Topkits

I'll try with 15% down elevator compensation. But before I have to install a silencer, too loud on our noise-restricted field.

althepal88

My Feedback: (31)

Each of us probably have a different setting. Initially I would put in a mix of about a 1/4 in down on the first setting, then about 3/8 in for the final setting.............to start. I only have three settings on my Tx. Just get up high, and drop the flaps and note what the plane does. Land and increase or decrease as necessary, and take her up again. Mine flies hands off at any flap setting. On the 40 Twin, after you run her in a little, she will start easier. For too long, I was trying to hand start mine with the throttle closed down too much. Now, I just pull the choke; open the carb wide open; ignition on; start flipping until she fires and quits. Close choke, bring throttle down to about 1/4 open and start flipping. Works most of the time. Of course, my starter is close by..............especially if someone isn't watching.

oriole

My Feedback: (19)

Gentlemen,

Pop off the hubcaps and put some Loctite on the wheel collars. I had a wheel fall off in flight and had to do a one wheeled landing. $20.00+ for a replacement pair.

Oriole

APLANEGUY

Hello all,

Just wrapped up my build and I have to say I have mixed feelings about my first experience with a Hangar 9 ARF. When I first opened the box I was very pleased with what I saw and my initial impressions were all very positive. As the build progressed, however, I found several issues that I can only really classify as poor quality control. For this reason the build took about 20 hours more than it really should have. Things had to be repaired/reworked before assembly could happen. Here's the issues I ran into:

* Control horn on one flap was in the wrong location. At first I thought I had two right side flaps but that wasn't the case. Had to relocate the horn and it was a bit tricky getting it positioned just right so that the throw would be identical to the other flap.

* One bungee strut was a full 1/2" shorter than the other. Had to make an insert to extend it to be equal in length to the other (which was correct) so the plane would sit level.

* The notches in the wooden spacers inside the bungee fairings were completely wrong. Had to devise a tool/method to get up inside them to extend the notch about 1/4" so the fairings could be positioned on the struts correctly.

* The right wing panel didn't meet the fuselage flush at all. It touched in the middle of the wing chord and left large gaps at the front and rear (about 1/4" at the rear). I used epoxy to fill the gaps then sanded the top and bottom flush with the wing surfaces and recovered the wing root with white Monokote.

* The striping on the cowl was completely out of line with the fuselage stripes once the cowl was installed with the prop hub centered in the hole. The included mounting template was specifically for my engine (Zenoah 26) so I'm assuming it wasn't an engine placement issue and just the cowl finish that was wrong. I had to sand the cowl down and repaint it white then add my own stripes back on as best I could so they'd line up with the fuselage stripes. I did the sides with matching UltraCote and the top with spray paint.

There were other minor issues but some little things are kind of expected with any ARF assembly project. The major issues I encountered seem just a bit excessive for an ARF in this price range.

All that being said, now that she's finished and ready to balance it really is a very nice looking model. I incorporated some of the ideas I read in this thread (and elsewhere) and some of my own and although the build was less than enjoyable at times I'm very pleased with the final product.

I replaced the rubber bands on the landing gear with shock cord and it seems to be perfect for the weight of the plane. I used larger pneumatic wheels and they really seem to add to the whole look too.

I knew before I started that using the Zenoah engine would require a lot of cowl cutting so to reduce that some I used some good ol' Upstate New York hillbilly engineering to devise an exhaust system to mostly clear the cowl (old Bennett muffler, natural gas flexible pipe connector, small lawn mower muffler and a little steel tubing). Not only did I save some cowl but it's much quieter than the stock Zenoah muffler (which I think will suit this plane nicely) and it directs most of the exhaust residue away from the landing gear and belly of the fuselage.

I have a feeling this will end up being my favorite plane if it flies as well as many folks say it does. When the mood strikes me I really enjoy some low stress relaxing "civilized" flying and I think this plane may be just what the doctor ordered. I can't wait for Spring so I can get her up in the air where she belongs... :-)

Pete

Jeepindog

Wayland would be considered the Finger Lakes Region, or even western New York. If you're a flat lander from "the city" then upstate New York is anything north of Westchester County. The real upstate New York is the Adirondacks. Nice looking Super Cub. I hope you love it as much as I live mine.

corvettez06

My Feedback: (8)

Plane looks nice. When I am building an ARF, if I run into any problems that require any more than very minor modifications I call the manufacturer. I would've called and had Horizon replace the strut, bungee fairings, and the cowling and I would've also seen what they would've done about the wing not fitting the fuselage. I am under the mindset that I don't pay that much for an ARF and have to make a bunch of mods to make it work.

