Just browsing HK I see a J3 Cub for $20. I had several motors and ESCs laying around and a bucket of servos. What the heck. Realistically it is a $35 Cub because of shipping (US warehouse BTW).
Ok there it is, an ugly little monster and it took a bit to make it work. First it is heavy, real heavy. This is not a terrible thing because it can get in the wind. The flags were straight out today but the only issue I had was having to give her some room to turn downwind because of the small control surfaces. I had a Turnigy DST-1200 and a 20 amp esc for it and flew it on a 9x5. I used a 800mAh 2s for it and it worked fine.
I didn't want to mount the motor to the cheap plastic firewall, and I needed it far enough out to get the shaft through the cowl so I cut a square in the plastic and stickmounted the motor. In the end the cowl didn't fit well and it was a pain trying different sized props without removing it so I left it off, I'm not out showing this thing off anyways.
Everything on this plane screams $20 plane so if you think about getting one, don't say I didn't warn you. I had to weigh down the front quite a bit. I had some old nuts and bolts in my "you never know" box and glued them on the side as a junkyard exhaust kind of thing. There is also a square of metal I had taped to the bottom to finally balance it.
It did fly pretty well considering the windy day. I will have to get a video of it if the weather lets up soon. It's only three channel and has a ridiculous amount of dihedral so I think it will work nice buddy boxing with my daughters friends when they feel like getting up there or on those wet ground mornings when I don't want to take out my scratchbuilds.
In the end it was $35 and some spare parts, and just as fun to fly as a 5 times the price HZ supercub, but doggone if she ain't ugly.
Ok there it is, an ugly little monster and it took a bit to make it work. First it is heavy, real heavy. This is not a terrible thing because it can get in the wind. The flags were straight out today but the only issue I had was having to give her some room to turn downwind because of the small control surfaces. I had a Turnigy DST-1200 and a 20 amp esc for it and flew it on a 9x5. I used a 800mAh 2s for it and it worked fine.
I didn't want to mount the motor to the cheap plastic firewall, and I needed it far enough out to get the shaft through the cowl so I cut a square in the plastic and stickmounted the motor. In the end the cowl didn't fit well and it was a pain trying different sized props without removing it so I left it off, I'm not out showing this thing off anyways.
Everything on this plane screams $20 plane so if you think about getting one, don't say I didn't warn you. I had to weigh down the front quite a bit. I had some old nuts and bolts in my "you never know" box and glued them on the side as a junkyard exhaust kind of thing. There is also a square of metal I had taped to the bottom to finally balance it.
It did fly pretty well considering the windy day. I will have to get a video of it if the weather lets up soon. It's only three channel and has a ridiculous amount of dihedral so I think it will work nice buddy boxing with my daughters friends when they feel like getting up there or on those wet ground mornings when I don't want to take out my scratchbuilds.
In the end it was $35 and some spare parts, and just as fun to fly as a 5 times the price HZ supercub, but doggone if she ain't ugly.
