F9F Manual Draft.indd

F9F Panther
Assembly Manual
Scale: Approximately 1/6.33
Wingspan: 1829mm - 72in
Length: 1800mm - 70.85in
Flying Weight: 8-9.5kg - 18-21 lb
Fan Size: 120mm - 4.72”
Power System: 12S Li-PO
Functions: A/E/T/R/F/G
Optional Brakes (Sold Separately)
High Performance Electric Jet
Step up from foam and micro jets! Experience high
performance electric jet performance with a model
that is big, forgiving and fast. The Panther has exceptional qualities in flight, is stable on approach,
and is not pitch sensitive with extended flaps. At
speeds of over 120mph, the Panther is fast and
fun with a performance envelope almost any experienced R/C pilot will enjoy. Good looking and
great flying, the N-Tech Jets Panther is a stunning
aircraft to own and fly.
Features:
*Wood Wing and Stabilizer Construction
*Molded Fuselage with Wood Structure
(ABS Skins with Plywood and Carbon structure)
*Factory Covered Flying Surfaces
*Painted Fuselage
*Complete Hardware Pack
*Removable Wings
*Functional Nose Gear Doors
*Basic Molded Cockpit
*Ducting Optimized for Electric Power
The N-Tech Jets Panther is a high performance ARF Jet designed for R/C pilots with advanced building
and flying skills. With this in mind, we have provided this guide with the information an experienced modeler will need. If you are a new R/C pilot you will require the help of an experienced modeler in building
and flying this aircraft. If you feel this is beyond your capability, please return the unused, new product to
your retailer because once the project is started the user accepts all responsibility in the proper assembly
and use of this product. N-Tech Jets and its affiliates are not responsible for the mis-assembly and/or
mis-use the results thereof.
Assembly video can be found at our youtube channel: www.youtube.com/ntechjets
For experienced modelers we expect you will have little trouble building and flying the Panther. Please
read through this manual to help you establish the correct building sequence. The Panther is a great flying aircraft and we’re certain, properly outfitted and setup, you’ll enjoy flying it!
Thank you for choosing N-Tech Jets!
Page 2
N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
Recommended Equipment:
Using appropriate equipment is important to your success with this model. The equipment we recommend
has been tested and flown in this product. You can use
different brands, but the specifications must be similar.
Other Items:
*The fuselage can be broken down into two parts, so
we installed air-line connectors at the fuselage break.
3 Air Line Disconnects will be required. Robart, Jet
Hangar Hobbies, or other similar air-line connectors
will work.
*Glues: We used Wood Glue, Epoxy, and C/A (inRadio:
stant glue)
*We recommend an 8-10 channel radio for conve- *Thread-lock, (blue or semi-permanent, do NOT use
nience although technically the Panther only has 6 “red” or permanent thread lock)
functions: Ailerons, Rudder, Elevator, Flaps, Throttle, *Tape: Gaffer’s Tape or bi-directional Packing Tape
and Retracts.
will work. This is to assemble the rear air-tube and
*Qty 7 Airtronics 94851 Digital Metal Gear Servos
seal off the air between duct joints and around the
*Qty 1 Airtronics 94722 Digital Standard Servo
motor wires where they exit the exhaust air duct.
*Qty 2 750mm Extensions (for tail servos)
*Basic tools (file, wire cutter, pliers, hobby knife,
*Qty 4 500mm Extensions (from wing joint to receiv- various metric hex-drivers, small drill bits, drill, etc)
er)
*Paint to detail the cockpit (Optional)
*Qty 2 300mm Extensions (from Ail servos to wing *Small amount of fiberglass cloth (3/4 to 1 oz)
joint)
A Note About Assembly. Each N-Tech Jet is custom
*Qty 1 100mm Extension (from steering servo to remade by hand. In that these are hand-made products,
ceiver)
there may be variations from what is shown in our
*If your radio is only 6-8 channel, you’ll need QTY
manual. Thus, it is important that you trial fit each
3 Y-harnesses for the Aileron and Flaps and Steering/
part before gluing, cutting, etc.
rudder servos.
