A few months back I reviewed the "Wingman 1" by The Wings Maker, and I was very impressed with a lot of what I saw. Now I have the chance to try their newest offering, the DF-Panther which is an electric ducted fan flying wing. The Panther is an all foam Ducted Fan flying wing that uses elevons for control. There is no rudder on the rear of the fin, so a 3-channel radio will fly it providing it has elevon mixing.
This looks like it could be a lot of fun. Let's dig in!
Requires : Outrunner Motor 28/31 KM0283110 and Ducted Fan Propulsion Unit PL6800010, 3-channel "mixing radio" (elevator and aileron) w/ 2 micro servos, 200mm servo extension cable x 2, 30A (burst 35A) brushless ESC and 3 cells 11.1V 15C 2100mAh battery and charger
Thin CA Glue
Epoxy
Various Standard Shop Tools
The packaging was excellent. The double-walled shipping box provided great protection and all parts were individually bagged.
As I unpacked the contents, I couldn't help but notice the cool little takeoff trolley (That blue thing above). The wheels are too small to use on anything but pavement, but it's still pretty cool!
A quick inventory showed nothing missing, so it was on to assembly.
MANUAL
As is so often the case, the manual is the weak link There were several times where I would do a step, wait for epoxy to cure and then, going on to the next step, realizing that due to lack of good instruction, I had done the previous step wrong and had to go back and re-do it.
WING
The ailerons are molded right into the wing. I was a little concerned about this until I realized that clear tape is supplied which is applied to the underside to strengthen this union.
A winglet is added and laser-cut plywood parts get epoxied to the wing for the servo hatch and control horn.
Important Notice About Using Epoxy On The Panther: As time went on, I discovered that epoxy does not stick well to the foam that is used in the Panther's construction. Any time you apply epoxy to this foam, first apply the epoxy, then take a toothpick and poke several holes through the glue and into the foam to give the epoxy a good hold.
Three different size servo mounts are supplied depending on the type of servo you choose. Once you find the set that's right for your servo, they get glued to the hatch cover with thin CA.
Now the servo can be mounted, the hatch screwed in place, control horn installed and the pre-bent pushrod attached.
FUSELAGE
Note: The top and bottom hatches on the fuselage are held on with rare earth magnets. After several failed attempts at gluing them in properly, I hit upon an excellent method for doing so.
Start by gluing the four metal coin-shaped "targets" (to which the magnets will attract) to the hatches and allow the epoxy to FULLY CURE. Now you can epoxy the magnets into their notches - but, before the epoxy sets, lay a small piece of plastic wrap over each magnet and put the hatches in place. This will cause the magnets to attach themselves to the target coins so that there are placed properly. The plastic wrap will keep the two items separate.
Once the epoxy on the magnets is fully cured, you can open the hatches and remove the pieces of plastic wrap.
The two halves of the fuse get epoxied together with the battery holder between them.
Two plywood plates with blind nuts get epoxied into slots in the rear of the fuse for mounting the fan. I put Vaseline inside the blind nuts and on the mounting screws and bolted the fan shroud in place while the epoxy cured to make sure the holes would be aligned.
Assembling the power unit proved to be one of the bigger challenges. The manual shows several pictures, but little written instruction is provided - and the pictures proved to be slightly misleading. One thing worth noting is that when you assemble the tail cone, you want the wires leaving 90 degrees from the mounting lugs on the fan.
Time to install the electronics. I used a 3-Cell 15C 2100MAh battery with a 40A ESC. That's it! Now we just add a few of the supplied decals and she's ready!
The first day out I was waiting for a helper to show up. Since I didn't want to try a "Throw it and then try to get your hands on the sticks" type of launch, I decided to go out to the road and try the trolley. The trolley seems like a great idea on the surface, but the torque of the engine pulled the plane so hard to the right that a takeoff was impossible.
A few minutes later, my dad arrived and we tried a hand launch. My next fear was confirmed - the stub molded into the bottom (Which is the only thing to hold on to) is small and rounded, so as you throw it, the plane slips out of your hand and goes straight up into a stall (and then, straight down). Fortunately the Panther is very durable.
The second attempt, went much better. I told my dad to hold the stub with his left hand and push the plane from the rear with his right hand. This launch technique worked two out of three times, but on the final attempt, it again slipped, shot up and stalled - This time, the nose broke off, but it was nothing that a little epoxy wouldn't fix.
To maintain a better grip, I added two strips of Velcro to the launch nub. I also chopped off the rounded back of the nub for a place to put your finger for a better push.
Back at the field, we discovered that even the better grip didn't help. The problem is that the launch lobe sits so low on the airframe that when you push it, the nose of the plane wants to rotate up - resulting in a straight up launch, followed by a straight down dive into the dirt. In the panther's defence, I must say that when we did get it airborne it flew great and it took quite a bit of abuse, but after several of these failed launches, it finally broke badly enough that I decided on my own accord to buy a new airframe.
When the second airframe arrived, I made a modification that I originally considered doing on the first. I made a launch hook from 1/8" plywood, trimmed away a slot in the bottom of the fuse and epoxied the plywood into the slot. This will allow for a bungee launch and by pulling from the nose instead of pushing from the bottom, I'm hoping we will avoid anymore of those bad launches.
The next time I had the Panther out, it had two modifications. First, it now had the hook up front, and second, I added eyelets to the trolley in hopes of getting it to follow a string to make it go straight.
I tied a string to a brick, ran it through the eyelets, and tied the other end to a second brick. The theory here was to have the trolley follow the tightened string in a straight line, but alas, this did not work either. As the Panther picked up speed, the torque caused the plane to just rotate right off the trolley. So, I'm kinda bummed. I had high hopes for the trolley, but I just don't think it's going to work.
The good news is, the bungee launcher worked great! I fashioned a slingshot out of fuel tubing and the Panther shot into the air every time - And once it was airborne... Woo Hooo! It is FAST - but it also has excellent slow-speed stability! Due to the fact that there is no rudder, aerobatics are limited, but loops, rolls, Cuban eights, etc. were excellent.
Check out the video to see her in action!
The manual is confusing, you need to secure any epoxy joints and unless you modify a launcher, it's difficult to get airborne. Normally these things would seriously discourage me from buying this model, but the flight is so exhilarating that it is definitely worth giving the Panther a shot. This plane is not for the faint of heart! If you like screaming-fast airplanes, for under $80, the Panther is hard to beat!
I too have a Panther and have about 15 flights on it. It took a beating while I and others launched it with a 20% failure rate. But, I have learned to launch it myself reliably. And yes, it a screamer! Lots of fun and worth the $100 I spent on it.
PS: I think you need 20C batteries. The electrics demand too much from the 16C Impulse batteries I am using.
The comments, observations and conclusions made in this review are solely with respect to the particular item the editor reviewed and may not apply generally to similar products by the manufacturer. We cannot be responsible for any manufacturer defects in workmanship or other deficiencies in products like the one featured in the review.
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