k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

The left main gear door has been installed. It was cut from the large piece I had cut out earlier. The hinges installed in the fuse and then the door was lined up and hinged. Strips of polyply were added to close the gap.Two pieces of 1/4 inch ply were glued together to make themounting blockfor the air cylinder. the air cylinder was attached and the block was glued to the former using 5 minute hysol. The hinge mounting screws will be trimmed once all of the hinges have been installed.

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

The right-hand main gear door and air cylinderhas been installed.

This fan pulls in hugh amounts of air and can implode ducting if it isn't re-enforced. To do this I ca'd 3 wrapps of carbon fiber tow around the outside of the ducting in several places. The ducting was glued in place using hysol. The front of the ducting sits on the inside, flat portion of the intake lip. Filler will be used to blend it into the lip.About 2 inches was cut off of the adpter and hysoled to the end ducting allowin a way forthe fan to be plugged into the ducting.

Kirk

DUCMOZ

Hi Kirk, are those screws holding the hinges long enough?!!

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

Yeah, they arehelping with the CG. See you guys in a few weeks.

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

The intake ducting has been blended into the intake lip with filler and the inside of the ducting has been primed (photos 1 & 2). The nose cone is supposed to be glued onto the fuse but I wanted to make it removable. Most likely the receiver and battery will go in this location. I made a former to match the former in the fuse and added tabs for screws. To glue the former in the nose cone in the correct location, packing tape was added around the primeter and the former was screwed in place. The nose cone was set in place and a line was drawn around it toshow where the former goes. Then nose cone was removed and hysol was added to the inside of the cone along the line and then the cone was set back on the former (photos 3 & 4). The gun ports were added by first leveling the fuse on the stand. Then a laser was used to place a line across the nose and the gun port positions wer marked. The areas were opened and hollow carbon fiber rods were shaped and glued in place (photos 5 & 6). Later, aluminum tubes will be added to represent the guns.

Kirk

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

I didn't add a second coat of epoxy on the wing tip tanks so they were covered in red spot putty to fill in the weave of the glass cloth and sanded smooth. I ran out of grey primer so one of the tanks was primered with white primer. Filler was used to get a good fit of the wing tip tank against the wing. (photo 1) This was done for both tanks. The seam on the nose cone was filled and it was primere. Aton of pin holes showed through so I sanded the primer and covered it with red spotty putty. Normally I would use BVM pin hole filler but I didn't have any on hand. The putty was sanded and the nose cone was primed with white primer. I used 1/4 inch aluminum tubes with thick walls to make the 20mm cannons. The tubing was cut to length and chocked in a drill press and the ends were sanded at an angle (photos 2 & 3). Photo 4 is that "I have to put it together to see what it looks like" shot.

Kirk

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

One important aspect of these high powered EDFs is keeping the controller cool and the best way to do that is to have air flowing over the controller. Normally, place the controller in the exhaust outlet behind the fan but this can create issues if the battery cables are too long. The controller I'm using is a 14 cell controller and is physically larger thanthe 12 cell Castle 160A controller so putting it in the exhaust outlet isn't feisable and the battery cables would be too long if it could be palced there. To solve this issue the holes for the speed brakes were drilled in the bottom of the fuse. A box was built from 1/8th inch lite ply to house the controller. The box will be hysoled in place over the speed brake holes and a 60mm 12V CPU cooling fan will be used to draw air in through the speed brake holes. The air will flow over the controller and will be removed by the fan (photos 1 - 4). Mounting blocks were added to the inside corners of the box and a top was made and screwed in place. The steering servo was added to the top of the controller box (photo 5). A receiver/battery tray was made from 1/4 ply and hysoled in place. The retract and brake servos and the UP2and UP4 retract vavles and the UP6 brake valve were install(photo 6). The right side and front of the hatch were blended with the fuse using filler (photo 7).

Kirk

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

Negotiating a contract for work and an unexpected medical issue has slowed me down but some progress has been made. The nose gear doors were installed using offset hinges but due to the shape of the fuse they ended up binding. I removed the offset hinges and filled the holes that were drilled to attach the hinges. Piano hinges were used with no binding. The controller cooling box has been hysoled in place and the box has been renamed to the "all purpose" box. It now houses the controller, steering servo, air control panel, radio switch,cooling fan switch, and nose gear door air cylinders. The air lines have been installed and the gear and doors work as they should i.e. all doors open, gear goes down, main gear doors close while nose gear doors remain open. The air tanks were installed on the side of the fuse above the intake ducts. The fan plywood mounting plates have been hysoled in place and the fan was installed using #6 screws. The rudder servo hatch has been opened under the horizontal stab and carbon fiber was epoxied into the opening. Installing the radio equipement will be next.

Kirk

Ron101

My Feedback: (22)

Looking pretty dam slick Kirk
I like the ESC box, good idea

Going to be a sharp looking plane

Ron

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

It's time for an update. All of the flight surfaces have been hinged and glued in place. All of the servos have been installed. The Sbus cables have been run and the radio has been programmed and tested. Servo covers have been made and taped in place for now. The outer retract bay doors have been installed. They have been hinged with piano hinges so I can open them to get to the wing hold down bolt. The strut doors have been cut out and will be installed later. The ESC cooling fan has been wired to the switch and battery and is working great. The pilot has been fitted to the cockpit and the cockpit has been installed in manner which allows it to be easily removed to get at things under it. The steering cables have been installed. The wing tip tanks have been glued in place.

