boxbeam

My Feedback: (188)

Some of you folks out there have been into modeling for quite awhile. Some I'm sure have been bitten by the 1/4 scale bug, and have not turned back since. I can no longer surpress the ever increasing urge to build a J-3. I gotta have one, so can I get some honest opinions from those of you who have built either the Balsa USA verson, or the Sig version. These two kits seem to be in my price range. If there is another kit out there of comparable price, let me know if you would. Appreciate the time for a little guidence here. And what engine would be preferable to make it fly as the full size, slow, easy and realistic.

Thanks,
Ron

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Been my experience that the Balsa USA kit is great. It builds pretty well, and flys like a dream. Does even better on floats. I have a Saito 180 in mine, and a friend has the OS 120. It seems fine. I don't personally like the sig cub, but thats just my opinion. I didn't like the way it flew. I would suggest the Balsa USA kit. Have a ball.

boxbeam

My Feedback: (188)

How didn't it perform the way you liked? Was the USA kit clearly intsructed on how to build? How was the wood quality? What is a good covering for a 1/4 scale? Just got back into the hobby after 15 years, lots of changes here.

Iflyglow

My Feedback: (79)

This is my thought, the sg kit flies good, but the Busa kit flies even better, and is much more scale like. The busa has a better two piece wing design than sg. Sgs design has the center section on one wing half while the busa has equal sized plug in wings. Either kit will fly most realistic with either a 91 single or a 120twin four stroke. A 120 single is way over powered for scale flight. The sg kit has screen printed parts, while the busa does not. This is just my thought. In the end the busa kit wins my vote hands down. Remember full scale cubs cannot loop from level, and are not over powered.

boxbeam

My Feedback: (188)

Thanks Motorman, what are screen printed parts, as to what the Balsa kit has?

SDCrashmaster

If your not going to do maximum scale detail, and want to get in the air quick, I'd suggest the Hangar 9 1/4 scale cub. They are offering this ARF again after a brief absence. My son and I have been flying the pants off of ours with a Zenoah G-23.
Great docile flying airplane with plugin wings. It's great looking too...covered in Solartex. Easily carries a camcorder. I have found Hangar 9's product to be high quality. Plus, with the G23, we put a weekend of 20 to 30 flights in for around $2 worth of fuel. Now that's real nice. Great flying plane that I highly recommend, unless you really want to build one...after all, it's buildin' season... except here in SoCal, of course.
Happy Holidays to y'all.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I am building the Sig 1/4 Cub right now. I wish it was ANYBODY else's!

PS After I read that Sig's cub had a two piece wing, I went on-line to purchase it. Once there, I saw there was a clipped wing version. Well, since I was going to clip the wing anyway, I bought that one. Guess what? No two piece wing option!

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

I would be interested to hear how your Sig flys. The one I flew looked good, but you couldn't trim it. Very strange. Might have been messed up from the building. I didn't look too close at it.

monocoupe

My Feedback: (40)

I can't comment on the Sig Cub but I did build the balsa USA Cub about 5 years ago, and put an O.S. 160 twin on it. I clipped the wings by half the amount that you would normally clip a Cub wing, by taking out one rib bay per side. I don't really care for the look of a fully clipped Cub, so this was a happy medium. It's just looks right now and has a better roll rate than stock. It also gets rid of some of the "float" on landing. Also, using lots of aileron differential gets rid of most of the adverse yaw. I never thought I'd say this, but this Cub is my favorite model to fly! Once set up properly I can even do respectable rolling circles and crisp point rolls with it!
I wasn't particularly thrilled with the kit, but I built one of the older kits before they up-dated it so the current ones should be better than the one I built. You will not be disapointed! There is a picture of mine in my photo gallery if you want to see what it looks like with a partial clip, and wheel pants.
I think that you'll have a lot of fun no matter which one you build!

