Official Freewing 64mm F9F Panther Blue EDF Jet PNP Thread

[RIngrey]

Help required. I have built and setup my Panther. However, when I power up I get full thrust momentarily until the thrust reduces considerably. I have a fully charged 4S lipo. I also get 3 beeps from the ESC. Any ideas and how do I resolve? Many thanks in advance.

[paulrkytek]

Help required. I have built and setup my Panther. However, when I power up I get full thrust momentarily until the thrust reduces considerably. I have a fully charged 4S lipo. I also get 3 beeps from the ESC. Any ideas and how do I resolve? Many thanks in advance.

Make sure you have the correct throttle signal wire connected to your receiver throttle channel ( not the reversing wire connection ) Re calibrate the throttle. With the lipo disconnected and the tx on, push the throttle lever to full throttle, connect the motor lipo and as soon as you hear a beep move throttle stick to zero you should then hear 4 beeps. check that all servos are working then apply throttle and you should be good to go. ( assuming you have throttle cut switch on your tx off) There should be something in the manual that tells you this so check this out first !! Also make sure that your Tx throttle channel is not reversed before you do any of the above. Are you going to use thrust reverse ( probably not needed if flying off grass) If so then assign a spare channel to a reversing switch ( say a 2 way switch or momentary switch ) eg if channel 5 is normally a 2 position switch then connect the reversing lead from the esc to channel 5 on the rx so that this switch will turn motor reverse on or off to suit. Motion do a HOW TO video on this.

[Evan D]

Isn’t this a 3S max airplane and ESC?

[paulrkytek]

Isn’t this a 3S max airplane and ESC?

The latest version is blue wings 4s and has reversing esc Evan, at least that is what it says on the website and this is a new thread for this model though you would have thought they would have used the Old thread or at least made reference to it?

[Evan D]

"I also get 3 beeps from the ESC" caught my eye. If he has a fully charged 4S and a 4S version it should beep the 4 times.

[paulrkytek]

"I also get 3 beeps from the ESC" caught my eye. If he has a fully charged 4S and a 4S version it should beep the 4 times.

I see your point. Perhaps Ringrey will confirm that he has the latest Blue 4s version with 12 blade fan and not the Blue 3s version or the 3s 5blade with yellow wings !!!

Freewing F9F Panther 4S Blue 64mm EDF Jet - PNP

Regular price ^€107<sup>50 on the EU Website.

quote</sup> The new version of the 64mm F9F Panther has a faster motor, larger 40A ESC, 12B fan for great sound, and runs on a 4S LiPo instead of a 3S. In order to achieve these upgrades, the fuselage mold was updated to create extra room for a 4S LiPo battery and the wing mold was changed to add a tubular spar for extra strength. The canopy magnets were also changed to a latch system to keep the canopy from blowing off due to the extra speed. The changes were worth it! With the extra power and great 12 blade EDF sound, this already fantastic little plane is now even better.

[OldnBold]

Guys,
Does the 4s version of the Panther (I have one on the way) have cheater holes on the bottom of the fuselage? I'm hoping not, as I'll need to plug them to prevent sand and rocks from being sucked into the fan from our unpaved runway. It's not a big thing, just nice not to have to do it.

Thanks,
Waid
Green Valley AZ

[Evan D]

Looking at the video on Motions site it does.

[OldnBold]

Looking at the video on Motions site it does.

Thanks, Evan.

[paulrkytek]

Guys,
Does the 4s version of the Panther (I have one on the way) have cheater holes on the bottom of the fuselage? I'm hoping not, as I'll need to plug them to prevent sand and rocks from being sucked into the fan from our unpaved runway. It's not a big thing, just nice not to have to do it.

Thanks,
Waid
Green Valley AZ

Looks Like you will have to plug the cheaters with fly screen ( I used frying pan cover mesh). There is quite a large area of cheater holes.( approx 2400mm2) on my yellow version. I painted my canopy matt black and cut out the plastic from the front flat screen to allow more air in to the fuselage and fan to compensate for the mesh. ( you might want to cut a bit more than I have. ) The 2 air intakes at the front of the wings are not exactly generous ( about 1000mm2 per side on the yellow version) . It looks like if you block off the cheater holes underneath totally you will be reducing total fan air intake by over 50% so I think you may need some supplementary air intake from the screen and the top deck ( say by cutting out 2 of the top rectangular marked panels to the rear of the main canopy) to compensate. PS I took the mesh off mine when I took the wheels off , created hand launch holes and added the gyro. I run the FMS 11 blade 64mm 4s fan with 1800mah 70c lipo on the model in the photos. Good luck whatever you decide..

[OldnBold]

You were right about the cheater holes being needed. I taped over them and attempted a maiden voyage. It was just a fast taxi - unable to attain flying speed. Pulled the tape off and the little hot-rod flew as expected. I don't want to start cutting holes in the top side so I guess I'll just live with having to replace the fan occasionally. Maybe a fender over the front tire would help.

I'm running an 1800 mah 4s LiPo battery. I had to add about an ounce of weight in the nose to move the CG forward to 1/8 inch behind the recommended location. This seems to work.

