*Unofficial* FT Simple Cub

Gazoo

Well-known member
Wow, Gazoo, that's a very nice looking Cubby. I think you can't go wrong with a bigger motor. You don't have to use all of it.

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I had a ski jacket in the '70s with those same colors.

Mine flew nose heavy. I pushed the battery as far back as possible until it bumps against the landing gear tab. It can stand a little tail weight so maybe a steerable tail wheel is in order.

I thought I saw someplace where someone dropped a C-pack or equivalent in a Simple Cub. I'm thinking that the nose weight would be a little much. Even with the slightly larger motor that I'm using, it is a bit nose heavy. Has anyone used a bigger motor? Please report.
 

MJPicard

Bushwacker Pilot
Thanks. I'm pretty sure I had a ski jacket in the '70s with those same colors.

Mine flew nose heavy. I pushed the battery as far back as possible until it bumps against the landing gear tab. It can stand a little tail weight so maybe a steerable tail wheel is in order.

I thought I saw someplace where someone dropped a C-pack or equivalent in a Simple Cub. I'm thinking that the nose weight would be a little much. Even with the slightly larger motor that I'm using, it is a bit nose heavy. Has anyone used a bigger motor? Please report.

I use the standard C pack, a Emax GT2215, 30a esc, with a 1500mah 3S lipo and the CG is dead center. I push the battery back against the landing gear block as well. I have a 3s 2200 lipo I'm gonna try on my next flight out. I think the 2200 will help balance the floats a little better.
 

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
My Turn

Came home from FFE17 with a FT Simple Cub.

Weather permitting I'll get to fly it this weekend.

IMG_5397.JPG IMG_5477.JPG
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Came home from FFE17 with a FT Simple Cub.

Weather permitting I'll get to fly it this weekend.

View attachment 94432 View attachment 94433

Oh man...those bigger wheels on it make the Simple Cub look so much like the Timber that my dad keeps wanting. He's been seeing one of the instructors fly it and roll it down the runway on one wheel, flip it around, do hammerhead stalls with it, etc.

If I show him THIS, he's gonna be buying a Simple Cub for sure. It'd certainly be cheaper!! LOL
 

slipshift

Active member
The Simple Cub is fantastic! It's the first plane I was able to fly for an entire battery (2200 mAh, 3S). I'm not a very good pilot, flying once or twice a month for the past year but recently I found a neighbor's field to fly in. This field is on the top of the mountain and is usually a little gusty. The wind forecast was for 2 mph winds, however when I got there it had sustained gusts to 10-15 mph. Since I was there with fully charged batteries I thought "What the heck, I'll fly anyway." The Cub did well until the motor cut out but I was able to bring it in for a landing. It only felt like it was flying for 4-5 minutes but all that time I was battling the wind and was unable to trim the plane. I was able to get the Storch in the air but it couldn't make any headway into the wind. Things are looking up, I'm getting my cataracts taken care of so I can fly higher than one mistake high. Sorry for the rambling, I'm just so excited to finally get a full flight in.

Jim
 

Grifflyer

WWII fanatic
Well for quite a while now I've had plans for a modified simple cub,

it's the same as the regular simple cub, but with different wing and tail feather profiles, it has bigger control surfaces, no dihedral, equipped with flaps, and renamed the FT Simple STOL.

so you'd build it like the original version, but forget the dihedral, crank the throws up, have the flaps deploy down ~80 degrees, and put much bigger wheels on. so it would fly like a Tundra, Timber, Bushwacker etc.

View attachment FT Simple STOL Page 1.pdf

View attachment FT Simple STOL Page 2.pdf

View attachment FT Simple STOL Page 3.pdf

EDIT
I forgot to mention that this has never been built or flown so anyone building this would be building a beta version, and if any one does choose to build one could you let me know how it goes?
 
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dantheman

Member
Well, I built a set of floats but decided the pond in my neighborhood wasn't going to be big enough for my abilities. The floats turned into a hull for a nice airboat. So, while not a cub, is made of cub parts.

