Simple Cub... With a TWIST

Wildthing

Legendary member
Make sure after each landing to not only check for cracks but also closely inspect the hinges. Hinges will taking a good hit every landing.
 

PoorManRC

Master member
Make sure to weight it before the maiden.

With all the upgrades you might end up with a tubby cubby. πŸ˜‰
Oh definitely, Tim!!
She's at 1.1lbs right now, with Power Pod and Motor, no Battery.
I SMOKED the 3S Battery you gave me last year while soldering a XT60 to it when my blood sugar was low! 😭
My only other option is, ground RC Battery. My smallest, 1800 MAh, 50C 3S.
That SHOULD make her a Tubby Cubby! LOL πŸ˜†
 

PoorManRC

Master member
Guys... This time I promise it's happening!
Slight delay, maybe a week or two. It's been in the Hundred and TEENS lately!!! πŸ”₯πŸ”₯πŸ”₯πŸ”₯😳
I'm definitely not good enough to try and Fly in this thin, HOT air.
My only other worry is, my only Battery may be too heavy... But I'm fairly sure I've got enough Motor and Prop to handle the weight gain! πŸ˜‰

I'm in no physical condition to be out in the Convection Oven called Arizona!! πŸ”₯πŸ”₯
But I have secured a decent area, and permission to use it! πŸ‘πŸ‘
ASAP! Really. πŸ˜‰
 

PoorManRC

Master member
Well.......
I found a 1500 MAh 3S Batry, in a Transmitter, already converted to XT60!! πŸ‘πŸ‘
IMG_20190728_233531.jpg


This is only a teaser.... It's part of Part 6 - which WILL include the Maiden!! 😳
IMG_20190728_225916.jpg

Ghetto Soldering Station! Get yours before supplies run out. πŸ˜‹ LMAO!! πŸ˜„πŸ˜„
 

PoorManRC

Master member
I just saved myself a PANIC!
I had weighed her AUW... And got 1079 grams!!! 😳

Turned out, I left my Screwdriver IN the Fuse, and it was wedged, so it didn't rattle!!! πŸ˜–
She's STILL a little Porky, AUW is NOW 906g....
But I just saw a Cub flying SO high, that the FPV looked like over 1000ft!!!

I've got more than C Pack power, but I can't go that high anyway. Anything in my side of the City over 500ft, is Controlled Davis Monthan AFB Airspace!!

HOW do I know how high I'm flying, LOS??? Maybe I should just keep it under what I THINK looks like 100ft. That's at least easier to gauge....
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
I just saved myself a PANIC!
I had weighed her AUW... And got 1079 grams!!! 😳

Turned out, I left my Screwdriver IN the Fuse, and it was wedged, so it didn't rattle!!! πŸ˜–
She's STILL a little Porky, AUW is NOW 906g....
But I just saw a Cub flying SO high, that the FPV looked like over 1000ft!!!

I've got more than C Pack power, but I can't go that high anyway. Anything in my side of the City over 500ft, is Controlled Davis Monthan AFB Airspace!!

HOW do I know how high I'm flying, LOS??? Maybe I should just keep it under what I THINK looks like 100ft. That's at least easier to gauge....
As a rough guide put the plane nose down, (against a tree or something), and walk 500 ft away. The size of the plane or how small it willl appear will be what you see from 500 ft away.

As long as when you fly the plane appears bigger then you are well below the 500ft limit.

You will be surprised how small the plane will appear!

Have fun!
 

kilroy07

Legendary member
906 is still nearly twice the recommended weight of 489....
Yup, she’s a Tubby Cubby all right!

It’s easy to get tempted in overbuilding. Heck my SR-71 was overweight.

But honestly (and especially for your first) the lighter a plane is the slower it can fly, and faster isn’t always better....

I suspect IF she flies, your stall speed will be quite a bit more than you might expect.
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
You may also need to think about increasing the wing incidence angle slightly because when overweight the bird does not like it when you are trying to get it to fly flat and level. The main wing generates enough lift at standard weight but as the weight increases the wing lift does not automatically increase for a set speed but if you increase the incidence angle slightly the amount of lift increases rapidly without needing to fly at massively increased speed!

Just a thought!

have fun!
 

Steve Fox

Active member
Errm, I can see why your so bloody heavy now lol, I think you have over engineered it a bit, they are pretty tough as they are.

I dont use landing gear, I belly land mine so I have milk jug plastic bonded to the underside to protect the foam, it has the side effect of adding a lot of strength in an impact and the damage never runs further back than where the plastic starts.

