I officially started my first kit build yesterday. I intend on building this as an electric powered plane. I first had to make a trip to Lowes to purchase a 24" hollow core door and a half sheet 3/4" plywood to make a build table. .

I finally settle down to begin the actual build at 1:30 in the afternoon. I started by assemblying the sanding tools.

Next I laid out the fuse/tail drawing on the table, followed by covering the plans with wax paper. Finally the actual build begins! I removed, cut, and sanded all parts for the tail feathers. This actually takes longer than you think, plus I am moving carefully due to my inexperience. All parts were pinned down to the drawing (great matchup) and then all joints were glue with thin CA and allowed to dry for 30 minutes as I took a break. Next everything was unpinned and the joints on the opposite side were glue with thin CA also. Now came the first part that took some care, sanding the the 1/4" concave portion into the two halfs of the elevator. I started out by cutting a shallow V-notch followed up by sanding as prescribed in the instructions. After I was satisfied with the fit the elevator halfs were pinned back to the drawing and the 1/4 x 4-1/2" dowel was glued to the elevator halfs with epoxy and cross pinned into place

Always like a good Cub. I will follow along for this one.

I spent yesterday removing and sanding all the parts for the fuselage. This took alot longer than I thought, as most of the parts displayed alot of rough edges. I guess the dies were not that sharp when this kit was cut. I probably spent the better part of 3 hours performing this task. Called it a day, so I will start the fuselage assembly tonight after work. I will include some pictures then.

Subscribed !

After two larger Cubs - Sig's 1/5th and 1/16th scale kits - a real good idea is to figure out battery access well before you're looking at a built fuselage thinking 'howineck do I get the battery in?' The Sig kits both had working pilot access doors on the right hand side, which when opened, allowed my to access the battery packs. In both sizes, the packs were as far forward in the bottom of the fuselage as they'd go.

Taking the wing off a high winger to fish around for a battery pack in the depths is not a lot of fun on a nice Sunday!

The larger Cub is so far back, it had NiMh packs, so I'd usually just recharge the pack in the model - not bright with a LiPo but quite feasible and safe with A123 packs.

Suggest a look around - this kit has been electrocuted in the past. Could save you some screaming fits late on a Saturday night

Good luck

Dereck

Subscribed. Sounds like this will be lots to learn from your approach. If you can squeeze it in, I'd really appreciate hearing how you determined which sanding tools to build and how they're used as you go along.

I have one of these NIB that I won at a club contest a few years back. Boy that box sure seems heavy. ;-) Will be watching with interest as I do plan on electrifying it when I get around to building it.

First off I ordered the electric motor box sold by Maxford USA that they use for their L-4 electric conversion. This should work fine for the motor that is in the .40-.60 size electric. Secondly I plan on cutting a rectangular opening at the bottom portion of the firewall (to allow for a portion of the battery to protrude). For battery access I plan to build a hatch into the fuselage front bottom panel. The battery will occupy the space just below where the fuel tank was intended to be. I will enclose pictures when I get to this point. I am leaning toward using a 5S-4000 to 5000 mah battery, as this size should fit the space and hatch size.

Originally Posted by mustangherb

I guess the dies were not that sharp when this kit was cut. .

Ah yes, The joy of die smashed, er, ah, I mean die cut parts parts.

You're not the first nor will you be the last to experience this facet of the hobby. Hopefully as the dies get dull the kit MFG's will convert to laser cut parts.

Ken

Started on fuselage assembly by trial fitting the "cabin sides" and "cabin doubler" to fuse sides. I took measurements on both fuse sides from wing surface to the bottom in the same point to ensure both sides would be the same. There was some sanding involved to achieve the same dimensions in the previous step. The cabin sides were then glue in place using thin CA and then the cabin & LG doublers were glue in place with Titebond II glue. The glue up was held/pressed in place utilizing to granite blocks. This took about 25-30 minutes per side.
I thought that I should add the build from the UK that gave me alot of my inspiration on this build.

http://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/...p?th=55984&p=1

Sorry, I had to fix the link!

GB Cubs are great flying airplanes! You're gonna love it! Think ahead about adding a rear strut to the LG. It's a 'weak' point. As designed the gear will gradually splay outward and the wheel axles will torque so that the right wheel turns to the right and the left to the left. You can shorten the ailerons to a scale length without any adverse effects, too.

I am about 3/4 of the way through the airframe build of my Cub. I have the same annivesary cub. I bought mine back in 1992 as per the AMA application in the box. I have been going through the same sanding nightmare as you. Guess the dies were dull back then to. lol. Altered mine to use a servo in each wing panel. Laid each servo on its side under a hatch to hide it. powering mine with a saito .65 4stroke. still trying to decide on a color scheem.will get my daughter to post a pic if you dont mind.

I had already decided to do something with the LG, but I have not decided yet which route I am going to take yet. I would like to take the stock LG and improve it and make it look more scale.
As far as the flight controls on the wings, I plan on putting the aileron servos in the wing panels, but I also intend to use the center mounted servo setup to operate the flaps that I also intend to install. I was looking at making the ailerons about 18-1/2" long and the flaps extend from the aileron edge to the inboard aileron stopping point prescribed for the clipped wing.

my first kit was the same cub. be sure to check the balsa that the hinges go into. my second flight ended early when the left half of the elevator pulled out of the too-soft balsa and broke off. also, if i had to do over, the aileron servos would go in the wing which it sounds like you are doing.
my kit came with what looks like some mahogany plywood for the fuse that was de-laminating and would not take glue. just some things to check.
good luck!

Thanks for the heads up there sweatybetty! I am waiting on the motor box from Maxford USA before I continue, although I did make a battery mockup block, created the battery hatch and the panel. I will take a picture and post later of the drawing I made of the cut details for the front fuse bottom panel.