I almost killed the little beast on the first flight forcing it into the air too soon. It nearly snap rolled into the ground. Second flight, I let it roll, and it lifted off very smoothly on its own with no elevator input.

I quickly found out that speed is essential to survival with this baby. A couple of times I inadvertently induced accelerated stalls in tight turns at partial throttle -- not a good thing. Fortunately, the high thrust to weight ratio allowed me to power out of those with no harm done. Keeping the mad little thing in sight (80-year old eyes) takes constant maneuvering and lots of concentration -- all good Fun!

I found landing to be a real challenge! The first flight, I slowed the kitty down too much and it stalled in from a couple of feet up bending the nose gear back. The next try i carried too much speed and one of the main gears was torn off by a pebble. Hopefully, the third time will be the charm -- perhaps I can hit a happy medium.

The glass of wine in the photo is required to calm the nerves after a close encounter with a wild flying panther.

[paulrkytek]

You were right about the cheater holes being needed. I taped over them and attempted a maiden voyage. It was just a fast taxi - unable to attain flying speed. Pulled the tape off and the little hot-rod flew as expected. I don't want to start cutting holes in the top side so I guess I'll just live with having to replace the fan occasionally. Maybe a fender over the front tire would help.

I'm running an 1800 mah 4s LiPo battery. I had to add about an ounce of weight in the nose to move the CG forward to 1/8 inch behind the recommended location. This seems to work.

I almost killed the little beast on the first flight forcing it into the air too soon. It nearly snap rolled into the ground. Second flight, I let it roll, and it lifted off very smoothly on its own with no elevator input.

I quickly found out that speed is essential to survival with this baby. A couple of times I inadvertently induced accelerated stalls in tight turns at partial throttle -- not a good thing. Fortunately, the high thrust to weight ratio allowed me to power out of those with no harm done. Keeping the mad little thing in sight (80-year old eyes) takes constant maneuvering and lots of concentration -- all good Fun!

I found landing to be a real challenge! The first flight, I slowed the kitty down too much and it stalled in from a couple of feet up bending the nose gear back. The next try i carried too much speed and one of the main gears was torn off by a pebble. Hopefully, the third time will be the charm -- perhaps I can hit a happy medium.

The glass of wine in the photo is required to calm the nerves after a close encounter with a wild flying panther.

This is how I got more air in for take off by removing foam and screen from canopy. Even this amount should help on take off if you are keeping wheels on. I also show my battery and gyro placement . In all fairness my model is modified a bit with rudder, increased wingspan ( 100mm overall) and inboard flaps but still has plenty of power on my fms 11 blade fan and 4s 70c lipo. Smooth turns are the way to go or as you found out you get an accelerated stall. Freewing Grumman F9F Panther . original 685mmm span, modified 800mm wingspan 870gms all up take off weight. Wing area of 12.86dm2 = 68 gms/dm2 . 1.15kg manufacturers quoted thrust = 1.3 to 1 FMS 64mm 11 blade edf unit, 2840 3150kv out-runner, 135gms, 60amp ztw esc2-6s, 70amp burst., 1150gms thrust static say 950gms actual, 1800mah 4s 70-140c (215 gms). If you pull off the cheater cover from the underside then stick on the frying pan mesh ( on the inside using foamtac or similar) then replace it you will have less traumatic take offs and more thrust available for those awkward moments when you need it. Taking the wheels off allowed me to remove nose steering unit and servo and push battery forward so you do not need extra nose weight.

[OldnBold]

I'll definitely be using your mesh idea. That should significantly increase the area of the cheater holes while adding some protection against grit being sucked into the fan.

[paulrkytek]

I'll definitely be using your mesh idea. That should significantly increase the area of the cheater holes while adding some protection against grit being sucked into the fan.

Let me know how it works out. If you still need a bit more air then an hours work with a sharp hobby knife will cut out the holes in the canopy foam and front window. Cutting the acrylic requires a steady hand and finishing off with file. then black emulsion on the inside of the canopy to hide the foam cuts. Cutting the canopy allows direct frontal air which both cools the lipo and feeds the fan., just be sure to add magnet or pin to front of canopy to prevent it lifting as the air is forced in... Itis worth doing both, Starving the fan of air can overheat the motor and esc leading the fan to keep hesitating as the thermal cut out in the esc keeps cutting in and out.

[OldnBold]

I found a cheap spatter guard at TJ Max to provide a nice flat screen with a fine mesh. I cut out two of the cross members from each cheater inlet, and left the middle two as support (probably not needed) for the screen.

[OldnBold]

11/16/24
First flight with the screens in place -- no discernable difference in performance.

[paulrkytek]

11/16/24
First flight with the screens in place -- no discernable difference in performance.

In a good way ?

[OldnBold]

In a good way ?

Yes, same performance as it had out-of-the-box.

[John W]

Has anyone used flaperons? If so how much?

[mturner59]

Using Spektrum AR630 Receiver, has anyone else used this? If so, do you have a good placement.