A month or so ago my dad and I went to a swap meet, and I ended up with a new (to me) toy, a Sig 1/4 scale J-3 Clipped-Wing Cub, complete with floats as well as the standard gear. No motor was included, but for $100 I couldn't pass it up. The plan is to hold this one as a build for the near future, as it doesn't need any real structural work, the covering is decent, etc. The picture is photographic evidence of the rare time I was able to coax my son away from his xBox for a few minutes. Kind of like getting a picture of Big Foot at a Chinese restaurant.
So a little time goes by and I go to visit my dad for Thanksgiving. He also invited one of the members of the flying club we belong to. Obviously, a lot of discussion was on planes, and the guy mentions he knows somebody selling a 1/4 scale cub for $50, but there are no electronics and the covering needs a lot of attention. The seller inherited it somehow and doesn't want it. I figure it is worth the chance, so my dad and I call the seller, hop in the car, and drive an hour to his place. As soon as we saw it, we knew it was going home with me. The covering did need some work, but it had all the servos and included old 72mHz radios. I didn't know what brand kit it was, but it didn't matter.
Looking at it as we were loading it up, it looked a lot like the Sig I got a few weeks back, but the wing was a 2-piece instead of 1-piece, and it has suspension in the landing gear. There are a few companies out there who make 1/4 scale Cubs.
When I got home and compared against the Clipped Wing Cub, I found this is also a Sig 1/4 scale Cub, but the full-size wing version, which is 104". Score!
But now what am I going to do with two huge planes? The plan right now is to completely re-cover this plane in an older military scheme and update electronics as needed. I talked to my dad a bit about how it could be done. He's always liked the CAP version of the cub (yellow body, silver or blue wing) so I'm going that route for the new design. Motor choice is up in the air for now - electric, gas, or nitro.
A brief conversation with EarthSciTeach online gave me the jolt to start tearing into it. The covering didn't look bad (if you don't look at all the little holes poked in it), but a couple things bothered me and I wanted to see what kind of quality was hidden under the sea of yellow.
The first thing which confused me was the servo mount for the aileron. It's done in a fairly clean manner, but not the same as the first Cub. I like this style more because it's cleaner than having the servo arm poke through the mounting plate, but there is a problem... As you'll see in a later picture, the servo mounting screws are all extremely hard to reach once the covering is installed! I'll change this to the "correct" way to do it as I get further into the project.
The ailerons were also attached with CA hinges. While these do work, they don't move as freely as I'd like, so I'll update them with standard hinges.
On this wing, this was the biggest damage. Nothing too major, it'll be a fast fix once covering is removed. There are also a lot of dimples in the balsa which I'll fill before re-covering it.
I'm not sure what happened here, but it looks like the builder tried applying the leading edge sheet without wetting it down first, which made the balsa crack. There are a number of little issues like this I've found on the first wing, so it should be interesting to see what I find as ALL the covering comes off!
Here's another not-so-good idea, using multiple servo extensions without anything to help make sure they don't come undone! The vertical webbing between the spars could have been done better, but this isn't a high-speed plane so it'll do.
Here's how the servo was mounted. An extra plywood plate was added inside the wing and it was mounted to the plate. I don't know why, but it'll get changed and the extra weight will be removed.
...and this is what the wing looks like with 98% of the covering removed! I won't be too worried about small bits that don't come off, as the new covering is darker and will hide it well. The builder did an OK job it it. Not great, and not horrible.
So a little time goes by and I go to visit my dad for Thanksgiving. He also invited one of the members of the flying club we belong to. Obviously, a lot of discussion was on planes, and the guy mentions he knows somebody selling a 1/4 scale cub for $50, but there are no electronics and the covering needs a lot of attention. The seller inherited it somehow and doesn't want it. I figure it is worth the chance, so my dad and I call the seller, hop in the car, and drive an hour to his place. As soon as we saw it, we knew it was going home with me. The covering did need some work, but it had all the servos and included old 72mHz radios. I didn't know what brand kit it was, but it didn't matter.
Looking at it as we were loading it up, it looked a lot like the Sig I got a few weeks back, but the wing was a 2-piece instead of 1-piece, and it has suspension in the landing gear. There are a few companies out there who make 1/4 scale Cubs.
When I got home and compared against the Clipped Wing Cub, I found this is also a Sig 1/4 scale Cub, but the full-size wing version, which is 104". Score!
But now what am I going to do with two huge planes? The plan right now is to completely re-cover this plane in an older military scheme and update electronics as needed. I talked to my dad a bit about how it could be done. He's always liked the CAP version of the cub (yellow body, silver or blue wing) so I'm going that route for the new design. Motor choice is up in the air for now - electric, gas, or nitro.
A brief conversation with EarthSciTeach online gave me the jolt to start tearing into it. The covering didn't look bad (if you don't look at all the little holes poked in it), but a couple things bothered me and I wanted to see what kind of quality was hidden under the sea of yellow.
The first thing which confused me was the servo mount for the aileron. It's done in a fairly clean manner, but not the same as the first Cub. I like this style more because it's cleaner than having the servo arm poke through the mounting plate, but there is a problem... As you'll see in a later picture, the servo mounting screws are all extremely hard to reach once the covering is installed! I'll change this to the "correct" way to do it as I get further into the project.
The ailerons were also attached with CA hinges. While these do work, they don't move as freely as I'd like, so I'll update them with standard hinges.
On this wing, this was the biggest damage. Nothing too major, it'll be a fast fix once covering is removed. There are also a lot of dimples in the balsa which I'll fill before re-covering it.
I'm not sure what happened here, but it looks like the builder tried applying the leading edge sheet without wetting it down first, which made the balsa crack. There are a number of little issues like this I've found on the first wing, so it should be interesting to see what I find as ALL the covering comes off!
Here's another not-so-good idea, using multiple servo extensions without anything to help make sure they don't come undone! The vertical webbing between the spars could have been done better, but this isn't a high-speed plane so it'll do.
Here's how the servo was mounted. An extra plywood plate was added inside the wing and it was mounted to the plate. I don't know why, but it'll get changed and the extra weight will be removed.
...and this is what the wing looks like with 98% of the covering removed! I won't be too worried about small bits that don't come off, as the new covering is darker and will hide it well. The builder did an OK job it it. Not great, and not horrible.
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