The story of the HZ Super Cub

[MtRcAdventures]

My first ever plane was a Hobby Zone Super Cub...
The original, with A.C.T.

My introduction to flight was picking one up at my local Hobby town,(14years ago) spending $2XX something on a brand new ready to fly... The box said "Teach yourself to fly." I was determined to do just that...
My buddy had a pilots licence and I knew the concepts of flight.... So off to the enormous park we went. It wasn't big enough.
My legs were shaking As I nervously went through the pre flight, my buddy insisted on. When everything checked out we put her back by home plate, throttled up to full, and she was off, tail came up about halfway to second base, and she was just leaving the ground as the tiny tires cleared the outfield grass. She was airborne as I over controlled her radically, before my buddy suggested I let the plane fly... What a concept. My first turn went well and I finally throttled back to 60% or so, and she was flying beautifully. I couldn't believe it as I WAS FLYING!!!The flight pack was short lived though... 5-7 minutes later the motor died, signaling the Nimh pack was finished. I brought the throttle to zero, and back up to come around for my approach I was to high, and went around again. I lost power on the down wind leg and cycled the throttle again. Getting back about 1/3 throttle.... My approach was too steep, I know now, and as I came in, I ripped the lg right out from under the plane , and broke my prop. Thus ending my first ever flight. I WAS HOOKED.

 

[Hai-Lee]

My Hobby Zone Super Cub was purchased second hand, (as is), for $80AUD. That was about 3 years ago now.
Sadly it took me three crashes to work out that the Rx was deaf as a post and so a new Rx, and brushed ESC, later I managed to get it flying quite well.

That was OK for about a year or so and then I remember flying around some steel towers used for sports field lighting when I flew into one, (flat out in a banked turn, around 100ft in the air). I hit the tower directly on the spinner and shattered the motor and gearbox and the wings snapped. It was repaired and after almost another year I gifted it to a novice pilot in our club.

Well the novice is no novice any more and after the usual number of crashes he was preparing it to be gifted to yet another novice when he parked it in the crown of a tall gum tree, Half a week later and it is still in the tree. Will it ever fly again? I admire the old tough as nails super cub and if they were still available in the original format I would openly recommend them to anyone starting out.

have fun!

 

[MtRcAdventures]

That first flight was 14 years ago.....

I still remember it like it was yesterday.....

Back to the story.....
The poor plane. The first flight was the best I had with that plane. Fly, crash, repair, repeat....
I was trying to figure out how to land the plane without ripping the gear from under it and getting better with every flight....Until i drove it into a light pole..... ooops.... It was at that point I realized the park was much too small, and any kind of wind threw the poor little plane around, and I was a terrible pilot. I repaired her and went searching for a better place to fly. I never found one... the plane got stored for a year, then two, then I decided to move to Montana, and sold it to my brother....

 

[MtRcAdventures]

Fast forward 10 years....

I just recieved a big raise at work and decided I could afford to fly again...
My brother handed me my old Hz Super cub, minus the wing and I decided to rebuild it...
I made the mistake of removing the tape from the fuse.... LOL. The tape was the only thing holding the fuse together... I bought a new one.... and a wing, and a tail. I got the electronics in it, and nothing.... Nothing worked the batteries were good much to my suprise. So I started shoppingand a guy at the lhs had a motor and esc he would sell me for $50. I took it, a parkzone 480, and eflight 30 amp esc. I picked up a couple hitec 5055's and glued them into the stock location, of my new fuse. now the landing gear. I wanted big tires, and I did not want stock wire gear, as the old plane was horrible. So after time in the lhs I decided to build my own. the result of this fresh build was this.....

