frankie

Hello all.

I'm interested to hear from those who have first hand experience at assembling the pre-painted ARF kit. What is the quality like, what is the complete weight, what turbine are you using, and if flown how does it handle, wing loading etc?

Are there any similar issues to that of the larger F-84 revived in RCJI or was it a straight forward build?

Please, with all respect, no reps or those directly associated with PST as I would like an unbias opinion. Thank you.

Regards, Frank.

Pantherman

Frank. I have a PST Panther and love it. The build was very straightforward. I have only been doing this for a couple of years yet had no problems. The gear are excellent and I love the hydraulic brakes. They work very smoothly and do not grab like the pneumatics do. I am using a Jetcat P-70 for power and it is perfect for it. It flies very scale with that turbine. There are a couple of threads on here on the builds and I have a lot of photos posted of my Panther. Terry Holston has a great thread on building his with lots of tips. My only beef with the plane is that it developed some small blisters in the top surface of the wings and stabs from getting too hot in the sun. I was not aware just how fast our Texas sun could overheat the surface of these epoxy planes so it is probably my fault. Other than that, no issues at all. It is a fairly easy plane to fly and lands very slowly. I had to order a replacement wing tank from PST when I had an air leak and belly landed the plane. They shipped it out very quickly so service was good. Oh, and I have no affiliation with PST. Just a happy customer who bought this from a dealer in the USA. Hope that helps in your decision.

Woody

Ruizmilton

My Feedback: (29)

Frank:

I partly assembled one I traded with a friend, quality is very good and assembly is very straight forward with the only exception of the gear doors, they need to be reinforced (fairly easy) and hinging the main doors is a bit difficult if you are used to offset hinges, most use flat surface hinges (I did) and they work very well, kit is very complete, looks very scale, I just bought a set of Major Decals stars and bars, they did the trick perfectly. I agree with the opinion on the hydraulic brakes, once set-up the worked perfect (and no need to refill with air before each flight). Plane is so docile it's unbelievable, will fly scale like with as little as 12 pounds to maybe 17, more than that would be overkill and you will not gain more speed, well, it's a SCALE model...

WhoDaMan

My Feedback: (164)

I agree even though mine was built when I got it and after a little help from some great friends she fly's like a dream, now I have two

frankie

Thank you for the response guys.

Patherman, was is the weight dry and wet of your aircraft, and what power level do you use in a normal scale aerobatic schedule? How much fuel do you carry? The in flight pic is very impressive. Well done.

Regards, Frank

PDR200

Hi frank, There was a PST Panther at Temora Jets 09. I don't know who's is was but it flew very well. It was powered by a pst j600 (14lbs thrust).

Cheers,
Paul.

luv2flyrc

My Feedback: (6)

Hi, I have thePST Panther withP-70 and love it! It's a very smooth flying plane. I didn't do gear doors on mine, just the sport cut outs.

My only beef is The main gear struts are a poor design, because of this, they bend very easily. Replacement parts and shipping from Thailand are a ridiculous price. A trunion cost me $75, lower strut $45 and about $60 to ship.

I then bent the strut again a few flights later, finally, replaced with Behotec struts and wheels and no more issues.

It's 25lbs 10ounces dry with fuel in UAT. I have 2 x4300ma duralites and about 1lbs of lead in the nose to balance. It's not a rocket ship but it has better than scale speed and can easily do big loops from level flight. It has beautiful presence and sound in the air.

Mike

frankie

luv2flyrc, I think the aircraft looks great, but my only concern is the 25 1/2 lbs plus weight without fuel, and the addition of a pound of ballast to achive balance. Does the aircraft feel "heavy" in the air, or is it fairly responsive and have a good turn rate?

Are the struts more so designed for asphalt, or are they just not suited to grass fields? Thank you for your comments.

Regards, Frank.

luv2flyrc

My Feedback: (6)

It does not "feel" heavy at 25.5lbs and turns well, good vertical even with only a P-70. Apparently the airframe has been flown successfully by PST at up to 30lbs.

Mine still slows down to a decent speed for landing. The PST struts and wheels are more suited for asphalt than grass but, as stated, I consider them to be a poor design and replacement parts are expensive.

If doing it all over again, I would have gone straight to ordering Behotec retracts and struts for it. The retract angle is not "standard" so the behotec retracts units would have to be custom ordered with the appropriate retract angle.

I'm sure there are guys flying it without retract problems but, the only two that I have ever seen in person (mine and another one at a jet rally this year) both suffered retract problems.

Unlike the other poster, I did not like the hydralic brake system. It requires a high end servo (8411) on the brake valve and it doesn't fully disengage ie. there's always some drag from the brakes on the wheels.

Also, if you have to remove the retracts or wheels for any type of maintenance or repairs, you have to go through the process of bleeding the brakes again.

The Behotec struts and wheels/brakes have been flawless and I have flown the airplane off of a grass field with them.

The 1lbs to 1.5lbs of lead in the nose is a shame but, it's unavoidable if you want the plane to balance.


Mike

Pantherman

FranK, I am using the stock 2 liter tank included with the kit which provides plent of flight time for my P-70. I am sure it would fly very well with even a 14 pound thrust class turbine. 17 pounds pushes it along nicely.

Woody