Ripmax Mirage 2000-5
On opening the box you soon see that this will be a very quick model to build due to there not being a lot of components inside it. The model is 99% polystyrene and there is only four pieces of it at that. A sheet of clear mouldings, a self adhesive decal sheet, an instruction manual and a couple of bags of accessories and that’s it. Not a lot for you £25 but it is well worth it as this builds into a nice fun model.
Down to the building part if you can call it that. A quick look at the clock, its 10pm, I wonder how quick I can build this thing. You will need 5 minute epoxy, some white paint, some black paint, a sharp knife and an understanding wife like mine as I am building it on the couch while Gwen watches the television.
The first job to do is the installation of the electric motor (a speed 400 included in the kit). Epoxy the ply bulkhead to the back of the fuselage ensuring that it is lined up correctly then install the motor which is held in place with two small screws.
Take the wing halves and epoxy them onto the sides of the fuselage ensuring that you line them up correctly, then do the same with the fin. The next thing I did was to get Gwen a drink as she was getting thirsty. This is just one of the drawbacks to building on the couch I suppose.
In
one of the bags of accessories there are six small pieces of ply to take the
hatch and canopy retaining screws. Epoxy these in place.
Take the sheet of clear mouldings and cut out the nose cone, canopy, hatch, jet nozzle and two turbolators with your sharp knife taking care not to cut yourself as you don’t want to get blood on your new model or couch.
Fit
the hatch and jet nozzle to the model then remove them for painting on the
inside. Carefully cut the outer and inner side of the ailerons and fit the two
control horns. Install two micro servos with the servo tape provided and make up
the control for the elevons also provided in the kit.
Connect
up the speed controller ensuring that the motor rotates in the correct
direction. I have chosen to use a seven cell pack of Sanyo 500ar nicads to power
the Mirage. These are installed inside the cockpit area of the fuselage. You
need to make a hole in the polystyrene to allow the leads for the battery to
pass through to the speed controller, this was done with the aid of my soldering
iron.
It
was at this stage that I decided to apply the decals to the model.
The
inside of the nose cone, hatch and turbolators were painted with white emulsion.
When the paint had dried the turbolators and nose cone were glued in place with
epoxy.
The
receiver I installed was a GWS 8 channel micro receiver that fits inside the cut
out in the fuselage a treat with the aerial being taped to the wing to keep it
well away from the pusher propeller.
I didn’t have any black paint for the inside of the jet nozzle so I fitted mine on the model and will paint it later (honest). The propeller is pushed onto the shaft of the speed 400 motor and hatch fitted to the bottom of the fuselage.
The centre of gravity is 130-135mm from the leading edge and my model was slightly nose heavy so I moved the receiver as far back as possible which made little difference.
Time
was now 12.05am it has taken just over two hours to build the model, great but
its too dark to test fly the damn thing! Time for bed I suppose.
The next day it was quite windy but off to the field I went charging the nicads on the way. A quick pre-flight check and it was time to test fly the model. My father Jim launched the Mirage into the air and away it went climbing slightly. After a quick and I mean quick circuit the motor was throttled back to test slow speed handling which was fine then power up and try loops , rolls and inverted flight which the Mirage did with no trouble at all.
After approx 3 ½ minutes I landed the mirage before the b.e.c. kicked in. This is a nice looking model that fly's well and will be great fun once the wind drops down.
I
am very pleased with my Mirage and can’t fault the kit in anyway and at £25
for the kit it’s a real bargain.
Length:
680mm
Weight:
400-450g
Radio
required:
min 3 channel (aileron – elevon mixer required)
Motor:
Speed 400
Battery
used:
Sanyo 8.4v 500ar