*Unofficial* FT Simple Cub

[mrjdstewart]

You forgot to say "First!"

ya, didn't want to rub it in. if you look closely mine is also 1-of-a-kind. I had Rasterize modify the skins a little. this airplane is being built for a silent auction @ my school to raise money for the PTO. i am building this and another of my own wing designs, each will come with everything needed to start flying. hope to make a decent amount for the school but since this is the first time i have tried this, i have no idea what to expect. cross fingers.

skins are cool but i always forget how much more work and time it adds to the build. can't wait until someone figures out how to print the skins on the foam and save us all some time.

laters,

me

 

[mrjdstewart]

getting there. has to be done by thursday morning...

rasterize did as usual, an amazing job on the skins. only issues are my own mistakes as usual.

laters,

me

 

[Rasterize]

Oh and "Thanks" Rasterize in one post you've made all my work for naught!
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Great minds Kilroy07, great minds.... Still looks awesome bro!

 

[Rasterize]

getting there. has to be done by thursday morning...

View attachment 115325

rasterize did as usual, an amazing job on the skins. only issues are my own mistakes as usual.

laters,

me

Looks better than I thought it would my friend! Thanks for all the hard work!

 

[Paladin.oa]

I'm considering getting the simple cub starter pack, and have a couple questions.

1. Does the B-Pack provide enough power for 4-channel control?*

2. Has anyone added the bombs to the 4-channel aircraft?

*I tried a 3-channel in a simulator at a local hobby shop but kept crashing. When I shifted to a 4-channel I didn't crash. Too much Ace Combat and expecting to need to "bank and yank" as Josh Bixler says, plus turning with a rudder just feels wrong.

 

[mrjdstewart]

b-pack is plenty power. i have several cubs, none though are 4 channel with bomb drops. it can be done, i just have't seen one.

good luck,

me

 

[FoamyDM]

For more details see the build post here.
"Unique" things are the Electrical Taped Foam noodle tires, The reflective front, in an attempt to help with orientation and the Extra wire reinforcement in the landing struts.

 

[FoamyDM]

@Paladin.oa
I used five channels to mix Flaperons. No bomb drop (yet).
B- pack is enough power.
With 3-channel it was critical for me to insure the rudder control was plugged into the aileron spot, Then I was good to fly.

 

[Paladin.oa]

Thanks for the replies @mrjdstewart and @FoamyDM! Got another question, I live next to the Columbia River and it can get a bit choppy and it's also windy a lot of the time, will the Simple Cub be able to take off from the water, or is there a better aquatic design for those conditions?

 

[FoamyDM]

All I can tell you is there are floats. Otherwise *shrug*. And I have yet to flg off or land on water. (Despite my flying sub project.)

 

[basslord1124]

Took mine out to the our RC field recently, but unfortunately got out there too late as the sun was starting to set when my batteries finished charging. It was one of those spur of the moment things that I knew I may or may not get to fly it. Didn't get it in the air but did taxi it a little bit to see how it performed.

And actually after this experience it gave me a chance to sort of re-access some things. 1st thing, I got a new battery (3S 1600Mah) and it was an absolute pain to try to fit in underneath the power pod at the right spot for CG b/c of the tight quarters and very sticky velcro. I think I am gonna switch it up and put the ESC on the bottom of the power pod and put the battery inside the power pod...perhaps make a front hatch. I also ended up having a wheel pop off, didn't go real far so that's not a biggie. I was never 100% happy with the landing gear and the wire used so I am going to use thicker wire. Also pondering getting away from using hot glue gobs (a Josh Bixler thing) to hold my wheels on. I bought some wheel collars just in case OR might switch over to a better glue (Gorilla Glue) to hold the wheel on.

I also managed to score a 250watt 1100kv motor that is 3S capable and actually lighter. Might put it on the Cub instead. The motor I have now is a little beefier and heavier (500 watt, 1200kv) .

 

[Earl Turner]

If you were drinking last night, have a look at my latest Simple Cub:

If your eyes are blurry, you may think there is only one fuselage there. This is my version of the "Wagner Twin Cub" which was made in the early 1950s from a J3 Cub mated to a PA11 Cub Special. In the original version a prop extension was placed on the left engine so the props would overlap. I moved the right engine forward instead, since I put some right thrust on both engines and therefore this required less of an extension. I have a servo in each fuselage for the rudders and one servo for the elevators, since they are attached. Power is from two "B" packs and two 1300mAh, 3-cells. The original registration was N1334N, but I'm Canadian eh, so I painted mine CF-WTC for Wagner Twin Cub. I haven't flown it yet & it is snowing today, so hopefully soon.

 

[CapnBry]

That's just insanity right there, but you have twice the space for miniature pilots to sit in and that's not a bad thing.

I finally got to fly my Simple Cub! I used what I had on hand, which is a Racerstar BR2205 2300KV motor and a 6x3 prop on 3S 1000mAh and 20A ESC. It is a little underpowered for pulling 11-12A but it is fine for flying around on my small field. It still will do a loop even at 20% battery and over 30mph, however most of the time I am puttering along at 22-25mph at around 6A. All up weight is just under 500g. I really like the tubby belly because it can belly land without the 6" prop hitting the ground and slide to a stop.

