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

[fencelake]

Builiding a 1/3 scale J3 myself, but the Saito may be a little underpowered?

Oh man! That Saito's going to be great on the J-3, especially if the cylinders stick out a little bit. I think that will be plenty of power. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos of both the Super Cub and the J-3 and several of them are using the G-62 on floats, which adds weight and that's more than enough. There are a couple on there with 50cc or less and they're flying just fine.

 

[fencelake]

So, I got my landing gear built. Buying those landing gear was a great idea. It was easy to just bolt them together, and of course, I had to mock it up! It's going to be a real bush plane! Here's a photo of mine and the real one.

 

[pawnshopmike]

So, I got my landing gear built. Buying those landing gear was a great idea. It was easy to just bolt them together, and of course, I had to mock it up! It's going to be a real bush plane! Here's a photo of mine and the real one.

Nice! Mikey like.

 

[Alpha20]

I tied a string to my rudder control horn to see how that was going to work and I may have to add a little tubing at the rear to avoid rubbing on the fuselage. I also am testing with my screwdriver what it will be like accessing the different servos from the access panels and nothing else.

QUESTION: I purchased 2 servos for the elevator (IMAC plane mentality), however the elevator is one unit instead of split and also the manual only calls for 1 servo. I have the Hitec 5645 MG's with like 160 oz of torque. Should I install a redundant servo or just have the one back there that's direct drive? I think the one is plenty... but I don't know

With that amount of torque one will be plenty. However, if this one fails there only one outcome. I have never had a servo (Hitec) fail on me, but for my cub I think I'll go for the SWB 2-servo tray. If one fails, I still have 50% rudder movement from the other servo. If one fails, the other moves freely. With the Taildragger tray, if one servo locks up, the other one is binded by the one who fails. I don't think this little extra weight will be an issue?

 

[fencelake]

With that amount of torque one will be plenty. However, if this one fails there only one outcome. I have never had a servo (Hitec) fail on me, but for my cub I think I'll go for the SWB 2-servo tray. If one fails, I still have 50% rudder movement from the other servo. If one fails, the other moves freely. With the Taildragger tray, if one servo locks up, the other one is binded by the one who fails. I don't think this little extra weight will be an issue?

Yea, and I guess since the elevator moves as one unit rather than independent like an aerobatic plane if one freezes then the other one isn't going to overcome it anyway... And really I'm not going to do hardcore maneuvers with this plane anyway... okay! so 1 servo for the elevator! I'm only using 2 for the rudder really not so much for the torque on the rudder, but I have a giant beefy tailwheel...

 

[fencelake]

So a little update. I've been doing the tedious interior work. I created the chair back for the rear seat and planned out the floor installation. Because my electronics and batteries will be below the cabin floor I had to plan how to connect the seats, namely the rear seat to the cabin floor and still be able to access below the floor in the cabin and the baggage area. I decided not to use the plastic cabin floor that came with the kit but to use a wood floor that will be stained later on. There's plenty of space below for batteries, RX, and smart-fly.

 

[fencelake]

The next big step will be painting the interior, but first I had to go ahead and mock up all the support tubes. The support tubes in the full scale are all green, and the interior is white. The instrument panel in the full scale is a more modern square panel, which I custom made in Adobe Illustrator. Here are a few shots.

 

[fencelake]

After interior paint, which should happen today or tomorrow. I'll go ahead and mount the engine. I had to buy mounting bolts for it, and hopefully they're long enough. I guess if they go all the way through the blind nut and I'm using high temp lock-tite.... that's all I need. Another problem that I think I've worked out is that instead of one large fuel tank that's sticking out into the cockpit, I'm going to have 2 500ml daisy chained fuel tanks that will be hidden up forward. I've asked around and this should work fine. Now, one thing to note, is that the 1 liter fuel tank will fit under the floor in the cabin, but since this is not only a taildragger, but huge tundra tires... the distance from the tank to the engine would be pretty extreme, so I decided against it.

 

[Wheel Man]

This week is very exciting for the super cub build! It's like Christmas! All my electronics, engine, landing gear, etc. have arrived or will arrive tomorrow!

For the engine, I'm putting in an EME 70 twin, which will fit perfectly inside the cowling. I looked at several twins and this was the only one that would fit.

I splurged and went for the Robart 1/3 scale landing gear. That's going to save me a lot of time for sure!

The most exciting thing that's arrived this week is the PR Bushwheels, 11.5 inch balloon tires, which are just awesome! I also ordered the 1/3 scale PR Bushwheels tailwheel, which is beefy as heck, and these are going to make the plane. Steve up at PR also made me custom axles to fit the Robart landing gear... so I didn't even have to worry about how that was going to work out. Finding 1/3 scale tundra tires was extremely difficult, and I'm so glad I found PR. These are perfect, the tailwheel was an added bonus that I didn't expect, and anyone wanting these types of wheels, here's the link to their website:

http://www.prbushwheels.com/

Tomorrow I have more stuff coming from Chief Aircraft, and also Taildragger RC. So... the cub build oughta be full steam ahead!

Thank you so much for the kind words Matt. We are extremely proud of the scale bush wheels, tail wheels, and shock struts we make for the scale cubs. We too have a passion for building and flying, and I have to say that you have done a fantastic job! As I have mentioned, if you have any issues with any of our products, don't hesitate to give us a shout, because we stand behind them 100%! It is all hand made by Robert and I in our shop in Eagle River, Alaska!

Matt, Please check your email, as I have a little something I would like to send to you so you can add to your plane! I think you will find this to be a valued addition along with something you would not want to be without!

Steve

 

[fencelake]

Thank you so much for the kind words Matt. We are extremely proud of the scale bush wheels, tail wheels, and shock struts we make for the scale cubs. We too have a passion for building and flying, and I have to say that you have done a fantastic job! As I have mentioned, if you have any issues with any of our products, don't hesitate to give us a shout, because we stand behind them 100%! It is all hand made by Robert and I in our shop in Eagle River, Alaska!

Matt, Please check your email, as I have a little something I would like to send to you so you can add to your plane! I think you will find this to be a valued addition along with something you would not want to be without!

Steve

Thanks Steve! I'm looking forward to getting this baby finished and out in the country doing some "off airport" takeoff and landings. I'm really glad I found your products... Having true balloon wheels really adds the scale touch. I'll watch my email!