1/3 scale Piper Cub Build

I finally took the Cub plans, laid them out on a hollow core door and found out why the box was so big. To actually see it laid out on a door and it outsizes the door, makes it a daunting project.

I would like to first say, I'm impressed with the amount of hardware this plane comes with. The $600.00 price tag seemed to be a bit high at first until I saw all the extras... tires, every nut, bolt and screw... mounting plate you can think of. Even the rudder bellcranks, which look fairly scale, are included. If I'm disappointed in anything in the kit, it would be the elevator control. I'm probably going to set up a pull-pull on it using a bellcrank cluster similar to what I made for the Buccaneer. I think I'm going to make the joysticks active by setting up separate micro servos to pull the joysticks back and forward, also left and right as each control surface is moved. I may do the same with the rudder peddles. I'm not sure yet about this. I thought about having them attached, but thought better as there is a chance of binding with wear... I am not cool with that at all.

I have access to some plexi-glass rods which have very thin sidewalls and may put in tilt and bank bubbles too. As for the wood, I'm very impressed with the balsa and plywood they use.

I ordered the scale aileron and dummy engine kits for this plane. My Pegasus is a bit shorter in width than the scale Continental 65 HP engine. I was sort of disappointed in the engine kit.

In my opinion not a lot for the bucks, but workable. I've sent an email to Balsa USA about my feelings. The rocker covers, I felt, should have at minimum, had the Continental engine name embossed into the plastic. Their response was typical cost vs sales response, "It would cost more to do this." My feeling is when someone makes a mold... the engraving of the name on the covers would only set them back a few hours of set up. As they said, "It would drive the cost of selling them higher." I feel the off set in cost per sale would benefit them more. I know I would pay 4 or 5 extra dollars not to have to find a way to emboss the name in those rocker covers.

In retrospect I could have been satisfied with the 1/4 scale Cub and I probably should have gone with that one, but I had the money to go big... so what the hell. So as things progress with the Cub, I will try to take photos and post them.

JacLynn

im glad you finally got brave enough to open the box!
did you say that was a 65 HP engine?
that things going to fly! cant wait to see the build progress and as always take pics pics pics!

michanic220 wrote:

im glad you finally got brave enough to open the box!
did you say that was a 65 HP engine?
that things going to fly! cant wait to see the build progress and as always take pics pics pics!

The full scale plane has a 65 HP engine. My scale engine is 4.2 HP four cylinder four stroke. I am building the 1938 era Piper Cub which started out with a 35 HP engine and was upgraded in the 40's to a 65HP engine. Sorry for the confusion.

JacLynn

What is the wing span of that thing!

Jeffro wrote:

What is the wing span of that thing!

The wing is 140 inches with a flying weight of about 22-25 pounds. I am wrestling with the ailerons and wing assembly today. The scale ailerons, using the original plans don't fit the wing so I am having to translate the measurements to the wing plan... a pain in the a$$.

That is insane.... You are going to have to build a huge shop to hold all of those!!! hell if you keep getting bigger one day you can just build real airplanes!

holy crap that is big!!!!

I am crazy when it comes to my planes. Yesterday Gwen and I drove (actually Gwen drove, I sat in the passenger seat), well anyway we drove to Hubler Field near where we live and took some wonderful photos of a full scale cub.

If you follow any of the Reno air races, Gary Hubler was killed when his plane, Mariah95, crashed after a mid-air with another plane. He was flying at the Reno Air Races on Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 when the accident happened. I knew him from the flying group in Caldwell.

Anyway his partner allowed me to get pictures of the the Cub's frame and wing and stabilizer mounting. I want to make this an ultimate scale plane. I have plans on making the control yoke (joy stick) moving with the actual wing, elevator and rudder controls. I bought 40 feet of scale cable so I can keep it as scale as I can. The floor, which is plywood in the full scale, will be finished the same as the full scale Cub. This plane isn't going together in a weekend... LOL

Think you can get it done in a month or twoo.... OH AND I want to see some pics Like always!


Nice to know people that can show you that kind of stuff!


Hey Also how is your forum?

Jeffro wrote:

Think you can get it done in a month or twoo.... OH AND I want to see some pics Like always!


Nice to know people that can show you that kind of stuff!


Hey Also how is your forum?

I think several months to a year if everything goes ok. I have to do a lot of research to find which airframe I'm going to build. You see the Cub was first built in 1938 and continued through 1950 or so. It's plans were resurrected in 1990 because so many people wanted one so there are a lot of brand new Cubs being built in garages. Here's a 1943 frame of an actual Cub and it is hanging in a garage.


This is a 1940's vintage Cub.


So enough for the history lesson.

My Cub is going to be based on the 36 horse powered 1935-42 Piper Cub/L4 Bird Dog (Military version) but it will have the new color as the Lockhaven Yellow paint is no longer available. It will still be scale because it can be displayed as a restored 1938 version with new paint... if that makes sense. I have some scale turnbuckles and hinges coming. They should be here today.

