u2fast

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after the short (one weekend) life of my second hand airworld panther, i now have my replacement. cant move on with life without a panther. ask anybody? i want to thank sung kim and the guys at airworld for their help. now i am looking forward to this weekend for a mad dog build. barry

Ron S

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Why so angry??? [sm=shades_smile.gif]
Hope to see the model at Waco in a couple months! [sm=shades_smile.gif]

WhoDaMan

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way to funny B

Joe C

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Good luck with your new Panther Barry, they are awesome. I had one. Joe C!!

petera38

Life without a Panther is no life!

Pete

Pantherman

Ahhh, now the circle of life is complete. Can't wait to see it finished so we can fly the Panthers together. I know she will be Sierra Hotel.

Woody

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

first up, i thought i needed some motivation. i visited a carrier and went up with mickey so i could see some panthers in action. got to see some flying in from a mission. one had a flame out and went into the drink. i helped rescue him. watched the rest land. seas were calm, the sky was blue. thanks mickey and a special recgonition to the u.s. navy for the ride along through time. barry

u2fast

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floated in the inlets and did a test fit. looked good. fine tuned the wing fit and stab fit. added the inlets doing the ussual scuffing and hysol. added all of the front bulkheads. more hysol. looks like an easy build. large holes to work through. also cut out all of the gear doors. i should have her sitting on the legs tomorrow. barry

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

last one til later. both inlets on and front section done. tonight i am going to cut loose all of the surfaces and go with scale hinging. i will get pics of this mod for anyone interested. barry

Craig B.

Hey Barry,

Man what is taking you so long! No, seriously, nice work! Would like to see some pics of your mods. I have an airworld panther and absolutely love it. Very majestic in the air. Please post some pics.

Craig.

olnico

Hi Barry,

What happened to the previous one ?

I really like your Pantherbot. Give hie my best regards...

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

olivier, thought i emailed you. the 4th flight on the first day out, she went in. at half throttle flying formation with another panther, show center, the right stab delamed and the following flutter was so violent it tore a lot off of the back of the jet. i had no elevator. i shut the turbine off and banked her left away from the runway. as she glided down i deployed the flaps to slow her down. she glided into the trees and the branches did the rest. most everything was salvagable. there was no fire. turbine was sent in for a check up and a dent in the can, but nothing came unplugged. saddest day of my modeling life. i waited so long for this model only to enjoy her for about a grand total of 15 to 10 minutes of air time. not to mention the jets i sold to fund her. thats life. so i am building a new one. i will be modding all the hinges. barry

olnico

I was not aware of this.
Sorry for the loss, it was a beautiful plane.
I am sure that the new one will get even better.
What scheme will you choose ?

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

today i cut the elevators loose. i scuffed the internal glass work and used aeropoxy to add 5 hardpoints for hinges. when this cures, i will cap the stab with a recessed trailing edge. the elevators were easy to deal with. more scuffing and added balsa sandwiched between the upper and lower skins. when this cures i will add another piece of balsa and shape it to recess into the stab.

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

next up, the flaps. cut them off and more scuffing. i added a strong balsa strip to the lower skin. the strip butts up against the trailing edge too. the internal trailing edge is recessed fairly deep, so i was able to use a descent size for my balsa strip. i am planning on using heavy duty robart hinges inserted in at a 45 degree angle. the hinge point will barely be visable. this should yield a very strong hinge with maximum glueing surface. barry

u2fast

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the flaps will be quite easy. i cut an opening in the end. this will allow me to insert a 1/2 x 3/4 balsa strip inside the surface for the hinges. now, i need to wait for all of this hysol to cure so i can do some final sanding. especially on the trailing edge of the wing. barry

u2fast

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while the wing and tail components dry i thought i would mount the hatch. i used nyrod and sleeves. everything was lined up and taped down. bam, more hysol. more wait. barry

u2fast

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glue is dry on the elevators, therefore, shaping was done. plenty of beef for the hinges. i will drill out the hinge locations tomorrow evening. barry

u2fast

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all the doors and speed boards hinged too. barry

u2fast

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finished both flap hinge points and sanded them out. very strong and clean. i was a little worried at how much work and engineering it may take to think through the best way to have enough beef for the hinges. this being a large model, there was plenty of room and it was a breeze. barry

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

3 days of building between family duties and i had to take a pic of her put together. always good for future motivation. barry

marineA4

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Looking perty Barry. Man, your fast builder I see.
I really like that size Panther, it looks totally awesome.......

David Searles

My Feedback: (49)

Jeez Barry,

Keep making it look this easy and you're gonna end up costing me money![sm=greedy.gif]

I've always wanted one of these, just wasn't sure I wanted to take on the build job. I'm building their 1/5 F-5 now.

David S

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

dave, that f5 looks cool. does it have live hinging on the wings? i assume the stab is a flying stab. i am pretty sure my last panther went in due to live hinging probably hitting its full life span. i purchased my other airworld panther from ali and i am sure it had some miles on it. unfortunately it only saw a mile or two with me. i have done a lot of thinking about the reason for the loss. it appeared as if the rear stab delammed. i assume the live hinging started to pull the composite skin up. my conclusions were, the larger and heavier the model the more the load is. second, speed is a factor too. probably not as much on the panther as it wasnt a speed demon, but it did hold its own and probably surpassed scale speeds. third, texas temps, ie the hotter the temp, i would think the life of the composite is somewhat compromised. example, on a hot sunny day, i would think some of the resins soften slightly. i have seen blistering in some skins on some composite models. i do try to keep mine out of the sun, but a long wait at the flight line can let things warm up a bit. lastly, everything has a life. all factors big and small have a role. i think all of these factors came together on that ill fated day. therefore i am taking steps to strenghten what i percieve as the weakest link in the chain and add to the lifespan of the model. none of my other models have had an inflight failure. the rest of the links in the airworld panther appear to be strong. barry

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

trailing edges were glued in place with vpoxy. it is 1/8 balsa, more cosmetic then strength. i have 5 hard points for hinges within the stab itself. barry