Cheers,Nigel

monocoupe

My Feedback: (40)

I can't comment on the Sig Cub but I did build the balsa USA Cub about 5 years ago, and put an O.S. 160 twin on it. I clipped the wings by half the amount that you would normally clip a Cub wing, by taking out one rib bay per side. I don't really care for the look of a fully clipped Cub, so this was a happy medium. It's just looks right now and has a better roll rate than stock. It also gets rid of some of the "float" on landing. Also, using lots of aileron differential gets rid of most of the adverse yaw. I never thought I'd say this, but this Cub is my favorite model to fly! Once set up properly I can even do respectable rolling circles and crisp point rolls with it!
I wasn't particularly thrilled with the kit, but I built one of the older kits before they up-dated it so the current ones should be better than the one I built. You will not be disapointed! There is a picture of mine in my photo gallery if you want to see what it looks like with a partial clip, and wheel pants.
I think that you'll have a lot of fun no matter which one you build!

Cheers,Nigel

boxbeam

My Feedback: (188)

Thanks Nigel, I am leaning more to the Balsa USA cub than the sig. Everyone seems to lean in that direction also. Thanks for the input.

Ron

Jim Messer

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Hello Ron,

I am late getting onto this thread, but since you are interested in building a Cub - how about designing your own. It's not as difficult as you might think. Get a good three view, and dimension it to the scale of choice. Then - get started. The key is to get the wing incidence angle correct (I use 1 1/2 deg. pos.), and get the c.G. correct (I use 27%), and have enough power to fly the airplane.

I design all my own airplanes. My 1/3 scale J-3, 12 ft., G-62, 24 x 8 prop flies better than any Cub I have ever seen. It features a true scale airfoil, aluminum wing spars that plug into fiberglass sockets; and all bolting is done outside the airplane so that assembly is very easy to do. You have to be a contorsionist to assemble either the USA or the SIG Cub as designed. My model also features a cowl that is only held on with one screw, and it can be removed in about ten seconds to get at the engine if need be - without removing the prop! There are thousands of Cub's out there, but this is the only one that I know of that is designed this way.

Just today I cut the wing ribs for a new 40% J-3 Cub, that should fly even better than the 1/3 scale. It will have a Fox 5.8 engine, and will have a wing span of 14.5 ft. It also, will feature aluminum spars, and a cowl that lifts off vertical, held on by only one screw.

All this is just food for thought. I am not condeming either the USA or the SIG kit - I just believe that if you put your mind to it - you can do a better job. As I progress through the building process for the 40% model, I will be taking photos with the digital camera all along the way - step by step - so that some day somebody else can easily follow in my footsteps and enjoy building a similar model. And while I consider myself to be an excellent designer, I am sure that others can improve on my methods as well. Attached is a photo of my 1/3 J-3. Enjoy.

Jim Messer

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Here is the cowl assembly. It is designed to lift off vertically, and is held in by a set of rails (like a tongue & groove). All the one screw does is to keep it from coming off the airplane during flight.

Jim Messer

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And last but not lease is a photo of the cowl as installed on the airplane. What do you think?

tinman

My Feedback: (13)

hey minn, all, i have a sig cub with a 4.2 gasser in it and jus a couple mods...like the pull/pull and i also clipped the wings....it will hover and it does not fly like a cub too often.. . i use the other cub for scale like flight.

boxbeam

My Feedback: (188)

Jim,
That is quite Cub you've got there. A lot of work, but also a lot of thought to put it together just from some photos. Sure is something to be proud of though. Nice idea on the cowl, wish other kits came like that, now we can just make one.
I was just wondering which kit is better for one who is not really experienced yet in the 1/4 scale realm. Building a Ikon T-craft right now and really have my hands full. I just want to build a nice Cub, cause like everyone else, they think it is a good looking and flying plane.
Thanks for the time to mail me, and include the pics. Happy holidays.

Ron

boxbeam

My Feedback: (188)

Tinman,
That is a 1/4 scale Cub in your pic with clip wings? 4.2, what size prop you spinning? Will a .91 work in one of those Sigs? Just looking for some realistic flight when I do this.

Ron

tinman

My Feedback: (13)

i would prefer a larger motor then the 91 in a 1/4 scale. the 91 should fly it though np. mine started out with a os 160 twin...sounded great and flew great...just had no extra and got boring pretty quick.