Arcfyre
Elite member
Ok, so I've been scratch building FT designs for exactly a year now. It's been one heck of a ride, and I've learned a huge amount about this hobby.
I've had a love/hate relationship with the simple cub since day 1. My first ever thread on this forum was about my cub. Check it out here if you're interested. Long story short, it was ridiculously overweight, with an oversized battery and prop, made of the wrong material and built as a 3 channel. Anyone that knows about the cub knew that this thing had zero chance of flying like the one in the build video. Anyway it didn't last more than a few flights before it was destroyed.
I didn't let it get me down. I got a speed build kit for a Storch and a simple soarer, built my flying skills for several months, and after going through a few mini mustangs and discovering a love for flying wings, I circled back to a simple cub.
I had learned a lot by now, especially about scratch building. I had the proper DTFB material, and was much much cleaner with my cutting out. I was also much more careful with gluing. I wouldn't call myself a professional builder by any means, but definitely proficient. Anyway, with my level of skill at the time, I felt confident to try the cub again.
I built a nice clean airframe and wired it up as a 4 channel. I used a much more appropriate motor, and a much smaller 1000mah battery to keep weight down. It was adequately powered and well within specs for AUW. It should fly just fine, right?
Well, it didn't. Even with a stabilized RX I just couldn't keep the stupid thing in the air. I was at the point where I could thread needles with my Storch or Versa wing, but I couldn't fly the cub? A trainer? Really? The fault must lie with the airplane.
After a particularly nasty landing which removed the landing gear and most of the nose, I scrapped that airframe and sat down to do some reading. I finally discovered that I wasn't the only one who had issues with the cub. I want to give credit to @Hai-Lee for finally mentioning that the wing incidence angle needed an adjustment before the plane would fly. I steeled my nerves and sat down to build another simple cub.
I built this one as light as I possibly could. I modified the wing incidence angle and even stretched the wingspan a bit to give it more lift. I powered it with a tiny little lightweight motor and used my smallest battery possible. I used a "soft" 8x4.5 slowfly prop and went for a maiden flight.
The thing barely flew with that power setup. No balls whatsoever. Totally unable to cope with any wind. Another disappointing cub. Part of the problem was that at any power setting above 60%, the prop would overspin and flatten out, basically producing no thrust at all. This basically made the plane unflyable, UNTIL yesterday I put an APC 8x3.8 slowfly prop on.
Oh my word, what a beautiful flying airplane! Just about silent, uses barely any power, and has a great rate of climb if it needs it. Lands in a few feet and can fly at walking speed. Can handle a little wind too. I'm blown away. Finally, I have a cub that flies!
It's only taken me a year, but I finally have a simple cub that flies. I'm thrilled lol. I'm blown away the difference that the right prop can make to the flyability of an airplane.
I've had a love/hate relationship with the simple cub since day 1. My first ever thread on this forum was about my cub. Check it out here if you're interested. Long story short, it was ridiculously overweight, with an oversized battery and prop, made of the wrong material and built as a 3 channel. Anyone that knows about the cub knew that this thing had zero chance of flying like the one in the build video. Anyway it didn't last more than a few flights before it was destroyed.
I didn't let it get me down. I got a speed build kit for a Storch and a simple soarer, built my flying skills for several months, and after going through a few mini mustangs and discovering a love for flying wings, I circled back to a simple cub.
I had learned a lot by now, especially about scratch building. I had the proper DTFB material, and was much much cleaner with my cutting out. I was also much more careful with gluing. I wouldn't call myself a professional builder by any means, but definitely proficient. Anyway, with my level of skill at the time, I felt confident to try the cub again.
I built a nice clean airframe and wired it up as a 4 channel. I used a much more appropriate motor, and a much smaller 1000mah battery to keep weight down. It was adequately powered and well within specs for AUW. It should fly just fine, right?
Well, it didn't. Even with a stabilized RX I just couldn't keep the stupid thing in the air. I was at the point where I could thread needles with my Storch or Versa wing, but I couldn't fly the cub? A trainer? Really? The fault must lie with the airplane.
After a particularly nasty landing which removed the landing gear and most of the nose, I scrapped that airframe and sat down to do some reading. I finally discovered that I wasn't the only one who had issues with the cub. I want to give credit to @Hai-Lee for finally mentioning that the wing incidence angle needed an adjustment before the plane would fly. I steeled my nerves and sat down to build another simple cub.
I built this one as light as I possibly could. I modified the wing incidence angle and even stretched the wingspan a bit to give it more lift. I powered it with a tiny little lightweight motor and used my smallest battery possible. I used a "soft" 8x4.5 slowfly prop and went for a maiden flight.
The thing barely flew with that power setup. No balls whatsoever. Totally unable to cope with any wind. Another disappointing cub. Part of the problem was that at any power setting above 60%, the prop would overspin and flatten out, basically producing no thrust at all. This basically made the plane unflyable, UNTIL yesterday I put an APC 8x3.8 slowfly prop on.
Oh my word, what a beautiful flying airplane! Just about silent, uses barely any power, and has a great rate of climb if it needs it. Lands in a few feet and can fly at walking speed. Can handle a little wind too. I'm blown away. Finally, I have a cub that flies!
It's only taken me a year, but I finally have a simple cub that flies. I'm thrilled lol. I'm blown away the difference that the right prop can make to the flyability of an airplane.