Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Manufacturer: | LOC/Precision |
Brief:
The Viper IV is similar to the LOC Viper III which has several reviews here,
but has four 24mm motors tubes instead of 3.
Construction:
The kit includes one body tube, four motor tubes, two centering rings, four
fins, and a nose cone. I received it in pieces, with no instructions and the
main body tube and nose cone were gone so I replaced the tubes with standard
LOC tubing available from our local hobby store and an AeroTech Strongarm
nosecone.
As I said before I didn't get any instructions with this, however, the layout is so easy I'd bet virtually any one with previous MPR building experience could do it without the instructions. Standard LOC tubes and mountings don't change much from bird to bird.
Finishing:
No decals are included with any LOC kits, which in my opinion is too bad. In my
case I wanted something other than a standard paint job so decals probably
wouldn't have helped me.
Construction Rating: 5 out of 5
Flight:
I have three flights this year on this rocket, all have been fantastic. I used
Nomex®
chute protectors so I didn't need wadding, though I suspect wadding would work
as well.
First flight was on Estes D12-7 motors.
Second and third flights were on Estes E9-8 motors. These last two flights had the rocket nearly vanished from my view they went so high. On the E9 motors it seems to go forever. "Wow" is all I can say.
Recovery:
I used the standard LOC side mount for the shock cord. It isn't showing any
wear or tear yet so I believe I'll get many flights on it. The chute is the
best 24" X-form I've ever seen.
Flight Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary:
I love this rocket and the Viper IV one of my favorites. I do wish LOC would
make decals or at least make it possible to find the files to match the photos
on their web site, but hey, we are rocketeers so we can design our own or do
custom paint jobs, right?
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
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J.N. (November 28, 2004)