IMG_8086.jpg

The hope was that by steering it using differential thrust, it would work better than the other better.
IMG_8087.jpg

Unfortunately, the way I mounted the motors wasn't quite up to snuff. It picked up some serious speed when it stood up on the step. All steering was lost at that point though. One of the mounts blew off due to vibration I am guessing. I will convert it over to a pusher setup and weld the wire together. My son pushed me back to shore.
IMG_8088.jpg
 

jjohnson98

New member
IMG2.png
Here is my attempt at the FT Simple Cub. Fairly easy build and things went together well.
I noticed others complaining about the back of the wing folding and added some 3-D printed braces hot glued in place in the problem area. Seems to be holding up well and that part of the wing is very solid now. Also, I added some rubber band protection in the form of C-shaped pieces that cover the back edge of the wing.

IMG1.png

Using a B-pack like motor (A2212/13t 1000kv) and a 9x4.7 slow fly prop the plane felt slightly under-powered. It needed about 75-80% throttle for level flight. Maybe I've been over-sizing motors on my other models but I like about 50% for level flight so I have lots of extra power in the bank. I went up to the 10x4.7 slow fly and it's crusing at 60% which I like a lot better.
That big slow fly prop sound so cool doing a low pass!

Thingiverse links for the 3D printer parts-

Rubber band guard:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2549633

Wing support:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2549599

Tail skid:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2549618
 
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Dgreco63

Multirotor Enthusiast
Finally maidened my Simple Cub

FTSimpleCub3.jpg

FTSimpleCub4.jpg

FTSimpleCub1.jpg

FTSimpleCub2.jpg
It was SUPER calm last night and I decided to take the Simple Cub out.

Damn the Torpedoes! Full Speed ahead!! :D;)



I was real happy with the way it handled. I can see now that most of my troubles were from trying to maiden this plane in windy conditions. Now I know I just can't do that. At least not until I'm more comfortable flying in conditions like that.

I will say that I'm not all that thrilled with the landing gear. On Josh's advice in the video (because I'm taking off from a grass field) I didn't install the side shrouds for the landing gear. I think I'm going to add some side and rear bracing like the Simple Storch has. I just need to investigate it further.
 

Michael9865

Elite member
View attachment 94664
Here is my attempt at the FT Simple Cub. Fairly easy build and things went together well.
I noticed others complaining about the back of the wing folding and added some 3-D printed braces hot glued in place in the problem area. Seems to be holding up well and that part of the wing is very solid now. Also, I added some rubber band protection in the form of C-shaped pieces that cover the back edge of the wing.

View attachment 94665

Very nice. Are you going to share the stl files on thingiverse?
 

SlingShot

Maneuvering With Purpose
Which is the best way to get a waterproof "boat" for the fuselage? Is it better with the water-resistant foamboard, or is it better to waterproof the regular foamboard with the water based polyurethane treatment?

I posed this question some time go. Instinctively, I have surmised that a hybrid approach might be best. WBPU and kraft paper for the hull, with water resistant foamboard for the rest of the plane.

I don't have water resistant foamboard, but I am going to make my Cub floats with the WBPU and kraft paper technique.
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
Update on the graphics. I plan to add them to a new revision of the plans. Question for the community...

Would you like the Simple Cub plans to be all inclusive, meaning that the graphics and floats are all included in one single plan set?
 

quimney

Member
I posed this question some time go. Instinctively, I have surmised that a hybrid approach might be best. WBPU and kraft paper for the hull, with water resistant foamboard for the rest of the plane.

I don't have water resistant foamboard, but I am going to make my Cub floats with the WBPU and kraft paper technique.

I made mine with Ross board I found at Walmart. It needs paint to keep the water from soaking into the paper but the paper really stays on. I got mine totally soaked (no paint) and thought it might be ruined. When it dried off you couldn't tell it had ever been wet. It's more brittle than DTFB so while it works great on water, if you crash on land it breaks before it crumples.

I am very happy with it as a low cost solution for water planes.
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
Here is a picture of my FT Simple Cub prior to it's maiden flight this past Saturday morning (9/9/17).

