Panther Sport Aircraft Forums

cowling is done now working on canopy

Stephen Pedano
Builder #006

Very COOL Bob!! Did you whoop up on the RV-4? What engine is installed? Think I need a 2 hole model.

Outstanding effort Brent. As you have found installing the wings is a snap.

I've got 25 hours on my panther and still extremely pleased with the performance. It handles well and recently found that you can land it in a 15 mph direct crosswind without an issue ( suggest wheel landings). With my short wings and heavier wing loading it does handle turbulence well but the light weight will require a little more work during gusty crosswind landings.

I recently did a speed check at various altitudes to get a clear picture of how fast this sports panther is going.

At 2000 feet it was indicating 190 MPH at 2720 RPM's. At 5500 it was 181 MPH. At 7500 it was 178. Cruise RPM of 2500 netted 174 at 2000 and 159 at 7500.

This little hotrod will handle 5+ G's easily ( came home with 5.2 showing after a hassle with an RV 4) and climb at 2000 fpm at 90 MPH. It will cruise at 160 MPH indicated on 6.5 GPH at 7500 doing 185 true. But I'm wondering; what will it do with a 180 HP 0360 and a constant speed prop.

Keep building, this baby is fun to fly.

Sunday afternoon with help from a friend we installed wings to adjust spar guides and rollers for spar pins alignment.
Checked wing incident angle inboard and outboard on each wing. Right wing was 0.0 percent inboard and outboard.
Left wing was 0.1 both inboard and outboard.
We had three cars stop and get out to see what we were doing and almost 2 car wrecks from people rubber necking as they drove by.

Brent Mayo
SN 53

Actually, I believe there are 57 builders as we also have 3 BETA builders out there. It also appears that when the parts and manuals are complete, we are going to have an explosion in the number of completed Panthers within a very short time span. One thing that I am curious about is how many of those builders are Plans builders and of the plans builders, what stage of build are they at.

And, Tony, are you still using the Jab 3300?

Yesterday, May 9, my brother and Bill Mosher, builder 46, came over and we built the second tank up to installing the back. I took Dan and Tony's advise to stop at the back so I can give it one final look before finishing it up. Also, Tony is absolutely right, you don't need three people to build a tank, but it is much more fun with friends. I will go to the shop and finish this tank and install the senders in both.

Progress can always be seen on my web site, PantherBuilder.org.

The tail is complete except for the fiberglass tips.
Wings are complete except for the flaps, ailerons, and fuel tanks.
Fuel tanks are ready for dimpling, but I am waiting for a new dimpling die from Cleaveland Aircraft Tools, designed specifically for the closed end fuel tank rivets.
Currently assembling the aft fuselage.
3.0 Liter Corvair conversion underway.
Progress can be followed here - http://www.mykitlog.com/jsteere/

John Steere
Panther #39

Wings complete including flaps and ailerons. Fiberglass wingtips fitted but left off for now. Fuel tanks built and tested, not yet fitted to wings. Tail cone complete and mated to steel tube cage. Cage side skins fitted and dimpled. Empennage complete and mounted including fiberglass tips. All this since mid November. Great kit. Currently focusing on Corvair build.

Tail kit done
Tanks dry assembled. Waiting on tank backs and inner support
Starting on spars in garage and rear fuselage/tail cone at hangar.

Kit #53

Tail Completed
Picked up complete kit last Saturday 5/2/15. Almost complete
Working on building wing spars:)

Brent