 

[MtRcAdventures]

So the Maiden....
I thought ahead, and brought a extra prop... Met my buddy with over twenty years of RC flight experience at his club field one cloudy Sunday afternoon....
The wind was blowing 7-10 mph.... to windy for a newb like me... I know now, lol
We did a preflight, and found the rudder and elevator both needed adjustment. dialed them in, and ran the motor up on a plane stand. I was excited and nervous at the same time. I st the plane on the fabric mat taxiway into the wind, as my buddy suggested, and increased power until the 12 x 4.7 prop was spinning then advanced the throttle slowly and ground looped her... The wind lifted a wing and flipped her over.
I looked at my buddy and we laughed...and he cursed foamies....
I got her turned back over, inspected her and set her back on her wheels....
I advanced the throttle a bit more agressively this time and in ten feet or so she was climbing out over the tall grass of the field and getting small quickly.
Remember this is a ret bird with a pz 480 and 2200 3s. I kicked the rudder over to iniciate a turn, and found I did not have enough rudder authority...
She winged over and I jammed on the throttle pulling back and did a crazy tight loop... I swear I could hear the flimsy stock struts screaming for mercy... One thing she did not lack was power.
She winged over again as I tried to cross the wind and this time I was too close to the ground, and I put her in with a total of aproxamately 45 seconds of flight time...
I did the walk of shame with my buddy and found.
I broke the prop, and the cowl....
I decided to try again.... against my buddys advice.
Moved the links to inner holes on the control surfaces, and replaced the prop.....
Back to the mat....
My takeoff was perfect, about ten feet of rolling and in the air climbing agressively.
My first turn went without hitch and I made a circuit around the field. 4 turns in a row..... I was giddy, as my legs shook under me and I sweated in the 50 degree weather. Then I made a second circuit, and discovered the joy of rc flight. I was hooked, and mrs Cub was getting ailerons....
I came around and as My timer went off on my new gx8 tx I lined up with the runway, well crossing the runway, throttled back and..... dumped her into the weeds.....Doh!
Ending my day of flying.

 

[MtRcAdventures]

The aftermath.....

 

[MtRcAdventures]

And over the next few days, I put in those promiced Ailerons...

Flattened the dihedral, and added a spruce spar.gorilla glued in....

 

[MtRcAdventures]

The next trip to the field was two weeks later, on a Sunday afternoon...
My buddy and i did another preflight, and got everything sorted. It was a much better day than the previous attempt. wind was minimal, blowing down the runway, and 2-3 mph
I taxied out, and began a taxi roll. The plane lifted off at 3/4 throttle as I steered her with the rudder. once airborne I was up, up, and away. I got up to elevation, and started doing circuits. My legs were shaking as I flew, and after 5 minutes of flight my buddy talked me down for my first ever sucessful landing! Only did 3 go arounds before I had a good approach. I was Jazzed. estactic....
Next flight went just as well. My plane was beautiful I was thrilled, my buddy put up his basher Visonaire and we flew together for the first time I was up with another plane! To say i was hooked would be a understatement. I couldn't wait to fly again.
My landing this flight wasn't pretty, and as I came in the wind gusted, I over reacted, and stalled the plane noseing her in and breaking my only prop. Booooo
It was a good day though and I was determined to continue flying.

 

[MtRcAdventures]

Over the next few months, I flew every chance I could...
I picked up the new UMX J3 and started flying at home....
Then it happened, I flew my buddies Visonaire.... I wanted a 3D plane suddenly, and I went by the lhs and picked up the PZ Sukhoi Su 29, expecting a similar result as my flight with the Visionaire. IT WAS NOT THE SAME!
LOL!
I crashed it hard on my maiden flight, and broke a wing, prop, and cowl.
Back to my Super Cub....
I got sloppy, admitedly, and forgot to strap the battery securely. When I took off the battery slid backwards and into the tail hollow.
I had enough power to hover, and climb vertically but landing!
I ripped the tail off!
My fuse was starting to show its age, and I was almost ready to put her to rest...
I had crashed her almost every outing, and she was starting to show it.
I glued the tail back on, and decided to build a low wing plane.