If I have a heavy enough impact that writes the nose off or if uts just got bad over multiple abusive flights, I cut and shut my cubs, I lop off the nose at the Base of the windscreen, make a new nose section using my templates, glue it on then blow over it with paint.
I cut the power pod rails off slightly further back than the main nose cut so that when I glue the new one in it overlaps the noise joint so it's strong.
No matter how hard a crash I have, I can always have it airborne again the next day.

I dont put my battery's under the power pod like the ft plans state, my esc is fixed to the underside and my battery's go inside, my electronics are on a shelf I add behind the windscreen.

My nose sections come up much further forward on the underside and have just enough room cut out in a \_/ shape to allow the esc on the power pod to clear it, this makes the nose much more aerodynamic, it also allows for my down facing cam to be fitted in the nose right the way forward and at the right angle.

With my wings, I reinforce them with carbon fiber rods, they tend to let go at the dihedral slits after a few bad landings if you build the wings without one.
I build my wings as normal as you can't set the dihedral with a rod built in at construction, once built I make a slit in the underside, flood it with got glue and force the rod in then scrape some more hot glue over the top to seal it in.

Hers what I mean about the milk jug plastic and the nose section that is more aerodynamic, it's a full GPS FC based cub I need to finish, my tatty daily flyer can be seen in the background, that's the one you see in most of my videos.

Also a pic of what I mean about slicing into the underside for the carbon rod in the wing.

If you can get the weight down you can make them fly pretty fast and aggressively, here's a video of some low level flying, skip to 3:10 if you wanna see the real low flying without waiting.
 

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PoorManRC

Master member
This might end up surprising everyone! πŸ˜‰

And THANKS for the very useful tips @Hai-Lee ! I'll use them.

@kilroy07 I believe that extra Tonnage might make me a better Pilot. Plus, be the ultimate test for my Landing Gear Mod!
This ain't my first Flight. Just the first with this Plane, and the first where I'm actually going to have someone there to make a Video. πŸ˜‰

I've burned quite a few Batteries on my Mini Sportster, Tiny Trainer, and Mini Speedster! 😊 The only one trashed at this point, is the TT.

NOT saying I'm an expert by any stretch....
But in the Air Force, even us Stripers were enthused to Push the Envelope!!! ✈😎
 

PoorManRC

Master member
"I dont put my battery's under the power pod like the ft plans state, my esc is fixed to the underside and my battery's go inside, my electronics are on a shelf I add behind the windscreen."

That's EXACTLY what I did. Except my ESC is under the Power Pod, for more cooling.
You just told me that YOUR Cub weighs OVER a Kilo, and flies great! 😳


....... I guess I'll just have to fly her. Like I said before in this Thread "Win, Lose, or catastrophic fail - I'll post Video.
 

PoorManRC

Master member
Errm, I can see why your so bloody heavy now lol, I think you have over engineered it a bit, they are pretty tough as they are.

I dont use landing gear, I belly land mine so I have milk jug plastic bonded to the underside to protect the foam, it has the side effect of adding a lot of strength in an impact and the damage never runs further back than where the plastic starts.

If I have a heavy enough impact that writes the nose off or if uts just got bad over multiple abusive flights, I cut and shut my cubs, I lop off the nose at the Base of the windscreen, make a new nose section using my templates, glue it on then blow over it with paint.
I cut the power pod rails off slightly further back than the main nose cut so that when I glue the new one in it overlaps the noise joint so it's strong.
No matter how hard a crash I have, I can always have it airborne again the next day.

I dont put my battery's under the power pod like the ft plans state, my esc is fixed to the underside and my battery's go inside, my electronics are on a shelf I add behind the windscreen.

My nose sections come up much further forward on the underside and have just enough room cut out in a \_/ shape to allow the esc on the power pod to clear it, this makes the nose much more aerodynamic, it also allows for my down facing cam to be fitted in the nose right the way forward and at the right angle.

With my wings, I reinforce them with carbon fiber rods, they tend to let go at the dihedral slits after a few bad landings if you build the wings without one.
I build my wings as normal as you can't set the dihedral with a rod built in at construction, once built I make a slit in the underside, flood it with got glue and force the rod in then scrape some more hot glue over the top to seal it in.

Hers what I mean about the milk jug plastic and the nose section that is more aerodynamic, it's a full GPS FC based cub I need to finish, my tatty daily flyer can be seen in the background, that's the one you see in most of my videos.

Also a pic of what I mean about slicing into the underside for the carbon rod in the wing.

