Need some help with a fiberglass Panther kit
 

Hey guys I need some of your good old fashioned help

I won first in beginner scale in the NASA events with a TFG P40 Arf

But jets are my passion and while I have been bashing ARFs for some time even did a complete strip down and turbine conversation on my Byron F16

So a good friend of mine (Mike Barbee \ huge in the Scale master series) hooked me up with a white fiberglass fuse with no panel lines kit of the Ziroli Panther.

But it came with a little box of ply and balsa parts. Some of them look like they would be used to build the whole kit not just the wings and elevators.

The wood came with a little set of directions that say Ziroli on them but Mike thinks this is a older PST kit

So my questions.

1. Are there directions on how to build the fiberglass kit vs all wood?

2 are there different directions for the 2 different builds? Ie use this form etc

3. Why are some of the peaces a different color of wood?

4 what else do I need to get started? I think I needed the tube spar kit from Ziroli

Im going to use a jetcat p80 at 21 pounds thrust. Is this ok?

Any links or help would be great. Thanks Mike

Probably a PST as I dont remember seeing a Ziroli in white gelcoat- The ones I saw were epoxy resin plain.
PST was a splash of Ziroli.
The dark wood is some Asia wood-Prob mahogany
You need to keep it light-P80 overpowered -Original design was DF and they flew perfect with 12# turbine engines
You need a carry thru spar kit. Wings were built up wood unless you have cores cut.
The plans you have is for the ALL wood kit-Real PIA making the fuse-Scotty

I had that kit. It was a preproduction PST F9. Way back the day, Tommy (Doc) Yates had an agreement to have 6 shipped to the U.S and I got one. I had foam cores cut based off the Ziroli plans and later sold it to Sean McHale. Good luck with it! Nick

The laser cut lumber in the first picture look like wood for the Ziroli wood kit. Don't know about the second set of wood parts. The fuselage is NOT Ziroli. I had one and the canopy and engine hatch were one piece, No panel lines. Will the wood you have fit inside the fuse? Could be a Jet Hanger Hobbies fuse, they are slightly smaller than the Ziroli. I now have an early PST kit from 2006 and the canopy and engine hatches are separate, Also the nose cone is one piece removable, not split horizonally. Could be a pre production PST before they did the panel lines and perhaps they changed the hatches. I got a set of Preproduction tip tanks from PST before the kits came out, and they didn't have panel lines and were Quite thin and light.The intakes are different from the PST also. I would send a picture to PST and ask them.

Man figures this would be a odd build.

So if I can't get any information from pst them should I just buy the Ziroli blue prints and try to build the wings

You can use Z plans for the wings... The root may require filler because PST used a different airfoil.

The Ziroli Wings are great. Looks like you have the main formers. Order the Ziroli plans and a spar set and have fun. I finished my Ziroli wings with carbon fiber vale under a layer of 1/2 oz glass and they were stronger than my PST composite wings. About the same weight, after I added the panel lines. I changed the wing servo locations shown on the plans to hide the linkage was the only change I made.

I agree with Terry, my Z wngs were very strong!

Humm.

So what is the best way to get the balsa covering and stringers?

I was just told about csrbon vale today.

Just so I understand. You build up the wing then covered with balsa then a layer of vale then 1/2 glass covering?

Do you still have the pst wings?

I got my short kit through Jesse at Laser Lizard..I use 3/4 oz always.

Nick is right the wing cores are different than the fuse. What I did is glued the cores to the saddles, then made new root and tip templates, using a Hotwire cut the new shape then sheeted and glassed them as normal. I may have some pics from the build I can share. Those formers look familiar too. I got it to the primer stage but then sold it unfinished.

Ok the darker wood fits the fuse nicely.

I put looks like the first rib against the fuse. What you think?