Let’s Get Started!
*Servo Lead retainers (Heat shrink, molded clips,
whatever is your preference
Wing Assembly
*Receiver Battery: We recommend either a 5 cell NiMH pack of 1600 or more mAh rating, or a Li-FE
6.6v receiver battery with 1600mAh or more rating.
*Check your radio manufacturer’s recommendations.
Power System:
*120mm Fan (Jet Hangar Hobbies E-Turbax fan with
13-15 pounds of thrust)
*12S Motor (Neu Motor for the E-Turbax fan)
*Castle 160HV (Some systems may be suitable with a
140HV esc, check your mfr’s specifications)
*12S 5000 to 6500mAh Li-PO packs, minimum 40C
rating (The airplane is setup for using two separate 6S
packs sometimes called Saddle Packs)
-6mm Gold Connectors (Castle 6.5mm connectors for
example)
-Mounting Screws for the Fan Unit (different fans may
have different requirements, we used #4 x 3/4 Dubro
Socket Head Wood Screws for mounting the E-Turbax
Fan)
Aluminum Tube Wing Joiner
The wing is attached to the fuselage with an aluminum tube. One end of the tube must go into the fuselage far enough to engage the clamp inside. The other
end is glued into the wing with epoxy. The clamp is
accessed through a small hole on the top of the fuselage. Use a hex-tool to tighten the clamp. Loosen the
clamp to remove the wing half.
N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
Wing Assembly Continued:
Hinges:
We recommend installation of the hinges with Wood
glue. Oil the moving parts of the hinge liberally. Then
insert wood glue into the holes where the hinges will
be mounted. After aligning and installing the hinges,
wipe off any excess glue and apply a little more oil to
ensure the glue will not setup in the hinge. Use lowtack masking tape to hold the control surface in place
while the glue dries.
Page 3
Wing Tip Tanks:
There is a left and a right. Remove the covering from
the mating surfaces before gluing. Also, look at the
tanks from the front before the glue dries to ensure
they are aligned properly. We used slow-cure epoxy
and masking tape to hold them in place so that we had
time to adjust the alignment if necessary.
Main Gear Installation
Servo and Linkage Installation:
Install the servos into the servo trays. Install the servos into the “deeper side” as this will give proper
alignment. Use long servo arms and extend the arm
through the opening in the servo cover plate. Align
the servo and mount so that the servo mount ends do
not extend past the sides of the plate and adjust the
servo position so that the arm is centered in the opening of the plate. Glue the tray to the plate.
The opening in the wing will have to be adjusted to fit
the tray. If you do this tightly, it helps hold the entire
assembly in position.
Install the strut and wheel on the landing gear first.
1. The strut at the wheel end is slightly offset. The
longer side goes toward the wheel.
2. The wheel is retained with an e-clip and the axle is
Soak the frame in the opening of the wing with thin held onto the strut with a set screw. Install the e-clip
CA. This will stiffen the part and ensure the servo first, then put the wheel (don’t forget the bushings)
mounting screws are held firmly in place.
onto the axle (screw heads facing out). Slide the axle
into the strut. Adjust the position to be as tight as posNOTE: The ailerons openings are position “opposite” sible while still allowing the wheel to move freely.
each other whereas the flap servos are installed “to Use blue thread-lock to hold the set-screw in place.
the same side”. This way, the aileron servos naturally 3. The Strut is attached to the landing gear with two
move in opposite directions and the flap servos natu- set screws. Align the strut so that the wheel is perpenrally move in the same direction.
dicular to the retract. Make two flat spots on the strut
attachment stud that match the set-screw positions.
We routed the flap servo extension out the rear open- Use blue thread-lock on the set-screws to hold them
ing in the wing and the aileron servo extension out in place.
the front opening. When installing the wings, this
prevents confusion.