APLANEGUY

Yeah. The problem is I never want to wait for replacement parts or delay the project if I can avoid it. One thing doesn't bother me and I just keep moving along. Things are rarely perfect anyway. This time it was one thing then a few hours later another thing and a couple days later another thing, etc., etc., etc... If I knew in the beginning everything that would follow I would've just stopped and probably contacted the manufacturer. I'm happy with the end product and nothing was life and death so all's well that ends well...

APLANEGUY

Well, I know it's debated regularly, but in my universe (and most everyone's I know) if it isn't New York City it's Upstate New York. It's an "us/them" kinda thing and I'm one of "us"... :-)

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

APLANEGUY, I didn't have any of the problems you mentioned. What I encountered was during the maiden flight and I suggest you should be aware of this. The horizontal stabilizer has positive incidence built in. Once airborne you will find that up trim is required for level flight. You will also see that the tail rise above the level plane during takeoff. Other than that the plane flies fine and has no bad tendencies.

iflyfloats

My Feedback: (1)

Don't want to offend anyone but just my opinion, Upstate is north of the Blue Line. Now before the hateful comments start I was born in the valley (Utica) and raised in the Adirondacks and now I live midstate near Cooperstown.

DUCATIKID

I agree that for an arf in this price range the quality is not as good as i was expecting either, but it does fly well and it looks great in the air.

Jeepindog

Yup. Grew up in the middle of the Adirondacks. My father graduated from Newcomb Central School. I grew up in North Creek, and if you were from New York State but weren't from the Adirondacks, well, you were a Flatlander. Great flying around there, though. Nice grass strip in North Creek. Matter of fact, my parents' house is right on the very edge of the airstrip and their back yard borders the runway. I've done a LOT of flying there.

RiverLarry

Well just open the box on A P A - 18 let the fun be gin R/L

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Have fun, you're going to love it

iflyfloats

My Feedback: (1)

Not Hangar 9 Super Cub related but thought I would share a short video of my Dad flying his Super Cub in and out of my field behind my house that I fly my
Hangar 9 Super Cub out of. Elevation 1849', length 850'. Uses a little more field landing but gets off in almost the same distance.
https://youtu.be/cBBdHlVnw94

55plymguy

Hi, I am thinking of buying this plane and wanted some opinion of the folks at this thread that fly the pa-18 on floats. I will fly this almost exclusively on floats and have flown an eflite taylorcraft on parkzone supercub floats with success. My question is, in my experience with the eflite taylorcraft, even with prudent wiping of takeoff/landing spray from the underside of the elevator/stabilizer, this structure warped. Has anyone experienced this with the 1/4 scale hanger 9 pa-18? Do any of you know if the arf or PnP have a sealer on the balsa before hanger 9 covers it?

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Mine has a lot of water time with no issues

bikerbc

I have had the tail feathers opened up on mine and I am almost positive there was no sealer on the balsa . I have never had an issue with warping though and I have had two of them and they have both seen a fair amount of water use . I have used the Hanger 9 Floats and had quite a bit of trouble with them leaking and spliting .Horizion has fantastic customer service and I really don't like to complain because I have been treated so well . If you do decide to go with the Hanger PA18 you will be taking a big jump in size and weight but getting into a beautiful flying plane that you will quickly fall in love with . If you want to go with something a little smaller take a look at the new Carbon Cub thats comming out . I think its due to be on the shelves mid March . Its $360. and has a set of matching floats for $ 190. I am going to order one . The Carbon Cub is reported to be a real performer .Much improved over the average Cub . Good luck and Happy winds

55plymguy

Hi Barrauda and biker, thanks for the advice. My Taylorcraft may have had a seam in the monocoat that was leaking... I will go with this one as is and watch for signs of warping. I heard the same thing about the floats, thin and brittle! I wonder if carefully and slowly filling them with expqnding foam would give them alittle extra support... the problem with that stuff is you have to anticipate expansion and know when to stop before blowing them out.
I have 2 gassers that are 1/4 scale and love them... a sr batteries Eindecker and a spacewalker...but I know floats add a whole new dimension from the smaller taylorcraft and beaver!
The one thing I learned from the small planes is that you have to have accurate and play-free control on the water rudders... if they dont return to center (which is a common on the cheap flyzone beaver) and the plane doesnt track straight, the risk of catching a pontoon tip is pretty high. It looks like the water rudder hardware is nice on hanger 9's!

