Balsa Basics FT Simple Cub

Arcfyre

Elite member
Hello everyone.

This week I decided to take that big step from building foam to balsa. As per the sticky posts on this forum, I opted for a high quality laser cut kit from the FT store, the recently released balsa basics cub.

The kit is superb quality. The wing jigs itself together completely without glue. I had the wing assembled in about half an hour. The fuselage was similarly easy to mock up, as it was all whole pieces and not open structure. The laser cut pieces fit exactly and there was no modification needed to get parts to fit.

I struggled a little with the film covering stage, as it is an unfamiliar process to me, and like everything, requires practice. I can't blame the kit for that though. The fuselage and tail surfaces ended up looking nice, but my wing has a few wrinkles and a tiny warp that I'm still working on getting out.

The kit is designed as a 3ch, but I am allergic to 3ch airplanes, so I added ailerons with some scrap from the kit. Was simple to do and they work well.

The plane balances a touch tail heavy with a 1000mah battery, but it was still flyable. Power off it glided very nicely, so it seemed to be an issue with thrust angle. I added some spacers under the top motor mount screws to add a touch of down thrust and it helped a lot.

I just flew it with a 1500mah battery and that seems to be the sweet spot. Balances nicely, and just cruising around at 35% power, I got 21 minutes of flight time, landing with a total pack voltage of 11.2. This airframe with the new power pack B is remarkably efficient.

Here are some pictures of the build. It was simple and straightforward to put together. If you're thinking about balsa, I can highly recommend this kit. It has me looking around for my next kit now.

20200604_164624.jpg 20200604_170824.jpg 20200604_173002.jpg 20200604_180329.jpg 20200604_202022.jpg 20200606_140722.jpg 20200606_181547.jpg IMG_3830.JPG IMG_3823.JPG IMG_3835.JPG

Video of it flying:

 

Attachments

  • 20200604_173002.jpg
    20200604_173002.jpg
    1.8 MB · Views: 0

speedbirdted

Legendary member
Wasnt this the one that vintage model co designed? I remember seeing it on their site ages ago and it looks like it's for sale now but never though FT would take it up. I didn't think much of it at the time but now that I've seen the one you built I think it's pretty cute. An 049 stuck on it would be perfect.
 

Arcfyre

Elite member
Wasnt this the one that vintage model co designed? I remember seeing it on their site ages ago and it looks like it's for sale now but never though FT would take it up. I didn't think much of it at the time but now that I've seen the one you built I think it's pretty cute. An 049 stuck on it would be perfect.

Yes, it's by vintage model co. They did a great job with it.
 

TooJung2Die

Master member
Congratulations on your first balsa airplane. It flies beautifully.
The bigger airplanes are probably easier to build than the little ones. One possible issue is finding a big enough workspace.
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
Hello everyone.

This week I decided to take that big step from building foam to balsa. As per the sticky posts on this forum, I opted for a high quality laser cut kit from the FT store, the recently released balsa basics cub.

The kit is superb quality. The wing jigs itself together completely without glue. I had the wing assembled in about half an hour. The fuselage was similarly easy to mock up, as it was all whole pieces and not open structure. The laser cut pieces fit exactly and there was no modification needed to get parts to fit.

I struggled a little with the film covering stage, as it is an unfamiliar process to me, and like everything, requires practice. I can't blame the kit for that though. The fuselage and tail surfaces ended up looking nice, but my wing has a few wrinkles and a tiny warp that I'm still working on getting out.

The kit is designed as a 3ch, but I am allergic to 3ch airplanes, so I added ailerons with some scrap from the kit. Was simple to do and they work well.

The plane balances a touch tail heavy with a 1000mah battery, but it was still flyable. Power off it glided very nicely, so it seemed to be an issue with thrust angle. I added some spacers under the top motor mount screws to add a touch of down thrust and it helped a lot.

I just flew it with a 1500mah battery and that seems to be the sweet spot. Balances nicely, and just cruising around at 35% power, I got 21 minutes of flight time, landing with a total pack voltage of 11.2. This airframe with the new power pack B is remarkably efficient.

Here are some pictures of the build. It was simple and straightforward to put together. If you're thinking about balsa, I can highly recommend this kit. It has me looking around for my next kit now.

View attachment 171294 View attachment 171295 View attachment 171296 View attachment 171297 View attachment 171298 View attachment 171299 View attachment 171300 View attachment 171301 View attachment 171302 View attachment 171303

Video of it flying:

That is such a nice little plane and a sweet flyer. Great job