Now that the strut is in place, position the gear so that
the wheel fits nicely into the wheel cup. Try to make
Position the control horns back from the servo arm so the gear be positioned outward as far as possible.
that the linkage does not bind. Flaps use the Z-Bend
rod, Ailerons use the all-thread. Use wood screws to Install air-tubes on the gear and bolt it in place with
mount the horns into the hard-plates in the control the heavy duty wood cap screws provided. It is IMsurfaces. Mount the by drilling pilot holes and en- PORTANT TO DRILL 3/32” MINIMUM PILOT
sure they will not pull-out by using wood glue on the HOLES FOR THE MOUNTING SCREWS!
screws.
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N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
Nose Gear and Gear Door Installation
Nose Gear Installation
-The nose strut rotates in the gear. Use the two set
screws to hold it as tightly as possible without binding. Apply oil to the rotating shaft. Then use blue
thread-lock to hold the set screws in place. Be careful
to NOT get any into the moving parts!
Note the wire spring holds the strut centered.
-Install the horns on the strut, file off any excess
-Install lengths of air line onto the retract before installation.
-The nose gear is positioned 1 /38” back from the
opening. Just like the main gear, make 3/32” pilot
holes and then use the cap head wood screws to
mount the gear.
-Adjust the beams to fit the horns. They are wider
than the opening between the mounting beams so
some beam material will need to be removed.
-Install wheel on axle with spacers and e-clips
Gear Door Installation
-The gear doors have 2 hinges each. The hinges are
positioned into the blocks in the fuselage. The fuselage and doors will need to be notched to clear the
hinge. Leave a 1/16” gap between the doors when
they are closed.
-Install small “stops” in the center of the geardoor
opening. This is a stopper to give the gear door “middle” something to rest against when closed. Use 1/4”
square scrap balsa or similar. The stopper is recessed
below the surface of the fuselage, matching the thickness of the door.
-The gear doors are actuated by a wood arm that is
pressed into position by the nose gear. From the arm,
there is a wire form that is connected to horns you
glue onto the gear door. The wire is connected to the
horns with adjustable connectors, thus allowing the
wire length to be adjusted.
-The wood arm actuator is attached to the center bulkhead with a metal flat hinge. The hinge is
screwed to the wood arm and glued into a slot in the
bulkhead.
-Once in position, trial fit the movement by manual
pulling the landing gear closed. The wheel hits the
wood arm and should pull the gear doors closed
against the stoppers. Adjust the wire with the adjustable connectors until the gear doors close properly
and cut off any excess wire.
N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
Page 5
Pull-Pull Cable and Final Gear Door Installation
-The pull-pull cable is looped through the landing
gear horns and around the strut. This will allow easy
adjustment once the pull-pull cable is assembled.
-We routed the cable through scrap Pushrod Housing
Tubes. This will keep the cable from getting tangled
in the landing gear. The pushrods should be cut long
enough to clear the center bulkhead.
-The pull-pull cable has the standard threaded rods,
clevises and crimp pins. Loop and crimp to length.
-Once the servo and cable are adjusted and centered
and tightened, center the wheel/strut too and glue
the cable into place.
NOTE: The cable should be tight enough to provide
positive steering control but loose enough so that the
gear can go down into position easily. If the cable is
too tight, the gear will not lock into the down position.
Once the door linkage and steering linkage is working properly, permanently position the horns and
hinges on the door by applying light glass cloth over
the hinges and horns where they are glued to the
doors. Then soak thin CA into the glass cloth.
NOTE: Do NOT allow glue into the hinge. Again,
we recommend oiling the hinges so that glue cannot
get into them and ruin them.
Tail and Servo Installation
Tip: Please follow the order of assembly
and trial fit and check alignment before
gluing.
-The vertical stabilizer is glued to the fuselage. It
is keyed by dowels and by the rear hinge-line spar.
TRIAL FIT the vertical stabilizer. Make sure it is
vertical and perpendicular to the wing. Install with
epoxy glue.
-The horizontal stabilizer must be centered and made
level with the wing. Remove the covering before
gluing into position.
