nagata

Here's the scoop: I've had a Super Cub RTF for about a year and a half, but had some trouble early on and put it away for over a year. I finally got it back out a few weeks ago, took a slower approach in better conditions, and had a blast. I got very comfortable flying it completely stock, then got a 9.6v 1000mAh upgrade battery and had even more fun. I was completely confident flying it, could do loops, tip stalls, tight turns, fly it high, low, and land it when I wanted, pretty much where I wanted, gliding in or with power. Now, there were a few crashes, but nothing more than some scratches. I decided I really wanted to go further into the hobby, so after some research and suggestions, I decided to undertake a project to build a MS Composit Unique and move to 4 channel flying.

I'm in the process of building the Unique, probably a few weeks away from flying it due to time constraints. To prepare for 4 channel flying, I converted the Super Cub to DSM2 (DX6i & 6200) with some Hobby King micro servos and a new brushed ESC. Converting the electronics was pretty straight-forward, and after finishing, I rebalanced the CG, dialed in the control surfaces, & range checked it.

I took the revamped Cub out for the first time this evening, and it was very interesting. I didn't crash and burn, but flying dual-stick vs. single-stick is a significant adjustment. Early on, I found it very difficult to control the rudder without changing the throttle position. I got it trimmed out, and after the first battery, I was getting okay with basic flying, but landing is MUCH harder with dual sticks vs. the single. I did several fly overs, then brought it in, and it was a BAD landing. Fortunately, I didn't break anything. After the 2nd battery, I was doing a bit better in the air, but landing is still bad, despite 10+ fly overs and I think 5 actual landings. Each landing was very rough, and I smashed up the prop pretty good on the last one, which made me call it a day. This was all with 0 wind, so the conditions were pretty much perfect.

Any advice for dual-stick flying? I'm going to open up the Tx and increase the throttle control resistance a bit, to hopefully help with the inadvertent throttle position changes. I find myself often trying to use the aileron control to turn the rudder, as that's how the Super Cub Tx was set up. I started to get it down, but when landing, my control inputs just were not clicking. Is there a trick or helpful hint? Is it just a matter of practicing and practicing until my brain re-learns flying and everything clicks smoothly? How much resistance should I add to the throttle, or will doing that not really help?

I'm VERY glad I chose to convert the Cub and re-learn to fly it before I move to a more aggressive, 4 channel plane. I'm thinking I'll eventually add ailerons to the Cub to learn more, but for now, just flying it dual-stick is enough to keep me busy. Sorry for the long post, thanks for any input!

richg99

This suggestion if from a newbie, so take it with a grain of salt...

In the US ( mode 2) most steering is done with the right hand sticks, whether they are - rudder-only- or ailerons/rudder combined.

If you do NOT have ailerons YET on the Cub, then a normal thing to do is to move the rudder connection to the aileron slot in your radio. That way, you will be steering with your right fingers, just as you would when you later add ailerons.

When you add ailerons, you move the rudder connection back over to the left hand side. The rudder is then used for ground control when taxiing. As you get better, you will incorporate more rudder in your turns...but the ailerons will still be the major turning control when in the air.
Rich

nagata

Thank you, Rich! After a good bit of searching, I came to the conclusion that what you suggest would be the best approach. I'll be switching the rudder (i.e. roll control) to the aileron channel before my next flight.

Tall Paul

For a 3-channel plane, rudder-elevator-motor, it's easy to handle both ground steering and air steering.
Your transmitter has Aileron-Rudder mixing.
This couples the right stick, aileron, to the left stick, rudder, with the rudder servo plugged into the rudder channel.
The benefits are right-left steering with the right stick in the air, and right-left steering with the left stick when on the ground.
When changing to a 4-channel plane, nothing need be re-learned in thumbery.

richg99

It would appear that TallPaul's suggestion is the BEST of all worlds. Rich

nagata

Tall Paul, that's almost exactly what I ended up doing, except that I did move the rudder servo plug to the aileron port on the receiver, then mixed the left stick rudder control to the right stick at ~35%. This gives me a portion of rudder control on the left stick, but not so much as to be dangerous. Thank you very much for the help!

After making these changes, I flew this evening with MUCH better results. More or less back to normal. With the electronics upgrades, and adjusting the control surfaces to allow maximum deflection (I had the rods in the 2nd holes from the control surfaces before), and increasing the servo throw on the Tx to 125% (most it will allow, and the control surfaces don't "bottom out") the Cub has become quite touchy and responsive, not nearly as tame as it was when I started. I like it! For lack of a better word, I'll revert to my sportbike terminology and say that the plane has become very flickable. I can turn it on a dime and fly it along whatever path I choose, with ease. I will say that the 9.6v battery has really spoiled me, the 8.4v just doesn't provide the kick that I now desire.

Of course, that's not to say that I think I'm an expert. I know I've still got lots to learn, and plan to continue practicing as much as I can. If I get too confident, that will just end up leading to a crash. Despite a couple decent landings, I had one rough one that ended up breaking the wing strut on the left side; broke the hooks off at the wing. I was surprised it happened, as there have been harder landings. I suppose the constant strain on the hooks finally took its toll; glad the plastic hooks broke rather than pulling the anchors out of the wing, I'm guessing that's by design. I temporarily replaced the strut with some fishing line, which worked quite well, but I'll get new struts this weekend.

richg99

re The broken strut hooks....they broke off of mine quicker than they broke on yours. I no longer remember what I replaced them with. I think I just fastened a short piece of wire to the full strut and used it ( the wire) as the hook. The wire was soft enough to bend rather than break, yet did the job of holding the struts during maneuvers.

You could go broke buying, paying for and waiting on delivery, of the various parts that break on planes. I just fashion something on my own to replace whatever broke. Rich