bikerbc

The water rudders are the best part of the Hanger 9 floats. I bought a few sets of them to put on my own custom made floats. ..I have heard a few guys talk about squirting some expanding foam into the H9 floats but havent talked to anybody that has actually done it . You would only need to do the bottom part of the floats . I would open up all the inspection hatches and make water tight lids for them . You can get different dencity expanding foam from boat builders . They buy it in large quantitys . You mix it in paper cups . You would need to do a bit of experminting to see what to expect ect . I have never done this but have talked to a friend that worked in the boat building industry . Anyway you could dump it into each hatch hole and let it do its thing . I guess it goes pretty fast so thats the idea of the paper cups and all the hatch holes, that way you get it in there even and not all bunched up at one end .

55plymguy

Thanks bikerbc, I pulled the trigger last Saturday and bought the pnp super cub and the floats! I have been trying to figure out how to get my spektrum 7 channel reciever to handle everthing... the flaps and the elevators were the hard part.. I was running out of channels,lol. I use a dx18 and ueed mixes with the reciever aux1 and aux2 as others mentioned. It works :-) Got the light kit today and installing, although I didn't opt for the interior upgrade.
Shooting for test flights this weekend with the landing gear to get used to it before bolting on the floats.
A couple of observations... the rexcel ignition on my zenoah generates a noticably brighter spark than this ignition with a full battery and hand flipping the motor... not sure if that translates into the rexcel starting any given engine easier. I haven't tried to start the evolution 33 yet though...
Second, some of the hardware in this pnp and I assume the arf to, is pretty cheesy for a $1200 pnp... those elevator/rudder brace ends broke almost looking at them!
Third, one of the flap servos was doa...
A few more moans but I'm going to give it a week or 2 to calm down before writing anything more... don't want to come off like a Debbie downer.
Biker, are you a mountain biker or motorcyclist? I am hoping my bike will sell soon... I have it at columbus ohio craigslist.. it was supposed to fund this plane (that's what I told the wife, haha) 1974 Suzuki gt250...

bikerbc

Hi 55plymguy ,I am a motorcycle enthuast . Yrs ago I raced a 250 suzuki Hustler at the westwood track in Mission . It was a friends bike and he was scared of it . It was a fast little begger . I bought a GT 550 That I found in a barn . It only had 300 miles on it. The guy that owned it brought it out from Sask with the intention of transfering the reg ect but lost interest .It was gummed up from the rotton gas and took me a while to get running but it was fast when I got it going . It was the old 750 Suzuki water buffalo's little brother. I think it was a better bike. The water buffalo was a heavy old girl . I am now riding an 85 Harley FXR that I bought new . I put a new 124" S&S engine in it a few yrs back and then I had a stroke that messed me up so I didn't ride . I thought if I got into any trouble they could yank my bike licence . After you have a stroke you have to go see a special Dr that determines if you should be on the road or not . I passed but I never mentioned my bike licence. I plan on trying it out this spring . I have a wall full of trophies that I won displaying my ability to controle my bike going slow. Anybody can go fast but try and hold it up going slow and see how you make out . Oh God don't get me going on bikes .Flying planes and riding bikes.

55plymguy

Hi Biker, I always heard BC was great mountain biking so I thought Id ask.This is the GT250 I have on Craigslist. You and I sound alot alike!!!! I always rode... alot of RD350's and one little Suzuki GT380 triple in the 70's.... Then my son caught the bug when he was 14 and he raced AHMA vintage on a 76 RD400...here he is with that bike in 2005. He had a back injury after low-siding and we had to get out and sell the bike. God, it was fast... I think for a whole season he was undefeated, I lived my glory days through him, lol.
Anyway, current bikes are a '97 Kawi ZX7R and my first track bike, an 81 Kawi KZ550 with alot of roadrace mods.I have watched those guys at the easyriders rodeos riding slow... it is pretty amazing to watch. Keep on biking!

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

When I was in fire/rescue for a living we had a name for those things.....

55plymguy

Lol, I'm 55 and my mom still calls them murdercycles!