If you can get the weight down

I WILL be retrofitting your great ideas. The Milk Jug one will do something about that BIG hole up front, maybe slice through the Air a little better, AND be that extra margin of protection...
Should she Nose Over ANYWAY! 😎

I can't afford Carbon Fiber Rod... I'm hoping that the Popsicle sticks on the inside of the bottom L.E., and across both sides of the Spar at the Dihedral Points will be enough. Time will tell.

Impatiently waiting for the weather to break....
But at least it gives time for last minute tweaks! lol πŸ˜†

Although that looked REALLY Cool, Brian wasn't entirely right... I was Blown Away by the High Altitude View!
Only really possible with FPV, or at least DVR - neither of which I can afford any time soon.

I HAVE to be able to Land and Taxi. I'm partially Disabled, and can't be chasing wherever it might set down.
Also, I live in Arizona, not much Grass, a LOT of HARD, gravely Soil... πŸ˜–[/QUOTE]
 
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Steve Fox

Active member
yes, my cub is over a kilo but in a 4000mah 3s, its in the 800g area on a 2700, your near a kilo on a 1500 and you are going t have very short flight times on such a small battery, im heavy but i am also carrying a lot of battery in that weight.

I did find that I gained a very slight improvement on flight times when I altered the underside nose piece but top speed was also higher with less drag :)
It's so easy to do, you just make the nose piece from the original template but make it solid instead of cutting the 'u' shape out of the inside, I make the cuts out of it that it needs to clear the power pod once it's bonded in.
Another thing i use milk jug plastic for is on the leading and trailing edges of the wing where the rubber bands go, it stops them from cutting into the foam!

With the wing on the plane, look under the wing at the back where it meets the fuselage , you will see a gap between the wing and the fuse, its a weak point and the tension of the bands will fold it in a crash.
if you look carefully at the pic i posted of the wing in a couple of posts up, you can see the strip of foam im talking about under the trailing edge and also the milk jug plastic, its curves round from the top to bottom side of the wing and is very strong.
sorry about your eyes, its not easy seeing it on a florescent orange wing lol

That weak point is easily fixed by just glueing in a strip of foam on the wing in that corner and it wont fold up in a crash.

In this thread on RC Groups i show someone how i repair the nose of my planes instead of scrapping them and building a new one, scroll down to about half way down the page to see it, the thread is one i started so its fine to talk off topic on there if you want too, we use it for all sorts of chat and not just the original topic:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/sho...tch-for-fatshark-module-box-goggle-mod/page60

You say you can't afford a carbon rod, do you shop on Banggood or alliexpress? I get all my stuff from there, carbon rods, servos, motors, props, everything except my foamboard and they are a fraction of the cost compared to shopping In our own countries!

This is my standard motor I use on most planes, it will swing up to a 9x5 prop, is cheap and reliable :
https://www.banggood.com/custlink/G3DmE4HsKb

This is what I use on planes where I want higher efficiency, at lower throttles it gives longer flight times the the 2212, it's slightly heavier but will also swing up to a 10x4.7 prop:
https://www.banggood.com/custlink/DDKD89Gfz8

This is what I use on my 450 quad, it will swing a 10x4.7 prop with ease and produces around 1.3kg thrust on that prop or 1.18 kg on a 9x5, I plan to use some on planes, its a heavy but powerful and robust motor.

These carbon rods work well, they are very thin and feel bendy when not bonded into a model but once the are bonded in, they lock in place and become very rigid and quadruple the wing strength, I've never had a wing snap since I've been using them, I also use 3 mm rods sometimes which are mush more rigid.
https://www.banggood.com/custlink/3333i8y355
 
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PoorManRC

Master member
yes, my cub is over a kilo but in a 4000mah 3s, its in the 800g area on a 2700, your near a kilo on a 1500 and you are going t have very short flight times on such a small battery, im heavy but i am also carrying a lot of battery in that weight.

I did find that I gained a very slight improvement on flight times when I altered the underside nose piece but top speed was also higher with less drag :)
It's so easy to do, you just make the nose piece from the original template but make it solid instead of cutting the 'u' shape out of the inside, I make the cuts out of it that it needs to clear the power pod once it's bonded in.
Another thing i use milk jug plastic for is on the leading and trailing edges of the wing where the rubber bands go, it stops them from cutting into the foam!

With the wing on the plane, look under the wing at the back where it meets the fuselage , you will see a gap between the wing and the fuse, its a weak point and the tension of the bands will fold it in a crash.
if you look carefully at the pic i posted of the wing in a couple of posts up, you can see the strip of foam im talking about under the trailing edge and also the milk jug plastic, its curves round from the top to bottom side of the wing and is very strong.
sorry about your eyes, its not easy seeing it on a florescent orange wing lol

That weak point is easily fixed by just glueing in a strip of foam on the wing in that corner and it wont fold up in a crash.