IT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO ENSURE PROPER ALIGNMENT.
TIP: Push the stabilizer forward so that there is
a gap at the rear of the opening. This is the space
for the elevator joiner.
TIP: Use slow cure epoxy. First outline the glue
joint with masking tape so that excess epoxy can
be easily removed and will not damage the covering.
-The elevator and rudder servos are bolted into the
servo opening. We used 750mm extensions and routed the extensions through the small openings in the
bulkheads.
-The servos are covered with the included plate and
small wood screws.
-The elevator hinges and metal elevator joiner must
be installed at the same time. Glue the metal joiner
into the elevator halves after routing it through the
opening at the rear of the stabilizer with epoxy.
-The horns are positioned into hardwood blocks in
the control surfaces. The rudder horn is installed with
wood screws. We recommend gluing those screws
into the rudder with wood glue. The elevator horn is
held in position with a standard horn backing plate
and 2mm machine screws.
-The pushrods are threaded end type with metal clevises. Some adjustment to the pushrods will be required for proper alignment.
Page 6
N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
Fuselage Assembly
-The retract valve can be mounted in several places
in the plane. We’ve opted to install the servo, control valve, and filler, under the rear fuselage topJoining the Fuselage:
-The Panther fuselage is two-piece. This allows us hatch. We mounted the parts on a piece of 3mm ply
to package it more safely for shipping and gives you and mounted that plywood plate onto the formers.
the benefit of taking apart the fuselage for transport If you wish, you can install the servo and control
in smaller vehicles. Joining the fuselage is very sim- valve in the front half of the fuselage on the former
ple. There are 3 aluminum tubes. They insert into next to the nosegear.
the 3 holes in the fuselage. There insert into facto- -The air tank is installed in the formers in the nose
ry installed guides. Note that the shorter tube is the of the fuselage.
middle tube. Once in place, the fuselage halves are Air-Line Diagram
joined with machine screws, flat washers and lock
washers. The blind nuts for the screws are factory
installed. It is important that the screws be checked
before each flight.
Retract Control System Installation:
Diagram Legend:
Red=Air Supply Lines
Black=Up-Lines
White=Down Lines
Green=Quick Disconnect Locations (physically located at the fuselage halves-break. Sold Separately)
Gold Pieces are the supplied T-Connectors.
-Follow the diagram to connect the retract airlines.
-We installed aftermarket airline-disconnects at the
fuselage break so that if we take apart the fuselage
halves, the airlines easily come apart as well.
N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
Page 7
Battery Trays and Nose Assembly:
-There are several parts to be installed in the nose.
1. Left and Right Main Battery Trays
2. Middle Optional Battery Tray
3. Nose Wood Support Assembly (which doubles as
a forward receiver battery mount)
4. Plastic Nose Cone
Do not glue the lower
tray in position until the
fuselage halves are joined
Left and Right Battery Trays. Install these last as they
make accessing the nose gear and other items in the
nose more difficult.
Fan, ESC, and Motor Installation:
The Nose Wood Support is glued into the forward
bulkheads. Once in place, you can install the nose
cone. There are 4 small screws included. You can
glue it on if you’d like, it just limits the access to
this nose area. If your model requires weight in the
nose, having access to this area is important.
Middle Battery/Receiver Tray. This is a great place
to mount some batteries if needed to achieve proper
balance. If not needed for batteries, it makes a great
place to mount the receiver and receiver battery.
-After installation of the motor into the fan unit
you’ve chosen for your Panther, the Fan must be installed in the fuselage.
-The fan shroud should be positioned tightly into the
factory installed fiberglass inlet. It might be necessary to shim or space the fan mounts to get the proper alignment. The fan is mounted to the rails with
screws and possibly grommets recommended by the
fan maker.