The forum... ya, It's running ok... I have 36 members which is double what it was when one of my other managers decided to cap the membership at 20 and we only got 15. Most didn't post because of his ruling. When I took the group over again two months ago... I opened the group to anyone who wishes to write. He would delete people who didn't write at east one post a month... I felt he was too strict. If they post they post... my problem is replies. Only about 4 out of the 36 is active. I don't want to have them quit or ban them so I just leave them alone. They'll post when they want to.

I love all the info you bring about the planes. Really do like that you stop in alot!!!


Glad to hear that your forum is hanging in there!

You can see that we are about the same!

Well... here some up to date pictures. There are some photos of the full scale Cub I am using to model mine after. The frame is rough, but getting built slowly. This is still the left wing.







The full sale Cub from Hubler Field.

That is awesome looks like a small kid will be able to fly it or a JOCKEY!!! LOL

Will you fly this one? Or any of them every!???

I am hoping to fly this one. I am going to find someone who has flown larger planes to get it trimmed out. I am told the larger planes are easier to fly because the wind doesn't effect them as much as a smaller plane and this has 140 inch wing and will weigh in at about 25 pounds.

That is amazing that it only ways 25 pounds... I was surprised at that number!

25 pounds is the suggested weight. It is sort of a median weight for the plane. The wing loading on this Cub can take up to 35-40 pounds, but I don't think I will get anywhere near that. I'm sort of a nut when it comes to planes. I plan on having all the cables where the full sized plane has its cables. I am also planning on having this part



which is the trim controls for the stabilizer as an active and fully functional part. The cable runs to the front of the plane and is operated by a crank on the left side of the cockpit (I've always wondered where that word came from) operational. Its kind of funny, but the full scale Cub's pulleys are made from a fiber soaked in resin and turned on a mill. Basically.... plastic... ya really, plastic pulleys on a plane that someone is flying. Now the pulleys in the wing are light aircraft steel and all the cables are braided stainless steel. A far cry from the modern aircraft we fly in as commercial airliners with three back-up hydraulic supplies and another back-up which deploys automatically if all of the other supplies fail. It's a small and yet powerful wind powered generator which drops into the airstream under one of the wings. It has hooked to it an alternator which supplies power to only the essential controls so the pilot can fly the plane manually.

With all of our technology, the last chance is something out of the 1920's, a wind powered generator which hasn't changed much since they were used on trainer aircraft going way back.



This is a wind generator on a 1933 Lincoln Primary Trainer Bi-Plane.

I just get so amazed by the amount of info you know about these planes!!!! It is like I am learning more stuff everytime you post!!! Thanks!

In my search for information about the Cub I find many things lately like this...



I thought the cabling for the ailerons came straight out of the wing. Seems there's a pulley or roller at the exit on the top of the wing where the aileron cable exits the wing before it connects to the aileron.

Come on now why not just go crazy and build a real plane???

Do you remember "The Flight of the Phoenix?" This is a real airplane.... it has to be better than a real airplane because it has to fly itself with a little help from the radio.

Cub's Update:

Had to remove the aileron hinges. By the time I got the leading edge trim on I found a mistake in the design. My hinges didn't drop down far enough to allow access to the hinge bolts. I picked up some new hinge plate material today and am going to replace ALL of the hinge mounts and also build new servo arms. The ones which I was going to use were too soft and bent very easily so I'm going with .032 brass servo arms and .064 brass hinges. These won't flex, this I assure.

This is the aileron control horn. Took me all day to design them so I didn't introduce differential into the operation. Differential is when one part moves faster or farther than it opposite component. I had to make a total of six identical hinges of which two will be for the aileron control.

Although I haven't built the cable pulley mount, with a lot of experimenting and checking my photos this is going to be the final setup. The aileron horn is off set as shown in the photo. The servo horn has the same off set. Most everything is made up of brass for strength. The pulley, however, is actually three servo horns. I used two large and one small horn. They are bolted together with two very small screws. There is also a ball bearing in the center for smooth operation. I am probably going to take a few days before starting the right wing. I have however, made all the parts needed for the right wing as I was building the left wing so every part is identical. The aileron connecting bolts are temporary... they really are not going to be this long... LOL


The pulley is just setting on a temporary mount and one wing rib. The finished product will be a
plywood stand epoxied to the rear wing spar.


Side view showing the position of the pulley in reference to the aileron. This also shows how it clears
the trailing edge as in the full scale.



As with everything... my mind was elsewhere when I epoxied the servo mounting rib. It was too far to one
side so a box had to be built to move the servo out in line with the aileron horn. I was getting tired.

All didn't go as well as I wanted with the aileron controls so I had to go old school push-rods but am going to put fake upper control cable which will just slide in a nylon tube giving the effect of the pull - pull system of the full scale Piper Cub. But today I framed up the other wing half and wished to post some stunning photos of just how big this plane is going to be. The wing halves are just clipped together... there will be another 6 - 8 inches between the wing halves where they connect to the fuselage for total of 140 inches of wing span. Gulp!!!! As a scale, the lofted ceiling is 10 foot and 4 inches.

The red, white and blue plane is the Super Chipmunk I built last spring. It is upside down because.... well the guy that made this plane famous did most of his stunts upside down.