Scale Balsa USA 1/3 Scale Super Cub Kit " NIB "

[fencelake]

Sub'd. I love me some aerobatic planes but I must admit that I'm a closet Cub lover. My new cub kit hopefully will be here tomorrow. I just got the little elcheapo kit from hobbyking. Heard some decent things about it so I figured for $30 what the hell.
Looking forward to seeing this one of yours take shape.

Sounds awesome! Cubs are just pure fun!

 

[fencelake]

So here's what's been going on. Last night I got home and started working on the other fuselage half only to discover there wasn't a 2nd 36" piece of 3/8" square spruce for the upper longeron. BUMMER! So after calling all the hobby stores (3) of course no one had it, which by the way if anyone wants to open a REALLY GOOD hobby shop in Ft. Worth, TX... the market is wide open. Inventory is half the battle... Customer service and product knowledge is the other half. I ended up driving to arlington (25 min) in rush hour after calling a Hobbytown USA who told me they had it. When I got there they only 24"... so I bought several pieces and ended up making a splice out of 2 of those to complete the longeron. It seems to be plenty strong, and I've glued a little strip across the joint as well for added support.

 

[fencelake]

I built the second fuselage half right on top of the first, as instructed, and it worked out perfectly! I'm using really thin painter's plastic to cover the plans, and also the first fuselage half and it works great! I'll post pictures of the brand and type tonight. Here are some photos of the work in progress. This morning I also marked the former locations before removing the fuselage halves. This evening I will reset the plan on the table to the vertical drawing and begin forming up the fuse! Very exciting stuff!!

 

[fencelake]

By the way, my plan is to copy a real bush plane, and my first choice until last night was the first image here, the blue plane. But then I found pictures of the white and green one. I think I may try to build the modified L-21 windows. I know I'm going to have to reinforce the cabin top anyway for wing support, and add wing tubes, I think by continuing to use carbon fiber and essentially bracing the cabin in the same way as the real one with a few mods I can have the L-21 windows with no problem. We'll see as the fuse comes together.

 

[2walla]

Do yourself a favor and move the strut mounts aft 1/2 inch on the fuselage. Also i would put a wing tube across the top of the fuse and out 3-4 bays in the wing. This will make it much easier to pot together and will prevent the cabin top from breaking under negative g loads. Look closely at how the fuse top is held together.. There is not much there holding it together.

 

[fencelake]

I'll take a look at the struts. I've read that on a couple of threads. I'm putting wing tubes in and have finally found the proper cardboard tubes that will fit the carbon fiber wing tubes. I started on the fuse first because I was trying to figure that out. On the fuselage I'm planning on using some carbon fiber square tubing to reinforce the cabin connection, and then for the L-21 windows I'm going to use either 3/8" or 1/2" wooden dowels and pretty much build it out the exact way the real super cub is done.

 

[fencelake]

It's been a busy day! I'm committed to the L-21 windows on the fuse, and I went ahead and started framing up the fuselage. I started by laminating the firewall and Former F2. I'm using an assortment of glues... I don't really know why, but for lamination of the firewall I used Gorilla Wood Glue. I used a scrap to even it out smoothly on the parts, and did the same with F2. After that, I used 5 minute epoxy on the firewall to glue it in place, and then I used my Tight-bond F2.

 

[fencelake]

So, onto the first step in planning for the L-21 windows. The first thing I did was put some tracing paper over the plans and do a little sketching. I did this for the windows, and I also sketched out my locations for my wing tubes. I'm going to use a 7/8" carbon fiber tube that's goes almost half the wing in front and then a 7/8" carbon fiber short tube in the rear. Here are the sketches I worked on today. The plans are SO HUGE! I had to lay them on the floor in my living room.

 

[fencelake]

The trick with L-21 windows are that the fuselage retains it shape, but there's some exposed tubing and obviously more glass. On the BUSA model, former F4 which is normally covered up will be exposed. I decided to cut F4 in half and then tack it back together with a scrap piece so that I can use it for stringers and cabin height... then when I'm ready to put in my wooden dowels (tubing) I can simple pop it off and the fuse shape should remain. Former F5 will act as the back of the windows as well as be a connection point for the doweling... just exactly like the real ones. So, you'll see a funny scrap piece on F4 in the following photos of the fuse being framed up, and that's why. Here's the fuselage being constructed today!

 

[fencelake]

I highlighted the lower cross members on the plan because it was a little confusing. I made a former guide, as instructed and labeled it so I wouldn't toss it! Here's the rest of the fuse being formed up!