PA-18 Super Cub for the BMFA R/C Scale Indoor Nats

Where'd you get carbon that thin?

Oh, just thought I'd point out: You've covered the fuselage on the wrong sides :evil: :whistle:

Hi Monz..... Ahhh you spotted the paper was on the inside :whistle:

The carbon came from Micron, but lots of the indoor R/C suppliers sell it. Some of the fancy indoor aerobatic models are made entirely from it. Not cheap but very useful to have....

Cheers
Danny

Hi Andy, alas I cannot use your wing retention method, If I recall it was a band passed between the wings? I do not want anything visible in the top of the cockpit. I am toying with a couple of small u shaped brackets that the wing spars could pivot on. Then the strut lengths could be altered to find the best flying characteristics. I am thinking two small alloy tube stubs in the wings, with a hole drilled across the end. And a couple of U shaped brackets on the centre section. thin piano wire pin holds the wings on....or even flat fibre board tongues, with a piano wire hinge.
Cheers
Danny

It is amazing what you can find on the net!
This is from the 1939 to 1941 J3 Cub Service manual. Not very clear but it does point to the 3 components that make up the tip leading edge cover.

I think they read:
L.E. COVER- UPPER-LARGE-J?-???
L.E. COVER- LOWER-LARGE-J?-???
L.E. COVER- UPPER-SMALL-J?-???
The main leading edge cover is actually in three sections (each has its own part number) so if you really want to go scale you could actually mark in a faint joint!

Thanks Q I think I am going to leave it as it is, the pic I have of my subject in this area shows the tip sections are uncovered, well certainly on the underside



I have managed to mount the first wing on to the fuselage. I have made small blocks from glass fibre board, the blocks are drille .5mm at one end, all alligned on piano wire and fitted to firsdt the wing, and then the centre section. A small amount of cycle oil was added to the paino wire as it passes through the hinges. It would be very easy to acidentally glue everything together








In this instance I have used .5mm carbon rod as the "keeper" But I will probably go with .5mm piano wire.

This solution keeps the wings rigidly attached to the centre section, but allows it to swing along the chord line. By altering the length of the wing struts I can adjust the dihedral.

Cheers
Danny

Need to start thinking about the radio and motor setup soon. So I thought I would take a peek at mounting the Rx. This is from a Blade helicopter and has a built in brushed esc. It also has a tail rotor connection on the underside but we wont be using that on a Piper Cub



I am hoping to push the cell inside the cowl from underneath, by lifting a flap, but I wont know for sure until I have some idea of where the C of G falls.
Can either move onto struts, undercarriage or cowl. Or maybe even do some covering I will think about it over dinner

Cheers
Danny

Started looking at the cowl during lunch today









This will now be glassed with 25gsm and epoxy resin, then detailed.

Cheers
Danny

Kind of foolishly I trusted that the three view had the cowl sections right. I should have sawn the radio tray off and tried the cowl against the fus before glassing. Of course it does not fit!!! grrrrr I hate it when my impatience bites me in the rear, but serves me right. Tried the cowl as it just looked too fat, and it is.....






I will let it harden a bit more then sand the sides a bit narrower and reglass the sides. Not really a problem just adds time....

Cheers
Danny

Oops!

Are you sure its too wide?
This full size picture seems to show a pretty big gap.
It looks like the fit across the top of the cowl may be a bit more of an issue.

There are so many different cowls it is difficult to know which drawing to use, but the Lloyd drawing is close to G-BBYB which is my subject. There should be a gap as your pic shows, however the bottom of the cowl in your pic doesnt match my subject. I am hoping that narrowing the sides doesnt impact the nose section too much....

Here are some distant shots to show BBYB cowl arrangement





Other Cubs have a larger gap, with competitive scale modelling Q you must model your subject, and more than that you must model your subject at a given point in its life. This cub has had at least four paint schemes, three of which were yellow but subtle differences in the pinstriping and fin lettering as well as fonts for the registration.
I am modelling BBYB when I first flew in her in the 70's with the twin thin pinstripes. BBYB is now red, not the correct colour for a Cub in my book.....

But thanks for following along

Cheers
Danny

The cowl has been re fashioned and had some glass cloth added to the areas where the foam was exposed. Needless to say this is epoxy resin, polyester would dissolve foam, but you all know that....
While that is going off, I gave the cockpit another few pieces of the pre doped paper, to form a floor and the shelf in the rear of the cockpit. I am very conscious of weight here. Thinned Tamiya X1 flat black was used over two coats of sanding sealer, which was lightly sanded down, how you might ask? a little pad of sandpapaer was stuck to the end of a scrap stick of balsa, this allowed me to get right inside the fuselage, the rear cockpit bulkhead was particularly awkward.
Some simple seats were fashioned from blue foam, and airbrushed at the same time.



Sorry the camera cannot deal with so much black, but that is just what I want

Cheers
Danny

Fitted the seats, these each sit on 2 0.28mm carbon rods that pass from one side of the fus to the other. Ends retained with balsa cement.
The seats themeselves are retained with a small amount of foam friendly CA



It is quite difficult to see, the rear seat is fitted and the two front seat rails are just about visible in this shot.

Cheers
Danny

Managed to cover the tail surfaces. First time I have used Esaki, and it really is wonderful to use. I have gone for yellow in the hope that I wont need so much top coat yellow to achieve a nice opaque finish.



That's it for tonight I am knackered, not sure i am going to get it done for 23rd, but I will keep on plodding on....

Cheers
Danny