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Stits Covered 1/4 Scale Cub

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Stits Covered 1/4 Scale Cub

Old 11-20-2015, 07:04 AM
  #51  
jester_s1
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Just sand it to your satisfaction and vacuum the dust off. I hit every plane before doing iron on covering with some cheap hairspray to glue down any fuzzies that remain. It definitely helps the covering stick better if you do that.
Old 11-20-2015, 07:34 AM
  #52  
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Originally Posted by Love2FlyMN
Right...
I have covered a few planes so I know how to wrap the seams around an edge to get a good hold for shrinking etc.

Do you do anything special to the wood before ironing the covering on?
Well my inlaw spoke to one of the guys over at SolarFilm who make solartex, and he recommended using sig stix-it on all the wood surfaces where the covering comes in contact with the wood, so that would include rib caps, sheeting, spines, leading / trailing edges / perimeters, etc... after you do your finish sanding, use a tack cloth and remove all the sanding dust off the surfaces, then apply your stix-it... you'll need to thin it some and brush it on, or do what I do, which is to use a piece of cotton cloth and dip it into the thinned stix-it and then rub it onto the wood... keep the tin covered as the solvents will evaporate quickly, thin as needed.

On the piper cub, the vertical fin to fuselage transition is a bit tricky, but take your time and it will come... do the top of the fuselage an vertical fin transition after you've covered the fuse bottom and then the fuse sides so then the fuse top and vertical fin pieces will overlap the side covering, trim it to overlap about 3/16 -1/4 of an inch... another tip given to us by the gentlemen at solarfilm, was before you seal down any of your overlapping pieces, brush on some stix-it on the covering surface where the overlap occurs, not a lot, just enough where the lap joint is.. so you would trim your covering with the appropriate overlap and then brush a lite coat of stix-it on the matting covering surface where the overlap occurs; bush it on the covering surface, not the back side of the covering overlap, just the surface directly below the overlap... let it dry thoroughly, and then seal your overlap seams with your iron... that really holds the seams tight!

When I did the vertical fin to fuse transition, I cut two pieces that covered the top turtle deck and vertical fin (right and left side) with about two inches of extra covering to get hold of while sticking the covering down... now the center spine seam, you can do it either with an overlapping seam, or you can do what I did, which was to sew the seam together, so now your right and left pieces are sewn together right down the center ... lay the sewn seam over the spine and use a couple pins to keep the sewn seam inline with the spine, and then go ahead and work / apply the covering to the vertical fin and turtle deck, then seal off your overlaps, shink everything and pull the pins out... then cut a 3/4" strip of solartex the length of the spine and center it over the spine seam, and seal it to the top of covering over the spine area, if that makes sense... add the 3/4" strip either way you choose to do the spine, with the overlap, or if you sew the seam together; it finishes off the seam... if you were gong to do a scale covering job with pink-it tapes, then that 3/4" strip would go down the center of the spine and up over the vertical fin as the perimeter tape, just like on the full scale cub.


John M,

Last edited by John_M_; 11-24-2015 at 04:54 PM.
Old 11-20-2015, 09:44 AM
  #53  
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Great info, thanks guys!
Old 11-24-2015, 10:40 AM
  #54  
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So I need to pick up some new servos for this bird. Through research, I've found many difference answers as to which servos to use for this size plane.

Anyone know what a good aileron/rudder servo would be?

I already have a 1/4 scale elevator servo in it and I have a servo for the throttle.
Old 11-24-2015, 12:41 PM
  #55  
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The cub loves a good rudder servo. I would recommend 100 in/oz as a minimum, 200 in/oz is better.

Remember your going to be 16 lbs if your good at building lite. Possibly you will be a couple pounds more.

I like Top Name brands for planes over a few pounds. The more the weight the higher the need for reliability.
Old 11-24-2015, 01:55 PM
  #56  
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I only have 130 oz servos in my H9 Funtana 90 with a 30 cc in it. I don't think I need upwards of 100 oz for a Cub.

I saw a lot of threads of people using standard 3003's for ailerons, but I'd like to go 80oz+ for ailerons.

Do I just look for 80oz+ with speed of .20 or faster, or what should I look for?

Size doesn't matter because I'll be building the mounts to fit.

I found this - https://www.servocity.com/html/hs-54...l#.VlTdqXarS9I

A little more expensive than I want...Is there anythig close to that that's cheaper?

Last edited by Love2FlyMN; 11-24-2015 at 02:00 PM.
Old 11-24-2015, 02:01 PM
  #57  
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It's true you don't need much for the ailerons and elevator, but the rudder does need a bit more. Metal gears are a smart investment to keep from stripping them in harder maneuvers and such. You don't need digitals, so the cost isn't going to be high either way. Speed doesn't really matter as any quality servo made today will be fast enough.
Old 11-24-2015, 02:04 PM
  #58  
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OK..
I'll look into standards.
The 1/4 scale servo that came with the plane might be hooked up to the rudder, but I thought it was on the elevator. I can adjust accordingly.
I'll find some metal geared servos for ailerons etc.
Thanks!
Old 11-24-2015, 03:00 PM
  #59  
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In my H9 Super Cub I used 8 futaba S3305's all around, they work just fine for that aircraft.