21728999_1677313492303600_4622681758420564023_o.jpg

I built mine with no dihedral and flaps. I will likely build another wing with dihedral (also with flaps) to compare performance. Not sure I like how it flies without the dihedral right now.

I Started with a Gforce MR2212 900 kv, 35a HobbyWing ESC (overkill) spinning a 10 x 4.5 slow fly prop on a 2200 mAh 3S pack. I chose that motor because I had a couple lying around and I think it is pretty close to the new spec for the B Pack. Maiden flight didn't go smoothly. And I chose to maiden in an 8-10 mph wind. With the 2200 shoved as far back as it could go, the plane was a little extra nose heavy, but I was determined I could manage it. :black_eyed: About a minute or two into the flight, the elevator servo let loose inside the fuselage and I had no pitch control. Down she went. I did manage to cut the throttle and scrub off some air speed, but it still took a good hit. Nothing that couldn't be fixed. Bent gear (and slightly tore up fuse at the gear location) a little crease on one wing tip, as well as a broken prop. I Headed back home for repairs after a 2 minute flight.

Once home I decided I was going to swap out the motor and ESC for the standard FT C Pack. I bent the gear back into shape and straightened out the wing tip as best I could. The problem with the servo letting loose was, I think, two-fold. Probably not enough glue, and the area inside the fuse that I glued it to had plenty of over spray on it from the paint job. Not a good combination as it turns out. I scuffed the paint with rough grit sandpaper, poured on plenty of hot glue, and got the servo mounted back into position. an hour later and I was ready to head back and try it again.

First flight on the new power setup was again with a 2200 3S. The Cub did not feel very floaty with this combination. I decided to bring it in and try a 1300 4S (would have tried a 3S but did not have one with me at the time). I have to say that the 1300 created a much more enjoyable experience for me. I'll need to try flying it with no wind and see if it behaves even better.
 

Dgreco63

Multirotor Enthusiast
FT Landing gear mods?

OK Gang,
I didn't add the DTF landing gear skirts because I fly off of a grass field. And being a newbie I've had a some "hard landings" and this has resulted in the wire landing gear getting abused (i.e. BENT! :black_eyed:)

So I bend it back but even with that "fix" I've been having a bit of a hard time taking off. So I'm probably going to make a new set of gear. But this time I wanted to add a set of bracing that would help to keep the gear more forward. They tend to bend back after a couple of landings (controlled crashes).

Now I realize that beefing up the landing gear will cause that energy from a crash to go somewhere else. I don't want to beef them up as much as stabilize them. That's why I was thinking of adding a set of braces made from wire and secured to the main gear via thread soaked in CA glue. I figured it'd be one piece and would be formed so that it would loop up and over a bbq skewer at the base of the fuse.

I was wondering if anyone else has done that.

I've looked through this thread and saw a couple of landing gear mods. But not exactly what I was talking about.
 

Gazoo

Well-known member
OK Gang,
I didn't add the DTF landing gear skirts because I fly off of a grass field. And being a newbie I've had a some "hard landings" and this has resulted in the wire landing gear getting abused (i.e. BENT! :black_eyed:)

So I bend it back but even with that "fix" I've been having a bit of a hard time taking off. So I'm probably going to make a new set of gear. But this time I wanted to add a set of bracing that would help to keep the gear more forward. They tend to bend back after a couple of landings (controlled crashes).

Now I realize that beefing up the landing gear will cause that energy from a crash to go somewhere else. I don't want to beef them up as much as stabilize them. That's why I was thinking of adding a set of braces made from wire and secured to the main gear via thread soaked in CA glue. I figured it'd be one piece and would be formed so that it would loop up and over a bbq skewer at the base of the fuse.

I was wondering if anyone else has done that.

I've looked through this thread and saw a couple of landing gear mods. But not exactly what I was talking about.

Here is a gear mod I did on a Storch. Not the prettiest thing I've ever done but it may provide some inspiration.

Gear Mod.JPG