70mm F-9F Panther by RC Lander
08-02-2012, 08:34 AM
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70mm F-9F Panther by RC Lander
Since there weren't any recent threads for this jet I decided to make one.
I bought mine at EJF.com in the kit version and added all of my own servos, power plant, and electronics. It came with RC Lander metal mechanical retracts (very nice), horns, clevises, and pushrods. The "pilot" looked more like a seatback than a pilot so Icut him out of the cockpit first thing and replaced with a proper RC Lander pilot with yellow helmet.
I used E-Flite Delta V15 fan with BL-15 inrunner 3600kv E-Flite motor. It's the same one that I use in my 70mm F-86 Saber and this one is lighter. Iuse a 40C 4S-4000 Zippy Flightmax lipo. It has a HobbyKing Red Brick 70 amp opto ESC with a HK 5 amp BEC attached to keep it cooler. I used HK metal servos all around (Turnigy MG90S-13g servos). I had to use Turnigy servo reverser on flaps and on main gear since Ihad no reverse servos.
I painted bottom red stripes on wing yellow to add to visual discrimination from top to bottom. I also painted all of the body with clear polyurethane to guard against dings (Home Depot...blue can).
Imaidended it last weekend...sort of...details below:
CG was just in front of spar on underside of wing which was about 60-62mm. To get it that close I had to add 1.5 oz of weight in the tail pipe. It was REALLY nose heavy. I had moved the battery as far aft as I could get it without interfering with nose steering and retract servo linkages.
I taxied around and the left retract collapsed so I added about 10% to end point adjustment and it worked fine. I then set her up on the runway and gradually added power to full and it lifted off perfectly and with good authority. The speed was better than my Venom F-86 with the same power plant, which I have considered just adequate for that plane.
It was almost trimmed perfectly from the start. Added a little down elevator and one click of right aileron and it was tracking straight and true. It was quite responsive to elevator and aileron control even with 40% expo on each.
I flew around for 3 minutes and decided to land early just to check everything out. I put gear down, flaps down, headed downwind to start my turn toward final and ... lost all radio control! The throttle went to about 20% (Futaba failsafe) and I had no control at about 75 feet above the ground and it was headed straight down. It turned back toward me and I had control at about 10 feet above the ground and I pulled up hard, even though I still had no more than 20% throttle (probably a blessing in retrospect), and it soft landed in the long grass on all three landing gear. I wish I would have thought to put them up before crash landing
The only damage was the nose wheel plywood landing gear platform that just came un-epoxied. It was a miracle. Apparently they epoxied at the factory AFTER it was painted so the bond wasn't that good. NOTE: reinforce that platform! (I already Gorilla glued it).
Now for the stupid pilot part. In my haste to get this bird in the air...I didn't do what I ALWAYS know to do...which is to separate my RX wires in drinking straws in separate directions (90 degrees). When I opened her up I found both rx wires sitting on top of each other in the same direction and touching. It makes sense that when the plane was pointing away from me that the rx couldn't see my signal and there was no path diversity so it went to failsafe. Now I have wondered what is the best failsafe to set on my Futaba and have just left it as it comes. I will continue to do so because it did just fine. It left my flaps down and just floated in.
Next week, hopefully I can report on the landing of my Panther in a more conventional way
I was really excited about the speed and the handling of this plane. Except for the nose wheel platform, I give RC Lander 5 stars for building in the carbon fiber (or fiberglass) rods in the elevator and wing, the excellent metal landing gear and retracts, and the overall finish of the plane. The manual was less than stellar though but is okay.
Russ
I bought mine at EJF.com in the kit version and added all of my own servos, power plant, and electronics. It came with RC Lander metal mechanical retracts (very nice), horns, clevises, and pushrods. The "pilot" looked more like a seatback than a pilot so Icut him out of the cockpit first thing and replaced with a proper RC Lander pilot with yellow helmet.
I used E-Flite Delta V15 fan with BL-15 inrunner 3600kv E-Flite motor. It's the same one that I use in my 70mm F-86 Saber and this one is lighter. Iuse a 40C 4S-4000 Zippy Flightmax lipo. It has a HobbyKing Red Brick 70 amp opto ESC with a HK 5 amp BEC attached to keep it cooler. I used HK metal servos all around (Turnigy MG90S-13g servos). I had to use Turnigy servo reverser on flaps and on main gear since Ihad no reverse servos.
I painted bottom red stripes on wing yellow to add to visual discrimination from top to bottom. I also painted all of the body with clear polyurethane to guard against dings (Home Depot...blue can).
Imaidended it last weekend...sort of...details below:
CG was just in front of spar on underside of wing which was about 60-62mm. To get it that close I had to add 1.5 oz of weight in the tail pipe. It was REALLY nose heavy. I had moved the battery as far aft as I could get it without interfering with nose steering and retract servo linkages.
I taxied around and the left retract collapsed so I added about 10% to end point adjustment and it worked fine. I then set her up on the runway and gradually added power to full and it lifted off perfectly and with good authority. The speed was better than my Venom F-86 with the same power plant, which I have considered just adequate for that plane.
It was almost trimmed perfectly from the start. Added a little down elevator and one click of right aileron and it was tracking straight and true. It was quite responsive to elevator and aileron control even with 40% expo on each.
I flew around for 3 minutes and decided to land early just to check everything out. I put gear down, flaps down, headed downwind to start my turn toward final and ... lost all radio control! The throttle went to about 20% (Futaba failsafe) and I had no control at about 75 feet above the ground and it was headed straight down. It turned back toward me and I had control at about 10 feet above the ground and I pulled up hard, even though I still had no more than 20% throttle (probably a blessing in retrospect), and it soft landed in the long grass on all three landing gear. I wish I would have thought to put them up before crash landing
The only damage was the nose wheel plywood landing gear platform that just came un-epoxied. It was a miracle. Apparently they epoxied at the factory AFTER it was painted so the bond wasn't that good. NOTE: reinforce that platform! (I already Gorilla glued it).Now for the stupid pilot part. In my haste to get this bird in the air...I didn't do what I ALWAYS know to do...which is to separate my RX wires in drinking straws in separate directions (90 degrees). When I opened her up I found both rx wires sitting on top of each other in the same direction and touching. It makes sense that when the plane was pointing away from me that the rx couldn't see my signal and there was no path diversity so it went to failsafe. Now I have wondered what is the best failsafe to set on my Futaba and have just left it as it comes. I will continue to do so because it did just fine. It left my flaps down and just floated in.
Next week, hopefully I can report on the landing of my Panther in a more conventional way
I was really excited about the speed and the handling of this plane. Except for the nose wheel platform, I give RC Lander 5 stars for building in the carbon fiber (or fiberglass) rods in the elevator and wing, the excellent metal landing gear and retracts, and the overall finish of the plane. The manual was less than stellar though but is okay.Russ
08-02-2012, 12:22 PM
#3
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RE: 70mm F-9F Panther by RC Lander
I fly at Tom Bass Field on 288 S. @ Beltway 8 sometimes but mostly at Johnson Space Center Radio Control Club at JSC.
Where do you fly out there in Katy?
Russ
Where do you fly out there in Katy?
Russ
