1:1 Viper mockup?

[Doctor Salik]

Hi folks! It's good to be back on the fleet.
I'm doing the Cylon department at the German version of the battlestarfanclub. One question I was not able to answer was this:
Are there any surviving full scale viper models? Are some undaunted fans even building a viper mockup for their lawns?
I really could need some assistance here, those German fans are really fanatic.

Hey, wait, I'm a German fan as well... ;)

[jewels]

You want to find a guy named Charlie, battlestarphoenix.com was their website, not sure if it got rolling again or not, but Michael Faries at www.battlestarpegasus.com would know how to find him if anyone does. I thought I heard Charlie say he'd built one. :eek:

Jewels

[Doctor Salik]

Thanks Jewels! You know everything!!

I will check it out. But you mean there actually were people building a viper mock-up?! Wow! :eek:

[jewels]

I think "built it" is the operative term. Was sitting by them during DeSanto's slide presentation & heard a whispered comment of either "that's a hard way to build a viper" or "that's not the way to build a viper." You know I asked questions about that later. ;)
Models I can understand, and those guys and the CG guys I hold in awe, but full-size mockup? Those things are something like 15' by 30' and 15' wide or so.

I don't know if it's the same one that was used in BSG:TSC (RH's trailer) or not. I believe one was used for that.

[Doctor Salik]

Thanks Jewels! I will check everything out.
There's another question I would like to ask and since I don't know where to post it, I'll do it here:
What happened to the original props and arts, including the original bridge built in 1978 for the show? Destroyed? Sold? Recycled in "Buck Rogers"?

[Stevew]

Jewels
Wasn't Charlie Battlestar Phoenix?

[jewels]

Jewels
Wasn't Charlie Battlestar Phoenix?
If I followed everything Michael told me, yes.

[Senmut]

Has anyone ever wind-tunnel tested a Viper model? Or worked out how and where the control surfaces should function? If that were done, I can't hep but wonder if small jet engines might be utilized, to make one actually fly.

[Punisher454]

Put enough power to it and anything will fly.

But seriously, we would have to make a few assumptions about the weight of the engines and the rest of the ship.
If the engines weigh similarly to a real jet engine and the airframe is fairly light then it would probably have a CG at or just behind the pilot. The wings are well behind that. It would be very nose heavy and would have an insanely high stall speed. Basically a missile, not a plane.
If you swept the wings forwards and added a canard on the front portion of the fuselage it would work ok.
Above you seem to be hinting at building an RC aircraft, that's a different case entirely. With an RC plane you could build it very light, think thin foam(in RC talk I think they call it "Fan Fold Foam"). you could use a trio of electric ducted fans VERY close to the tail and place the batteries near the rear also. Then maybe you could get the CG close to the chordline of the wings. It would be best to deviate from a true scale model by using a real airfoil shape rather than thick flat planks.

The Raider would actually be easier to build as a flying scale model. Well not easier to build, just easier to balance.