I can tell you all about that fuse. It is the predecessor to the PST kit. Many years ago I corresponded with the (then) owner of PST Jets who has since been killed in a plane crash. he had six of these fuses available. I bought all of them, we had them loaded into a container and shipped to California. After battling the Longshoremen, greasing a few palms, and paying some ridiculous "made up taxes", they were in the hands of Ralph out in LA, who then put them on a truck and sent them to me. Several guys got them. Supposedly they were based on the Zioli plans, and the wings were supposed to be built from the Ziroli plans. The bulkheads came with the plane I think, and you could use Robart gear. The hatch was a little flimsy and did not fit well, but was nothing that could not be remedies. I think the one I had was built and flown with a PST 600, which at the time put out about 13 pounds of thrust. Good luck, and sorry I can't give you much more details.
Tommy

If you have the rest of the wing ribs that match the one you have against the fuse, I would get the Ziroli plans and build them. Looks like a good fit to the fuse airfoil to me. Bye the way, the PST composite wings, ailerons are hinged wrong to be scale. The full scale bird has top hinged ailerons, the PST uses center hinged ailerons. I didn't change mine, but I wish I would have. Just sayin.............You can check my thread here on RCU: How to detail the PST Panther.

Thanks guys,

I feel like Im going in the right direction now, Yes I have the full ziroli short kit,

So Im going to save up a little $ and get the plans, and wing tube kit. Unless someone has a set of plans they want to sell... LOL

I have been reading your threads, i know its going to take some time, but Im excited to get this one built by next year flying seson to use in comptishion in the NASA scale events. So I want to build this one as scale as I can.

Thanks for the info guys!

Here are the formers that came with the fuse I had....they look like yours.

I didn't end up using them. Rather I use CF to line the belly of the fuse (to make the doors stiffer after cutting them free) and made new formers.

Here are a few pics of the wings...I used foam cores. As mentioned earlier, my ziroli cores were too small for the wing root so I glued the saddles back on and cut them again to the new shape. Flap and aileron boxes seen in these pics too.

I don't have any good pics of how I did the canopy hatch unfortunately. I had the canopy and cockpit a complete assembly that sat on the fuse with a hidden seam around the canopy frame. Wire was guided through from the rear hatch that captured the canopy and held it in place. Sliding the music wires out allowed the canopy/cockpit to be removed with access to that space.

Looks like you have the inlet ducts that came with it, if I recall the ziroli ones were way too small....or it may have been vice versa....

As mentioned, I only got it as far as primer then sold it. That's about all I have on it, sorry I can't be more helpful. Enjoy the build, it's a practical size and should build into a nice model.

Wow. Sweet I can't wait.

Questions

1. What weight / were did you get the carbon fiber?

2. I can't seem to find the foam wings cores you used

3. I can tell my Ziroli wings will be to thin, I was thinking of sheeting them with 2 layers of balsa with some carbon vale in between or 1 layer of thicker balsa and thick top cost of flight skin

Thanks so much for the pictures

CF cloth from here : http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...x2+Twill+Weave

The foam cores came with the stuff I got from Nick, no idea the source.

The cores were from Bob at flying foam based off the Z wing. Like Sean said-there are differences and you will have to change the cites for the different airfoil

I understand that there are scale outline errors with the PST Panther- ie, the tail shape is incorrect for one of the - versions of the Panther. If you plan to compete with the model I suggest that you verify the outline to your set of documentation. If competing in AMA Fun Scale, this may not be necessary, only for AMA Sport Scale where the outline is considered for the Static Score. It may be worth checking on this.
Terry H. may chime in here as he has bullt and flown the PST Panther-but don't know if he has competed with it though.
I had one of the early "splash offs" of the Ziroli version but the fuselage had a serious warp in it. Ended up trashing it and selling the retracts/struts/wheels to someone building the balsa version from plans.
Rgds,
Art ARRO

Thanks for the heads up. Im still relatively new to rc flight 3 1/2 years now. I competed in the NASA Fun scale and came in first in both the Beginner an Novice brackets. So I was told next year 2015 I will be able to complete in fun scale exspert, and sportsman sport scale. I was told NASA is a lot like Scale Master

Im wanting to build something to compete with. Im almost done with a Jerry Bates Dauntless but I love my turbines so much and weather anyone will admit it I think those who compet with turbines get a few cool points

I just finished fiberglassing my TFG P51 today so im ready to dive in on this panther
Thanks for the heads up