I'm thinking about putting an os46fx on my soon to arrive Panther. What size and type of motor are you flying on it and how do they do? I would use a 12 x 4 prop to slow it down some.

stdun,

I have never seen the Panther, can you send me a link to it?

Tank

jmayle, I'm not good at computor stuff but the plane is a Tufflight model seen at tufflight.com , where you can also see all their neat planes. I have talked to the owners at Tufflight ( really nice folks ) about the motor issue and was just wondering what Panther owners were doing etc.

If so put a 46fx on a Panther and hold on. If combat in your local area uses a lot 46's you will have a great plane for combat. But I don't see a lot of "C" class on the different contest calendars.
A 25fx, Norvel.25, Jett .25 or .30 or an Irving .25 will keep your plane performing right up with the big boys in RCCA "B" combat.

I know the designers of the plane, and they fly with Norvel .25's. Their planes have unlimited vertical, and are very fast. Using a 12x4 prop, you'll have a very nose heavy plane that doesn't fly much faster and doesn't have any better vertical than one with a good .25 on it.

Matt, Do you mean that Joe and Mark designed a combat bird that can't fly well in C class? I've seen a couple Predators with 46fx's on them that seem to fly very well, but they don't turn as tightly because of their speed and weight. And I have a Gremlin with a 46fx and a 10x7 that handles the same way, only it's not nearly as durable as a TufFlight plane. I agree with you that a 46fx is over-kill by a lot, but I have a hard time believing a Panther couldn't be properly ballanced with one.


Stdun, When you talked to Joe and or Mark on the phone, what did they say about a 46fx on a Panther?

A .46 will balance because we mount all the radio forward to balance the .25 and .15. You could move the battery and servos rearward to accommodate the heaver engine.
The only thing I would caution you about is that because our kits use a semi flex design for durability, there is a limit to the air speed. Because of the flexible design if too much speed is reached the wing may flutter. With the longer the span of the panther this may be more noticeable than in the Predator.
I would start with an 11 X 5, and use plenty of 3M77. Good luck

The folks at Tufflight think the 46 is too big and I've come to agree. I have a new os25fx on the way to put on it. In our combat group smaller planes still seem to win the most so I'm going for fast and nimble with the Panther. I still like my Predator X a lot though.

Heck, any plane can be balanced. If you can balance a Predator with a .46, then a Panther will balance just as well, since a Panther is essentially a Predator with 6" of extra wing glued on each end. I just figure that since you're adding an extra half pound or so to the plane, it's going to affect the handling characteristics in an adverse way...

Flew my new Panther yesterday with an os25fx. It is a new motor so I was running it rich. The plane wasn't too fast at first but as I leaned it out it started to go pretty good. The plane flew very easy and fun. Next weekend is combat so I will lean it out some more and see what happens. My Predator with it's os46fx still screams. I interested to see which one I go with, but either one will do the job nicely.