-The plastic exhaust tube should be shaped to fit
tightly around the end of the fan unit and should be
tapered down to the fan maker’s recommended diam-
Page 8
N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
Fan, ESC, and Motor Installation Continued:
Canopy and Cockpit Installation:
eter at the exit of the fuselage. Assemble the exhaust
tube with the included tape. Gaffer’s tape and bi-directional strapping tape will also work for assembly
of the exhaust tube. The E-Turbax recommendation
for the exhaust tube is 3.75in (95mm) diameter at the
fuselage exit. The plastic exhaust tube should extend
1/4 inch past where it exits the fuselage. The remaining should be removed.
-The wires are routed out of the plastic tube and to
the speed control.
-The exit holes for the motor wires as well as the joint
between the exhaust tube and the fan shroud should
be sealed with tape.
The canopy is factory assembled with a quick release
latch and pins to hold it in place. We suggest slightly
opening the holes in the former where the pins enter.
This will allow an easier installation.
The cockpit assembly will need to be fit to the canopy. You will need to trim the edges and notch the
front of the cockpit to fit over the canopy wood cross
piece.
DO NOT GLUE THE COCKPIT INTO THE CANOPY. It is installed separately and remains loose.
NOTE: There are some scribe lines on the bottom of
the cockpit. They are NOT to be followed, they help
the factory with assembly but are not a reference for
final fit.
The cockpit will also have to be notched to clear the
rear former and to clear the quick release latch.
N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
Canopy and Cockpit Installation Continued:
Page 9
C.G., Control Throws, Pre-Flight Check
Balancing your Panther:
It is critical that the Panther be balanced properly.
The CG is located at the front hatch bulkhead.
This location is marked on the fuselage
When picked up by the bulkhead, the Panther
should hang level, or slightly nose down. CG
must be performed with all flight batteries, motor
batteries, equipment, etc installed and the landing
gear down.
Setting the Control Throws:
The Panther is a high-speed heavy scale jet. As
such, it is important that the control throws be set
correctly. Excessive control throws will result in
an un-flyable aircraft.
The instrument panel will need to be trimmed to fit
the aircraft and to clear the canopy cross piece.
We recommend the first flight be set to these
throws. If you have triple rates, use these as the
medium throw and then have high set 5-10%
higher and low set to 10% lower.
Ailerons: 15mm each direction
Elevator: 15mm each direction
Rudder: 30mm each direction
Flap: 10 degrees takeoff, 45 degrees landing
1st Flight Pre-Flight Check List:
-Servo head screws tight
-Clevises have fuel line or retainers installed
-Batteries securely fastened
-Check control throws
-Check range (motor on and motor off)
-Tighten all screws
-Check wing rod retainer clamps.
-Test cycle retractable landing gear several times.
-Taxi test for gear alignment and tracking.
-Check the hinges are securely glued in place
-Check all pushrods and horns are secure
-Double check control movement direction.
-Double check EDF motor rotation direction.
-Double check motor batteries are fully charged
before flight.
-Set Timer so that you can land with power. First
flight should be no longer than 4 minutes.
Page 10
N-Tech Jets F-9F Panther Assembly Guide
The N-Tech F-9F Panther is not a toy. It is a high performance, high speed radio controlled miniature aircraft and as such requires building and flying skill.
and legal guidelines for use, please reference the appropriate association:
For information about the legal and safe operation of
radio controlled aircraft as well as the related safety
United States: Academy of Model Aeronautics
www.modelaircraft.org
Australia: Model Aircraft Association of Australia
It is up to the user to assemble and operate the Panther www.maaa.asn.au
in a safe and responsible manner according to the Radio Control Model guidelines in his or her country.
Canada: Model Aeronautics Association of Canada
www.maac.ca
N-Tech Jets and their dealers are not responsible for
the successful or safe use of this product. By using Great Britain: British Model flying Association
this product, the user assumes all responsibility.
www.bmfa.org
Hong Kong, China
Copyright 2011,
All Rights Reserved
For Service and Information, please contact N-Tech Jets or your local N-Tech Jets Dealer.
[email protected]
For information about the Panther as well as video about its assembly,
please visit the N-Tech Jets youtube channel
www.youtube.com/ntechjets