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“First off, the weather here in S.W. Pa hasn’t been conducive to flying, so I’ll just give an overall quality & build review, along with some helpful tips. I’ll update it just as soon as the wind mellows out a bit AND the temperature goes above freezing. Although I’ve been flying for almost 6 years, this is my first EDF jet. Yep, I went cheap because I figured if & when the “ unscheduled landing” occurs, I will only be out $100. However, this airplane looks fantastic! Great looking paint, not the faded looking, washed out colors you get with most other foamies. Also, the typical foam “grain” or “cells” isn’t as evident on this model - it almost has the look of a plastic model. The only thing I can think to whine about is the way the tail section doesn’t quite line up to the fuselage. It’s very close, and it certainly won’t affect the way the plane flies, but the tail section is just a tiny bit wider than the area of the fuse that it attaches to, and you can see the yellow paint in the gap created by the problem. Being a builder of plastic model cars & airplanes since I was a wee tot, I had a large selection of model paints at hand, and was able to mix the proper color to fill in the visible yellow gap, so no biggie. One thing you should take care to do is to carefully remove any paint where parts will be glued together. Not doing this will almost certainly result in things coming apart when you least want them to, say 100 feet in the air and far enough away to be hard to see. I used a worn-out piece of 150-grit sandpaper to remove the paint from the mating surfaces. It took the paint off quickly, but didn’t harm the foam. Another nice thing about this model is the 2-part epoxy that was supplied with the model. It dries totally clear, and doesn’t take all day to do it. To see how quickly it set-up, I mixed 2 equally-sized blobs together, and the mess was hard and dry to the touch in about 10 minutes. Good stuff, and there will be plenty left for future repairs, so don’t throw away the half-empty tubes after you’re done with the build. One more thing... the control horns for the elevators are much easier to attach if you do so before epoxying the the stabilizer halves to the rudder. After the model was all together, I masked off the canopy and the areas where air is taken onto the fan, the applied 3 kinda heavy coats of gloss Minwax Polycrylic spray. You won’t believe how this makes the colors and overall appearance of the plane “pop”! It also keeps the paint from rubbing off from being handled, as well as where it will eventually get rubbed off from belly landings. You can find Minwax Polycrylic spray in Home Depot, Lowe’s, and sometimes at Walmart. It comes in gloss, semi gloss, and flat finishes, so you can keep your warbirds protected and still keep their matte finish. It won’t harm the foam, as it’s water-based. If you’re “on the fence” about trying an EDF jet, this is the one for you! Most of the reviews here say that it flies great once the CG is dialed in, and there are tons of YouTube videos to check out. Also, it’s a “bank & yank” airplane, i.e., no rudder, however, if you order the “extra parts” version like I did, you will get a steerable nose wheel & servo that will be controlled with the left stick on your transmitter, 2 main landing gear, and a 12-blade fan to replace the stock 5-blade fan. I’m keeping mine as a belly lander until I’m comfortable with it, as I’ve been known to be a bit rough on landing gear. Overall, this gorgeous looking plane gets all 5 stars! It costs less than many ultra-micros, and it looks awesome. I think it will fly equally well, but I’ll let you know for sure after the weather breaks. Wish me luck!”
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“The Panther is my first EDF and I'm pretty excited at this point! It came well packaged and everything looked good. I took my time building and was more then an hour. All servos , duct fan and speed control are working great. The build was straight forward and fun! Everything is stock with the 1600 lipo. You may find this hard to believe but I am nose heavy going with the 1 3/4" CG! Looking forward to a calm day with a light breeze and THAWED ground !!! :-) Wish me luck!! Thanks Motion RC !!!”
How would you rate the overall quality of the product?
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How would you rate the value of the product for the money?
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“Purchased in July 2018 - Took 3 crashes to find the correct CG - it is approx 35/40 mm forward of the recommended CG. The correct CG is in the first 1-5 mm behind the silver leading edge. I had to use a 2200 mAh 3 cell and add 3/4 oz lead in the nosecone to achieve. Now it flies like a dream. I have yet to find a blog or video that actually shows or mentions the correct CG. Most just say what battery they used and where they placed it. that really isn't very helpful. need numbers. In demo vid - 1600 mAh battery used pushed forward? did the jet come with 3 oz of lead in the nosecone then? They never actually show you the location of CG used on the jet. Would love to see them balance recommended CG on video and then fly it.”
How would you rate the overall quality of the product?
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Very Easy
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“I've been flying RC for about thirty years and the F9F Panther is my first ducted fan model. Out of the box the model looks great and goes together easily. Reading about CofG issues I opted for the optional landing gear, recommended battery and Spetrum receiver. The model went together, while Dr. Strangelove played on the television, using the included epoxy. Installing the optional landing gear requires you to remove landing gear covers from the airframe. I cut around the covers first to avoid damaging the paint then used the knife tip to lift and remove the covers. You'll need to install the control horns and assemble the pushrods which is an easy task. I was a bit concerned about the quality of these items and considered replacing them with Goldberg hardware but I've had no issue with what was supplied. The motor and servos are already installed and there is nothing strange about this plane's construction. Follow the instructions and you'll be fine.The control throws were dialed in according to the manual and no expo was used (I prefer linear controls) . The CofG was confirmed with a Great Planes CG machine. Folks not using the optional undercarriage DO NOT skip this step! Mine came out perfect with the landing gear, without it I'd dare say the Panther will be tail heavy. Again follow the manual, you'll be fine.The maiden happened on a dead calm day with the Panther needing about 75 feet to rotate off asphalt. An easy climb to feel her out and try a little slow flight. This plane is not a rocket but is adequately powered and well mannered. Prestall will exhibit mushy roll response and high angle of attack (It is noticeable) with the stall dropping a wing and moderate pitch down, relax back pressure, add power and you're back to flying. Power off you'll need to lower the nose and expect a high rate of descent. On landing keep the speed up, control your sink rate with the throttle and you'll have plenty of energy to flare, and float and float and float. Flaps would be a nice addition to this model as I've floated the entire distance of out 150' runway. I'm considering changing the ailerons to flaperons. Operation from low grass is possible but the nose gear strut is weak and quite prone to bending so keep the nose off as long as possible.Hits:Looks Great!It's an easy flier for a second modelInexpensiveQuick to assembleMisses:Weak nose gear strutVERY floaty in ground effect, sure you'll grease the landing, then off the runway and into the grass. This usually kills the "Greaser" status of your landingAlthough it flies fine without it, there's no rudderI hope you find this review helpful in your consideration of the Freewing F9F Panther”
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“I am very pleased with Motion RC and my first Freewing RC purchase. I am sad that, at first, I had not completed my address; which, with near instant shipping, actually cost them a misdirected F9F Panther. Happily for me, Motion RC worked with UPS and sent a replacement.BTW: Excellent product!”
How would you rate the overall quality of the product?
Very Low
Okay
Very Good
How would you rate the value of the product for the money?
Very Low
Okay
Very Good
How difficult or easy is the product to assemble, use, or operate?
Very Difficult
Average
Very Easy
How well does the product perform / function?
Very Weak
Okay
Very Good
“Plane flies great and the price is right. Solved the launch dilemma by using the RX600SP receiver safe mode during launch with 40% up elevator mix mapped to a transmitter switch. After launch turn off the switch and turn off safe mode and she is a blast to fly around. Only problem I had was a wing ripped off on a windy day. All the surfaces are glued to the fuse and everything is painted so stupid me glued paint to paint. Would have been so easy for the manufacturer to simply tape the glue surfaces to avoid the builder needing to scrape it all off.”