The fan was run with a new set of Thunder Power 14 cell 7700mah packs. With a clamp on meter I'm seeing 128A and 6272 watts. As the batteries break in, the numbers will increase giving more power.

Tomorrow I'm starting the drive to Seattle to begin a new contract. I'll be there through early July then returning home to Maryland to work from home. I'm bringing the Panther with me and will try to get it maiden while I'm in Seattle.

Kirk

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

We went flying today and for the first flights of th season I flew my Texan II a couple of times to knock the rust off of my thumbs. I did take the panther to the field to do some taxi tests. It had rained earlir so the grass was a bit damp but the SchubelerDS-77 HST fanpushed the 25 pound Panther around decently. It didn't have enough for the Panther to take off from grass but I think it will do ok on asphault.

Kirk

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQkWIrVB61c[/youtube]

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

Today, I was able to maiden the Panther. I'll have the video of the second flight processed in the next day or two and will update with the link.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ItVZXygdE[/youtube]

Kirk

smchale

My Feedback: (67)

Congrats Kirk, looks to have a very scale 'pace' in the air.

bruff

My Feedback: (18)

Very Good!
Bob

gunradd

My Feedback: (9)

Very nice! Congrats!

Shaun Evans

Kirk,

Awesome, man! I love the sound. TOTALLY jet! Good performance, too. She takes off and climbs just like the real thing. Good work.

Doksa

Hey Kirk

Very nice. Very scale flight and sound. The fan we talked about should
be perfect. Ill keep you posted on the YA F-15 ARF

John B

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

Thanks Sean, Shawn, Bob, Kris, and John.


Here's the video of the second flight. For the maiden flight there was a 45 degree cross wind. For the 2nd flight there was a 90 degree cross wind. The Panther seemed to handle both conditions well.

There are two things I'm amazed about with the Schubeler DS-77. First is the sound. IMHO no other EDF fan comes this close to sounding like a turbine. Second is the power. If you look at the fan based on its Fan Swept Area (FSA), it is equal to the 110mm sized fans on the market, area-wise, yet it is flying the 25+ pound Panther as well as the larger 137mm fans.

One thing I think will help with the takeoff is to use some flaps. Ididn't use flaps on the maiden or 2nd flight because I didn't know how the Panther would react to takeoff flaps in a cross wind.

Kirk

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOf9WYB0cl4[/youtube]

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

I just charged the batteries from the 2nd flight and they took 4500mAh. I can add another minute of flight time and stil have 20% reserve. As the batteries break in and get stronger, I should be able to add even more flight time.

Kirk

bruff

My Feedback: (18)

Looks great!  Well done.  I'm flying the PST Panther. The Panther makes a great large scale EDF.
Bob

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

Thanks Bob. I agree, the Panther does make a nice large scale EDF. To me, it flies like a P-47. It's predictable, smooth, and lands like a trainer.

I plan to get a few more flights on it and do the finishing work.

Ron101

My Feedback: (22)

Nice work big Kirk
I dig it, and the sound is perfect!!

Can't wait to see it decked out like you always do, hope some day we get to fly together that would be cool

The new DS fans are really nice,,, Daniel makes one hell of a fan.

Daniel wouldn't tell me but did hint that the are working on something even more efficent,,,, but it will be some time off maybe a year or more.

Looking forward to whatever it is

Eddie P

My Feedback: (4)

Very scale-like. For those who want to see what the real ones flew like, this is pretty close! We get too used to seeing over powered and heavy sleds dressed up like classic jets. This one flies really nicely and balanced from what I can see in the video. Nice work, congrats on the project so far (I know there is more to go with the finish/paint).

k_sonn

My Feedback: (32)

Got another flight on the Panther. When I read the fan's manual, I mis-read the recommended exhaust opening size and made it too small. So, for the maiden and 2nd flight the power seemed marginal until the panther gotgoing. I opened the exhaust tube to the recommended size and power was not an issue on the 3rd flight (video below). The Panther now takes off with authority. The amp draw did increase from 134 amps and 6500+ watts to 158 amps and 8400+ watts. I believe the amp increase is a combination of the larger exhaust opening and the batteries breaking in and holding higher voltage. The panther was trimmed on the maiden flight with 4 clicks of up elevator. On the 3rd flight I had to remove all of the up and add 4 clicks of down elevator. The contoller cut off during the middle of the flight. I believe not enough cooling air is getting over the controller and I will look into getting more air into the cooling box. The 3rd flight lasted 3 minutes and used 3555mAh. I can add 2 more minutes to the timer and still have enough for a go around.

Kirk

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPgygRmcHMM[/youtube]

smchale

My Feedback: (67)

Awesome Kirk! Can't wait to see it get some colors on it now. Congrats, you have a winner on your hands with this one.