The joke here was that I wanted to paint my next plane bright pink so I could see where it is, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to name it Peppa Cub (after that cartoon pig I've never actually seen an episode of). The fluorescent pink really stinks though, because it is more like pink powder than paint. The day after I painted it, everything around the house was turning pink, and my transmitter had pink dust everywhere in it. I tried to do a second coat with clear to just hold the paint down and that helped but I'd never use this paint again. Also, it is way more pink than I bargain for.

I really dig the slide out electronics bay / power pod. I was able to mount the flight controller, GPS, receiver, battery, and ESC (on the bottom side) and it all just slides out so I can pull the SD card out of the flight controller or use the USB port. Connecting the elevator / rudder is easy enough through the hole on top, and the servo cables are long enough that I can access the battery without unplugging them. I also like that if I hate this layout, it is like a 5 minute job to cut and assemble a new pod; no making a whole new fuselage needed.

I built the wing without any dihedral and it flies just fine on manual-- plenty of stability without it. I built the wing with 5.5mm foam from Walmart (they had a run where all their foam was 1mm thicker than normal, and the paper peeled way easy). Instead of compensating properly for the extra thickness, I ended up with double the error in the thickness, so my airfoil is semi-symmetrical rather than flat on the bottom. In honesty, it is just curved, but it feels more professional to say I have a semi-symmetrical airfoil than saying I messed up and it came out round.

Still a pretty great 4ch plane that went together easily over a Sunday morning. Hopefully with this bright color and with my transmitter now showing GPS data, I won't lose this one any time soon!

 

[Earl Turner]

Here is my latest "Simple Cub" Its a Midwing Special. Borrowed the "C" power pod and the landing gear from my Super Cub. Wing is 30", made from one piece of foam board. Fuselage is cut down from the Simple Cub plans. It's an electric, control line model. Hope to fly it tomorrow at the indoor soccer field. Checkerboard is just printed on a stick-on shipping label. The white is unpainted foam board. Red is Tremclad. Should go like snot.

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Here is my latest "Simple Cub" Its a Midwing Special. Borrowed the "C" power pod and the landing gear from my Super Cub. Wing is 30", made from one piece of foam board. Fuselage is cut down from the Simple Cub plans. It's an electric, control line model. Hope to fly it tomorrow at the indoor soccer field. Checkerboard is just printed on a stick-on shipping label. The white is unpainted foam board. Red is Tremclad. Should go like snot.
View attachment 119422

DUUUUUUDDDDDE!!!

That is awesome. Love seeing control line get some attention here, it's a really fun aspect of the hobby. I love the conversion too, I got a chance to talk with the owner/pilot of the midwing and take a look at the airplane back in 2017. It's a really nifty little bird. Hope your maiden goes well, video or it didn't happen

 

[TooJung2Die]

It's an electric, control line model.

Electric U-Control! Is that a thing in your club or are you going out on a limb? I know Flite Test did an episode but that was kind of a goof. Can you control the throttle while flying?

 

[Earl Turner]

Electric U-Control! Is that a thing in your club or are you going out on a limb? I know Flite Test did an episode but that was kind of a goof. Can you control the throttle while flying?

First time trying indoor U-Control. We get use of the indoor soccer field once per month, so hope to be a regular thing going forward. One of the other guys uses a timer on his model to control the esc and he can set the power to a given amount and it stays there until the timer throttles back for landing. On mine, since I borrowed the electronics from an rc model, I just use the radio to control the power - its a bit awkward to do both, so I have my "ground crew" handle the throttle while I fly. Will post the video.

 

[Earl Turner]

DUUUUUUDDDDDE!!!

That is awesome. Love seeing control line get some attention here, it's a really fun aspect of the hobby. I love the conversion too, I got a chance to talk with the owner/pilot of the midwing and take a look at the airplane back in 2017. It's a really nifty little bird. Hope your maiden goes well, video or it didn't happen

I Agree! Check the video posted under the "Video" thread. Too much fun.

 

[BluffFlyer]

Greetings!

Hope I am posting this in the right spot. I am trying to help my 9 year old son with his Simple Cub. He saved up from selling vegetables around town over the past few months to buy the stuff.

His kit just arrived yesterday. Big excitement! But it appears the build video is out of date as we had to drill a different hole in the firewall for the wires in order to get the motor mount holes to line up correctly. The four holes are not the same distance and the motor can only be mounted one way or 180* from that. Not 90*. Kind of a bummer and ate up time to figure it out. It seems there is no thrust angle? I'm new to the hobby and this is our first speed build kit so maybe there is something I am missing something? The motor now included in power pack B is the 2213.

We did have victory in binding after much trial and research! We are using his old Spektrum DX4e transmitter with a AR410 receiver.

Any thoughts? Anything else we should watch out for as we continue the build. We just have the power pod so far.

Thanks!

 

[d8veh]

I haven't built or flown one of those, but a plane like that normally needs about 2 deg of downthrust and 3 deg of right side thrust, assuming that you have a normal prop and motor. Some of the planes get the down-thrust by tilting the power-pod down a bit, but I've not seen that on any of the power pods like yours because they're too long to tilt. If it's not possible to tilt the pod, you can either, put washers or other spacers behind the motor to tilt it or you can cut angles on the front of the pod before you glue the firewall on, though you want to check that the design of the fuselage allows the firewall to be angled if you want to try that.