that J.P. Thibodeau and flying-partner-in-crime, Jim Emery, were able to assemble and have the airplane ready to fly in two nights says a lot for what Global Jet Club gives you for your dollar. As I mentioned, this version was powered with a K100, and I do believe an 80N engine will give very nice performance, as well as being a lot more economical to run than the “big-block.” Also, given its size, any hatch-
PHOTOGRAPHY: GREG MOORE
J.P. Thibodeau poses his Global Jet Club Viper Jet at Desert Jet Storm. It breaks down into a small transportation package via removal of both stabs and the fin. J.P. ordered the pre-wired version which came with the nice quality landing gear installed and all the wiring harnesses in place. Elapsed time from order to delivery was five days, and two evenings to install the servos, tanks and engine. Not bad for less than a week’s work.
back or small station wagon will be able to transport it. You’ll still be able to park in your garage and have decent gas mileage. What’s not to like?
A club mate is assembling his as I type and ran into a couple of small problems. He copied me on his e-mails to the folks at GJC and I’m happy to report that they responded promptly and seemed to be very motivated to satisfy him and improve the quality con- trol from the factory over his issue. They even included me in the e-mail chain, so, given two good examples back-to-back, by folks that didn’t even know each other until we showed up at the field 835 miles away from home makes my radar light up. The second airplane that made me take a few photos was Vinny DiFabbio’s Me 262c
from Joe Saitta models. Purists will scoff about a single engine powered Me 262 and tell you that the hole in the rear of the fuse- lage was for a short duration rocket. Umm, so what? In the air it looks like, sounds like and smells like a twin engine fighter with four times less headache than a twin. It sure works for me! While this is a true kit, Joe does offer fiberglass parts for it as well as retracts and decals. Be forewarned though, it has a 108- inch wingspan, is 85 inches long and weighs 35 pounds dry, so a small hatchback isn’t go- ing to cut it for this big girl! Additionally, Vinny painted the entire plane with Testors Model Master acrylic paint from an Iwata air brush. It can’t get more simple than that! Vinny powers his with a JetCat P120-SX
by greg moore You can reach Greg Moore via e-mail at
jetflyr@comcast.net
Vinny DiFabbio shows off the nice lines of his Joe Saitta Me 262c with a nice fast pass. With its three-piece 108-inch wing, this is not a model for space- constrained individuals. His JetCat P120-SX shoves its 35-pound (dry) weight around with authority and better than scale performance negating the “I need more than a 1:1 thrust to weight” argument. Vinny painted the plane and all the markings using masks from
GetStencils.com in Florida.
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Brian O’Meara’s large Skymaster F9F Cougar on the upwind leg getting ready to land. With body flaps, wing flaps and speed brakes, this plane creates a lot of drag when it is “full dirty.” The pilot seems to like the hot rod sound of extra power as it is applied to fly the pattern, so he opened the window to hear it. At 98 inches long, it is an impressive performer in a larger airframe.
APRIL 2014
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