Mountain Models Panic
09-18-2004 | 10:17 PM
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From: East Longmeadow, MA
Mountain Models Panic
Hey all! Today I got ot fly a Panic 3D form Mountain Models at the NEAT FAIR! What a sweet plane! Anyone interested in learning to hover and practice 3D batix but to afraid of crashing this is the plane for you.
www.mountainmodels.com
I have Shock Flyers, the Eflite Tribute, and many electrics but this is by far the most durable and most fun. It costs $45...for the price you cannot beat it. Lasercut parts for motor mount and such! All Hardware included! Now, I can easly fly in my backyeard which is extremely small but not have to worry about hitting the ground! I am goign to use an AXI 2208/34 with a 3 cell Li-pol! Get one and you won't be disappointed!
Dan
www.mountainmodels.com
I have Shock Flyers, the Eflite Tribute, and many electrics but this is by far the most durable and most fun. It costs $45...for the price you cannot beat it. Lasercut parts for motor mount and such! All Hardware included! Now, I can easly fly in my backyeard which is extremely small but not have to worry about hitting the ground! I am goign to use an AXI 2208/34 with a 3 cell Li-pol! Get one and you won't be disappointed!
Dan
09-19-2004 | 12:39 AM
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From: AshburtonCantebury, NEW ZEALAND
RE: Mountain Models Panic
Awesome!! I have seen them online but haven't really heard how good they are. Hopefully our MM rep will have some soon here.
Zimbo
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09-23-2004 | 03:25 PM
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From: Colorado Springs, CO
RE: Mountain Models Panic
Hey Dan,
Thanks for the post. I was going to wait till after NEAT before posting about the Panic here because I wanted to make sure I could fill orders.
The Panic was conceived as a plane that would build easily, fly very well, and survive crashes - not with quick and easy repairs - but with no damage. The last part - crashing - has been achieved in other planes, but I didn't like the way they compromised stiffness to get crashworthiness, at least in the planes I've seen. I took an entirely different approach and drew upon my experience from my day job where I design RC planes for the mass market. Instead of using EPP, which does bounce fairly well but is too flexible and heavy for what I was dreaming up, I went with EPS, which is stiffer, easier to work with, lighter, and at least as strong as EPP if you use it correctly.
I ended up with a plane that had less flex than some of my balsa designs but could survive a high speed cartwheel. The video on my site demonstrates that. What you didn't see in the video was that after the cartwheel, I put the battery back in place and flew again - no damage.
The Panic took longer to get to market than I expected. I worked with a few great beta testers and ironed out some handling details to get the 3D performace as good as possible. I wanted to eliminate knife edge roll coupling. Pitch coupling can be dialed out with CG changes and by adding aileron reflex adjustments but roll cupling must be designed out. I'm happy with the results. Most of my flying is in a bit of wind - comes with living where I do - but the Panic handles the wind well. You are not flying a kite but a real airfoil and the difference is noticeable.
Doug
www.mountainmodels.com
Thanks for the post. I was going to wait till after NEAT before posting about the Panic here because I wanted to make sure I could fill orders.
The Panic was conceived as a plane that would build easily, fly very well, and survive crashes - not with quick and easy repairs - but with no damage. The last part - crashing - has been achieved in other planes, but I didn't like the way they compromised stiffness to get crashworthiness, at least in the planes I've seen. I took an entirely different approach and drew upon my experience from my day job where I design RC planes for the mass market. Instead of using EPP, which does bounce fairly well but is too flexible and heavy for what I was dreaming up, I went with EPS, which is stiffer, easier to work with, lighter, and at least as strong as EPP if you use it correctly.
I ended up with a plane that had less flex than some of my balsa designs but could survive a high speed cartwheel. The video on my site demonstrates that. What you didn't see in the video was that after the cartwheel, I put the battery back in place and flew again - no damage.
The Panic took longer to get to market than I expected. I worked with a few great beta testers and ironed out some handling details to get the 3D performace as good as possible. I wanted to eliminate knife edge roll coupling. Pitch coupling can be dialed out with CG changes and by adding aileron reflex adjustments but roll cupling must be designed out. I'm happy with the results. Most of my flying is in a bit of wind - comes with living where I do - but the Panic handles the wind well. You are not flying a kite but a real airfoil and the difference is noticeable.
Doug
www.mountainmodels.com
