Flying Panda MOD

Yo-Yo Mods and Maintenance
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After multiple misses on trying to throw my Flying Panda almost a year ago, it just sat and sat. Uncovering it just last night, I wanted to give it a shot again possibly having a better understanding at how to work it. Landing was a little better when I found holding the string shorter makes it easier to catch. Still missing and tired of chasing a yoyo down, and having a bunch of yoyo parts on hand earlier I thought “What if I could fit my MOD spacers on my Flying Panda?” The long Pro Z bolt just fit. The Pro Z’s spacers made this semi responsive but now I have a pretty wide, cool-looking Offstring yoyo!

Testing it’s first flight, I landed it right on the string and it felt like the spin time was improved as there was a little more weight to fling upward. However after multiple tests during the day, I found that perhaps the gap might be a bit too wide. It required me to do a couple wraps before binding and even at that, it made the next throw snag. It looked cool and all watching the yoyo fling around and wrap but the snags were no good. Then, I just remembered that I had some slimmer bearing spacers back when I had my Ballistic. Now the gap’s narrower and there’s more response for a bind. It was actually very smooth earlier. Now I do have a little vibe but I can just tune it to smooth it out.

So yea, if you have a Flying Panda laying around and aren’t using your MOD Spacers from your Pro Z, try it out in the FP and see how you like it! While I don’t know a whole lot about Offstring other than gaps tend to be a little more narrow than a 1A yoyo and the yoyo itself is fairly oversized, I’m liking this a lot! Learning tricks hasn’t been easier!

For an idea of the stock catch zone and yoyo - the body is about the width of a FH2, with the rubber rims increasing diameter but not a whole lot of width.

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The way the mod looks reminds me of a mini-diabolo, which seems oddly appropriate. In those regards, that seems pretty cool.

As for me, I was playing my Go Big today. Lots of fun. Wish I could do more, but hey, we all gotta learn at our own pace! Mine is very slow.

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I have a flying panda also. I am fine with the smaller size, my only complaint is that the stock bearing has rust on the outside, the rubber gets air bubbles between it and the plastic, and the friction stickers. I do not like friction stickers very much, they wear out, and you have to replace them a lot.

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There are always silicone stickers or dif pads.

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After a week of this setup, I still like it a lot, weight feels good and the yoyo feels very ‘meaty’. It definitely feels like a micro Diabolo. I’m not sure why, still trying to figure it out but somehow I’ll get the bearing spinning and other times the bearing appears to be stuck, acting like a fixed axle. Perhaps I need to check my spacers and clean them (I had cleaned them some already, there appeared to be some gunk on it) sense I did happen to swap out for some thinner spacers for a better response.

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Dude, I gotta share this.

First, I was able to pick up a Flying Panda for like $7 at a local sporting goods store. Part of my “Father’s Day Self-gift”. Nice, nothing major. Kinda small for my 4A perferences, but not bad. Stock string sucks, but I’m too lazy to put a 100% poly on there for now.

At another store(same chain, different location), they had 2 more. Same color, different graphics(well, they both matched). My boy had been wanting once since Disneyland when we had to get his older sister new shoes, and we saw one at that location(again, same chain, MUCH different location, yet same under $7 price). Not to go on a tangent, but my wife made darn sure during the rest of the Disneyland trip I was unable to spare 5 minutes to pop in there and grab that yoyo.

Anyhow, back to today, store #2, 2 identical ones. Brought my kid with me, got the last 2 in stock, gave him one, the other for mods. I took the black mod spacers left over from my 2 ProZ yoyos that I am keeping in modified shape and then I took a 30mm hex bolt I got at Home Depo(to be the FHZ axle substitute, matched by bringing a FHZ with me to the store). I replicated your configuration. Not sure what spacers I used, but they were thinner aluminum ones from the Duncan Bearing and Spacer kit. I’d like to put something in even thinner to get those binds a bit tighter and more reliable for me. Coupled with the longer wearing Duncan silicone stickers, that should make it really nice as a performer.

Oh yeah. Really nice. Again, stock string sucks. I’ll throw a 100% poly on there in a few days. Smooth, stable, solid, nice extra weight, bigger catch zone and SPINS super fast. Not bad considering I haven’t cleaned the bearing yet. I typically clean out my Duncan bearings before I throw them in for serious play.

I think I’m gonna have to order another Duncan Bearing and Spacer kit, another set of Duncan silicone stickers and maybe an A-sized CenterTrac for it.
Duncan should sell the mod spacers, heck even make an SPR-kind of version to take a C-sized bearing.

