“I have mixed feelings about this jet. After watching many videos, I ordered the F9F Panther from Motion RC. I am a low intermediate flyer and my bro is a 40-year veteran expert flyer. We assembled the jet and took it to the flying field the next day (I did not order the landing gear.). On our 1st three flights, the hand launches were HORRIBLE, but the jet managed to right itself and get flying. The jet flew very well in my opinion and I was able to control it quite easily. It even glides very well at no throttle (we found this out at low voltage cutoff.)Next day we went out and tried it again, but this time NONE of the 3 hand launches worked, as the jet would just STAND ON ITS TAIL, then fly off to the right, upon which twice it hit our club shed. The last strike demolished the plane. (The tendency to fly to the right on takeoff can be seen a bit in the Motion video.) CG was as directed too.I contacted Motion RC to assist me in purchasing a 2nd Panther but they only offered advice that this plane is extremely difficult to hand launch. This advice should have been in their description of the plane! I would have either ordered the landing gear with it, or selected a different model. So I am disappointed in Motion in the Customer Service aspect.However, since the jet was so smooth flying once airborne, I have ordered a 2nd one, this time with gear, so we'll see how it goes.3 Stars- 4 for flyability/2 for launching and customer service.”
“Goes together very well . It is definitely not a threatening plane to fly it is not super fast which is a good thing when u r learning to fly jets.U need to have very short grass when taking off will not take off if grass is tall. 1800 battery perfect all the way up front just before wheel servo. Looks greatI have two of these jets I would not recommend tossing plane it needs to gain speed.I put the speed control under the wood for room for rec and batteryFor the price u can't go wrong another keeper”
“My son is 15 yrs. old and he said this jet is the best thing that he has ever flown. He also said that the only thing that would make it better, would be if he could figure out how to put that smoke machine in it so he could watch it fly by with smoke coming out of the tail...I wonder what he will want next !!!Something bigger and faster I guess...I better start saving my money, his birthday will be here soon.Thanks Motion RC, we enjoy doing business with you...”
“Was really excited to get into my first ducted fan, so I picked this plane out as a good starter. Overall, the quality is not bad, but this is my first Freewing plane, so not sure exactly what to expect.My first comment is around the estimated time to build this plane. The instructions say 1 hour. I've built several RTFs, ARFs and a couple of kits. I'm not an expert by any means, but this is definitely a 3-4 hour kit. There is A LOT of gluing that needs to be done, and that's the main issue. I didn't realize so much gluing would be necessary. The wings, tail surfaces, nose cone and landing gear (which I bought as an accessory) all need to be glued on with epoxy, so be prepared for holding the plane still until all of the epoxy hardens.Second comment is around the instructions. They have really good pictures, but they don't give you step-by-step instructions. They don't say anything about installing the control horns, for example, so unless you really think about it and study the pictures, you wouldn't realize all of the control horns need to be put on BEFORE gluing the wings and tail on. The instructions just say to start gluing on the parts. After I put the put the first horizontal stab on, I realized the control horns really needed to go on first. The screws and horns are very small, too. The kit did come with a cool screw driver with 2 bits and epoxy.Just did a high speed taxi run and brief lift off the runway and back down, so I'm excited to fly this bird once I get my nerve up. It looks great and the fan has what I would consider to be a lot of power. Wish me luck!”
“I read all the negatives, but as long you push that 3s 1600 Admiral battery all the way forward you should have no problems. I installed landing gear and created a box under the battery to house the servo and painted it gray. It a great flyer. It's a cool looking airplane taxing and taking-off on our club runwayI”
“Being this is my third one I 12ided to make this one a 4cell. I mated the 5 blade fan with a turnigy 4000kv motor and a hobbywing 40a esc. I had to cut out the center of the battery tray to accommodate the 2200 4s batteries I will be using. The battery now sits down in the fuselage with the top of the battery even with the tray. As others have said, myself included, the cg can be hard to find but its almost perfect with very little trim. I hand launch with no gear. Full power at a very slight up angle and the thing just went straight as an arrow. Once up to speed vertical is almost unlimited. The sound it makes is more like a real jet. I have always enjoyed flying the Panther but now it's a whole new animal.”
“Got this for father's day and love it, this is my 2nd jet the other is the f 22 raptor ,anyway they work good with the safe receivers as I'm a newbie. Purchased a 4s 2200 and a 65 amp esc , I want to see these birds scream!!! Thanks motion rc Randy”
“This plane looks good, is very easy to assemble, is fun to fly, and looks good in the air. I haven't flown anything in the past two years and the last plane I flew was a 36 inch SNJ. Everything I read about it gave its top speed as 65mph. I was worried that it couldn't fly slow. It can fly slow, and when I calmed down it flew straight and level too! Just give it full throttle and toss like you are test gliding.”