In this thread on RC Groups i show someone how i repair the nose of my planes instead of scrapping them and building a new one, scroll down to about half way down the page to see it, the thread is one i started so its fine to talk off topic on there if you want too, we use it for all sorts of chat and not just the original topic:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/sho...tch-for-fatshark-module-box-goggle-mod/page60

You say you can't afford a carbon rod, do you shop on Banggood or alliexpress? I get all my stuff from there, carbon rods, servos, motors, props, everything except my foamboard and they are a fraction of the cost compared to shopping In our own countries!

This is my standard motor I use on most planes, it will swing up to a 9x5 prop, is cheap and reliable :
https://www.banggood.com/custlink/G3DmE4HsKb

This is what I use on planes where I want higher efficiency, at lower throttles it gives longer flight times the the 2212, it's slightly heavier but will also swing up to a 10x4.7 prop:
https://www.banggood.com/custlink/DDKD89Gfz8

This is what I use on my 450 quad, it will swing a 10x4.7 prop with ease and produces around 1.3kg thrust on that prop or 1.18 kg on a 9x5, I plan to use some on planes, its a heavy but powerful and robust motor.

These carbon rods work well, they are very thin and feel bendy when not bonded into a model but once the are bonded in, they lock in place and become very rigid and quadruple the wing strength, I've never had a wing snap since I've been using them, I also use 3 mm rods sometimes which are mush more rigid.
https://www.banggood.com/custlink/3333i8y355

Banggood and Aliexpress only seem to be good for Europe and the UK. They're slow as **** here, and Banggood has always had poor Customer Service, at least in my experience.

It's difficult to understand just how poor I really am. Trust me, I know. This has only been over the past few years. I was pretty well off before that....
Currently, MANY things are out of my reach.

I have been able to get Motors, pretty cheap, here. Dirt cheap Servos on Evilbay!!
And I've received a lot of help from VERY Generous People, that I will never forget!

This Hobby sustains my very Sanity! No, I can't afford it. But I'm not letting it stop me either.
 

Steve Fox

Active member
banggood are slow to the uk too, 3-4 weeks delivery time but so cheap its worth the wait :)

I dont trust Chinese sellers on fleabay, ive had too many things not arrive, at least with banggood i know it will turn up, i refuse to pay UK prices for things, its double what i can get things for from china, sometimes 3 times more!

Got all my posterboard templates made for the FT commuter, really shuld finish my gps cub before i build yet anther plane lol but i cant help it :/

you said that you are waiting for the bigger one to be released, i decided to try it because its small and wondered what it flys like :)

If you are interested in a bigger cessna, have you seen the Cessna 180 that a FT forum member released plans for? it has a 50" wingspan.

I have one here that i built, i modified mine so that instead of a power pod, the battery tray is fixed and i have change the top of the nose to lift off for access and ive enclosed the front of the nose more for looks and better aerodynamics.

heres a video by the creator of it plus ive attached the plans he released too :)
 

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PoorManRC

Master member
banggood are slow to the uk too, 3-4 weeks delivery time but so cheap its worth the wait :)

I dont trust Chinese sellers on fleabay, ive had too many things not arrive, at least with banggood i know it will turn up, i refuse to pay UK prices for things, its double what i can get things for from china, sometimes 3 times more!

Got all my posterboard templates made for the FT commuter, really shuld finish my gps cub before i build yet anther plane lol but i cant help it :/

you said that you are waiting for the bigger one to be released, i decided to try it because its small and wondered what it flys like :)

If you are interested in a bigger cessna, have you seen the Cessna 180 that a FT forum member released plans for? it has a 50" wingspan.

I have one here that i built, i modified mine so that instead of a power pod, the battery tray is fixed and i have change the top of the nose to lift off for access and ive enclosed the front of the nose more for looks and better aerodynamics.

heres a video by the creator of it plus ive attached the plans he released too :)

That's REALLY nice Mate! πŸ‘πŸ‘ Just about the right size.

I don't trust Chinese sellers on FleaBay (like that one too!)...
But I will buy from Domestic Distributors - ONLY if they have a 98% or higher Feedback rating, and OVER 10,000 Feedbacks. I've actually had a 100% success rate, so far in 12 years!

I may be taking your lead on the Power Pods... I have no intention of Swapping any out, plus the Firewall can be made MUCH stronger! πŸ˜‰
And, if financially able, I'd be like you and many others...
Up to my elbows in half finished Aircraft!!! πŸ˜‹