Wait, back on topic. This is a nice mod. Cheap, uses spare parts and if not, minimal investment in the bolt, which come 2 in a pack and completely reversible.

Thanks for sharing. This is a mod right up my alley.

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Glad you like it! Wait until you clean your bearing…spins will be much improved and longer-lasting, giving me more of a chance to experiment with tricks and just have fun with it.

Spending more time with this, I’m really loving it. I kind of figured out my ‘bearing stuck’ issues. Because the bearing’s seated deeper into the Mod Spacer and there’s a little play, the bearing sometimes tends to rub the wall of it after a hard landing. Spending a good chunk of my Sunday working on my forward pass mounts on grass (softer landing, less likely to roll away from me, also did it with a hill behind me to act as a wall), my bearing didn’t get stuck once on me. I’m still liking this a lot and am tempted to head over to my local sporting goods store (I know exactly where you went :slight_smile: ) and pick up some of the marked down Pandas as well as clear is a bit hard to see when you’re under the sun. I may keep one stock and one modded, move the mod spacers to a colored one as I’ll probably favor the modded over the stock.

Random note since you mentioned about Mod Spacers a la carte. It would be neat if Duncan did sell these mod spacers/included them in the parts kit. Speaking of which, for those who follow Duncan’s Facebook, they had an image of a Mod Spacer using a standard silicone recess…a huge step in the right direction!

You mentioned you have a Go Big. How’s the Panda mod compare to the Go Big anyway?

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Yeah, I’ve been on a bearing clearing bing. I even bought some of that electrical contact cleaner, but I forgot to take it out of the car. Then to make matters worse, my wife took people to Roseville, to the mall where there is Learning Express and they sell yoyos! I’m using Acetone to clean, then TerrapinX treating them. I just got my kid a Metal Drifter and a replacement ProZ. He opened up his ProZ to clear a knot and cleared his bearing and spacers into the field. I was already buying 2 sets of Duncan replacement spacers before I even knew about this, just to ensure I had spare parts.

Anyhow, he’s asking me to clean the bearing in the ProZ, so I’m going to, then I’m going to clean the one in my modd’ed Flying Panda. I can’t wait to see the difference.

But, back to the Go Big vs. the Flying Panda: No comparison. The Go Big is a much better performer in my opinion. Bigger means easier to catch, and the response just is much better for me in the Go Big as well. Regardless of that, I think your Flying Panda mod is fun, fast, cheap and reversible. It changes the performance and profile and gives a different playing experience. If you can get them for cheap, this is the way to go. I think this is MUCH better than completely stock. It’s not quite a Hayabusa either. Not to praise this a bit more, but this would be a good offering as a product.

I like these kind of mods. No tools needed and it’s not permanent. Even better is that in the case of this one specifically, it’s very solid and plays like a solid single unit, not a bunch of parts placed together.

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They now have offstring Mod Spacers!
they feature a new quadrad response.
think Hayabusa with an extra Hole!

Im plan on picking a few up along with a few duncan offstring yoyos!

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I think I need to pick myself up some sets. I can’t find anything on YYE. Is there a link you could send me via PM or something like that?

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I’ve seen these on someone’s Facebook, looked pretty cool seeing a fattened up Hayabusa…speaking of which, I really want to try one of these out now, with the new reverse dimple spacers. Also still tempted on picking up the last 2 Flying Pandas at my local sporting goods store.

Some of what I saw on someone’s photo they uploaded on Facebook:
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/388985_10151059208321763_48001096_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/303557_10151059186021763_568752707_n.jpg

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I got a gig this Friday doing sound for a concert, then doing sound at a yoyo contest the next weekend in Roseville(not too far from me). Then the next weekend I have back to back gigs at the same venue Friday and Saturday. Monday morning, I am ordering some of these. I think I might modify a stock FHZ and my Hayabusa. If I like it, I’ll order another FHZ to keep stock and another Hayabusa to stay stock as well. I like t have “stock” models of things I modify.

I really liked the Flying Panda mod. The Hayabusa mod should be sweet too! Maybe try them in a ProZ as well!

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That white, clear, white is a good look.

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tried doing it to my fhz. axle is too short, gonna need to take a trip to the hardware store.

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Home Depot and Lowes carries a 40mm bolt in both threaded and a carriage bolt configuration(no threads on part of it). 1/package.

I did notice that the package includes a longer axle. Must be a reason for that!