Derek H

Having just read the recent posts on the Capricorn and International this is my latest restoration project.

Two pictures of the Jupiter as it looked in the late eighties after the green and purple scheme

Hi Terry great picture of the Jupiter it has to be my model with that colour scheme. I bought the model at the Chichester club auction from someone who was flying it in competitions, not sure at what level and from what I can remember he sold it to fund newer model. His friend also had a similar model for sale at the same auction possibly another Jupiter, I do remember that they used to fly these models at our site occasionally when practising for competitions. There seems to be a great deal of interest in this design hopefully I can get to one of the meetings this year and fly it

The extra weight doesn't seem to bother it and I will let you know if i am taking the Jupiter to any events this year, or if you are ever down near Chichester let me know. The Irvine 72 has standard silencer and I have never found the Capricorn lacking power but sure it would perform better on a pipe. I have always liked this type of model since I started flying in the seventies and hopefully I can keep the Jupiter and Capricorn flying condition. I remember the Moonglow but not heard if anybody has one I agree it did look nice. I would love to find out more about the Jupiter and did you have any wins with it in the premier class?

Terry the Jupiter has put on a little weight over the years and weighs about nine & half pounds. How many Jupiter's were made and what number do you think mine is ? The Capricorn I bought in 1978/9 as an un started part kit consisting foam cores ,fibreglass fuz and a couple of formers. Not sure of is origin possibly an early Mick Reeves Kit, this stayed in the loft until 2000 when I decided to build it . It has fixed undercarriage and powered by Irvine 72 again the weight is about nine & half pounds.

Hi Terry I am the proud owner of the Jupiter its all balsa the retracts are indeed red i was never sure of the make although they are air up air down. When I bought the Jupiter it had a purple and lime green scheme, I changed this to a black red and yellow scheme in the eighties followed by the colours its in today. I think the original purple/ green scheme was sprayed on as there is evidence of over spray in radio compartment subsequent schemes were hand painted with spectrum and solartrim The model came to me with an OPS 61 with tuned pipe and with the red retracts and it still has this combination fitted today although the retracts have recently had new tubes and O rings It is my favourite model along with the Capricorn, the Jupiter is still flown and apart from ensuring the retracts are functioning and not sticking up in the wheel wells still performs nicely.

With regard to details of the Jupiter I bought the model second hand around mid eighties and flew it until 1992. It then sat in my garage roof until 2008 when I repainted it and restored the retracts to working condition. As you can imagine it flies very nicely although i am only a sports flyer and i am sure it can do much more. I cant tell you much more about the history of the model, I don't think it was produced as a kit and I feel it may of been built specially for competitions in the late seventies early eighties. I have never seen or heard of another and would love to find out more about it. I did take the model to Sleap but didn't fly it although I did fly my Capricorn (See Pic)

I agree they did look great, I cheated with the colour scheme on the Jupiter by using solartrim easy to patch as i have found out when the retracts stuck up.

Picture of my Jupiter OPS 61 with pipe and air retracts