Sidv66

i found a cox control line plane at my cousin's house. He said i could have it. So i thought it might be fun to try to convert it to r/c. Its an all plastic piper cub. I used the lines that are present in the plastic for rudder and aileron size. i just cut on the lines and hinged them. Im waiting on my small servo's to come in the mail. The motor still runs real strong i was wondering if you all think it would fly well or at all. I haven't been able to weigh it yet but i was wondering if you think the control line motor would be enough to pull this around. im using 3 9g servo's and regular size 7 channel reciever (what i had laying around) and regular futaba 4 AA battery pack. using .032 music wire to control the surfaces.

DICKEYBIRD

Hi Sid,

I think you're going to find that the tiny amount of wing area available in those Cox rtf models will not do well at all carrying the extra weight of the radio gear. They barely fly as a u/c model!

Having said that, hey give it a try! That's how you learn this stuff, by doing. Just make sure you try to fly it over some TALL grass so you don't tear up your new radio gear.

Good Luck!

Sidv66

do you think it would cause any adverse effects to leave the elevator as it is. the whole thing hinges you can kind of see it in this picture

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXB431&P=0

Clean

These don't fly too whoppiee as a CL model, to heavy for the little wing. You're going to add MORE weight to it?

Please, if you have gear on the way, save it for a real model, maybe that JKAerotech T-52.

Many of the Cox planes were mearly coffee table models with engines and had even less flight design in them. Some of the airplanes work and others worked fairly well. This isn't particularly one of the later group.

BMatthews

Sorry Sidi but this is definetley one of those ideas where it's better to lie down until the feeling goes away.

Duane-RCU

My Feedback: (5)

None of the one's I made "free flight" ever flew more than about 50 feet! They would usually just roll, and come back down.

Thomas B

My Feedback: (4)

Beleive it or not, as a young modeler/experimentor, I actually flew the old style Cox PT-19 (the kind with a real Babe Bee .049 installed) as a free flight. It was one of the few Cox control line models that had enough wing area to be useful.

Removed the bellcrank, removed the right thrust, cut and glued/taped the rudder so that it was straight, and added a tiny dollop of clay to the left wingtip.

It was scarey to fly and trim, but it was a hoot to watch it spiral up a few turns on an eyedropper full of fuel and then glide at high speed for the ground.

It did not last long, but those 5 or 6 free flights after a lot of control line service were too much fun.

I would love to convert one to R/C with modern sub micro radio gear. You could do it for less than one oz with modern sub micro gear and a 3.7v li-poly RX pack. It would be a real conversation peice at a SMALL fly in...

MR Flyer57

If you go through with it, make sure you have enough dihedral in the wing.

I think that they were almost flat, and with out ailerons it will not be controllable.

We have all thought of this, but no one that I know is crazy enough to try. Go for it and tell us how it goes!!
MR Flyer57

Thomas B

My Feedback: (4)

Oh, if I do it, I want to retain the flavor of the original and will not change the dihedral. Ergo, it will be aileron/elevator, at least and since 7 grams of servo and some spiderwire would be all it would take for rudder as well, I will probably make it full house...

Even with the flat wing, it was not untrimmable as a F/F. It liked the wingtip weight as a turn inducing device.

gcb

Sidv66,
If it is one of the older Cubs with the Babe Bee engine you might better sell it on *bay and use the money for something that would fly better.
If it is moe of the new ones with the "product" engine, it isn't as valuable...go for it.

George

Sidv66

well i finished up puttin the gear in no ailerons and tried to get it to fly yesterday. it would bank left climb stall then spiral to the ground i only "flew" it a couple times. but im going to try to get the ailerons working and try again. i also didn't really check the cg it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. so im going to double check everything then try again.

SoulReaver

Hi Sidv66

is there an update on your plane ? did it fly ? I also want to buy a cox J3 cub CL and modify it to RC, and was wondering if the plane is too heavy and the engine is not powerful enough, can't I simply upgrade the engine to a real RC engine such as Norvel .045 or .061 ??
will these engine fit the cox J3 CL ?? and will they be powerful enough ?

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

HI THOMAS B! IF you heat up an xacto, and or heat up a sharpened piece of tubing you could hog out a lot of the plastic, and replace it with clear package tape. You might be able to leave little tabs of plastic for hinges, and cut your ailerons out this way, just bend the remaining hinges back and forth. If you don't get rid of about 2/3 of the plastic, and replace it with tape, or film, I don't see it getting off the ground, and for all the effort ,you could build a balsa plane that would be a JOY to fly!

gcb

Actually, that plane is too heavy to fly CL worth a darn, why would you want to fly it RC? If you want one that size, use it as a pattern and make one out of balsa. Use micro RC and power it with an .010 or .020.
The product engine currently used by Cox is a radial mounted, rear induction engine using an external tank. You could not substitute the Norvel plastic tank. With extensive rework you might install a beam mounted Norvel, but IMHO it is not worth it.
Of course if you want to do it just for bragging rights, all problems can be overcome. Lift off speed will probably approach that of a full-size plane.
Good luck!
George