The Sig cub is a floater at 16 lbs, that's what mine weighted in at when I first built it back in 94... 18 to 20 lbs, with the right engine really makes a difference how it flies, especially in moderate winds.

After refurbishing my Sig cub, it weighs just about 21lbs... throttle and aileron servos are small digital's so I could hide them in the wing roots; S9650 for the throttle, and two S9551 for the ailerons... for the rudder I used a S9156... and for the elevator I used a S9155... and then a couple micro S3154 for some custom animation operations.... Oh, and a S3152 for the horizontal stab trim jack screw operation


John M,

Last edited by John_M_; 11-24-2015 at 03:23 PM.
Old 11-24-2015, 03:24 PM
  #60  
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Here are some great Hitec servos. They just have someone else's sticker on them.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXPHD4&P=ML

The more personal work you put into a plane: the more you should invest to insure it's survival.
Old 11-24-2015, 03:30 PM
  #61  
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Originally Posted by John_M_
In my H9 Super Cub I used 8 futaba S3305's all around, they work just fine for that aircraft.

The Sig cub is a floater at 16 lbs, that's what mine weighted in at when I first built it back in 94... 18 to 20 lbs, with the right engine really makes a difference how it flies, especially in moderate winds.

After refurbishing my Sig cub, it weighs just about 21lbs... throttle and aileron servos are small digital's so I could hide them in the wing roots; S9650 for the throttle, and two S9551 for the ailerons... for the rudder I used a S9156... and for the elevator I used a S9155... and then a couple micro S3154 for some custom animation operations.... Oh, and a S3152 for the horizontal stab trim jack screw operation


John M,
Showing off requires pictures (hint).
Old 11-24-2015, 03:51 PM
  #62  
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Hi mate,

I have a 1/4 scale cub. Built in 2003. but a lot of work to finish the cub. Just been sitting around for some time and all bent and wings are the same. So I decided to build a 1/4 scale Tiger Moth by Duncan Hutson. I will be using the polly lite as it is great stuff to use. I tried a bit on the cub kit with the Sig "Stick-it" stuff. But found I could not stick over the polly lite. So I used dope test and found it worked really easy just on the frames and the elevator for the cub was so easy with dope the Sig's "Stick-it". You can apply heat in places to get a straight finish. With iron on film you can get the wings straight. But after a while they will need to be done all the time. Polly lite you only have to use heat once and then paint. I will use a white under coat which i have used before on a yellow plane. easy to see the covering with the white under coat. I only use a 2 pack paint which is no problem with fuel. Again I did some tests with Monokote iron cub yellow and found the colour get funny in places like a hot spot. But after a while the straightness would not hold with Monokote iron on. So I will stick to polly lite and do it the way I explained. The polly lite is much better and easy to use. I will not use
Old 11-24-2015, 04:11 PM
  #63  
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Originally Posted by kmeyers
Showing off requires pictures (hint).
Well, I plan too... I've just finished with the exterior a few weeks ago, and not quite finished with the cockpit, when that's done I will do a thread on the refurbish; most likely after the new year... I added a lot of scale details, everything in the cockpit is animated and is a real fiddle hooking everything up, so the last few details are taking longer... I rather do one post or thread on it, than have bits and pieces spread out over different forums.


John M,
Old 11-24-2015, 05:20 PM
  #64  
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Originally Posted by John_M_
Well my inlaw spoke to one of the guys over at SolarFilm who make solartex, and he recommended using sig stix-it on all the wood surfaces where the covering comes in contact with the wood, so that would include rib caps, sheeting, spines, leading / trailing edges / perimeters, etc... after you do your finish sanding, use a tack cloth and remove all the sanding dust off the surfaces, then apply your stix-it... you'll need to thin it some and brush it on, or do what I do, which is to use a piece of cotton cloth and dip it into the thinned stix-it and then rub it onto the wood... keep the tin covered as the solvents will evaporate quickly, thin as needed.
Just a note. For any covering like Solartex or Stits Lite, when using an adhesive you only want to use it on the wood where your seam is, normally the leading/trailing edges of the flight surfaces or the corner longerons on the fuselage. You want the covering to slide over all the ribs/diagonals/sheeting/cross braces, etc when shrinking the fabric. It should only be secured with adhesive at the edges.

The one caveat to that is if there is a concave transition, in which case you usually need adhesive to keep the material from lifting off the concave surface when shrunk. For the cub, this would be at the transition of the fuselage to the vertical fin, although some people stitch the covering to the base of the fin and cover the stitches with pinked tape.

Last edited by RBACONS; 11-24-2015 at 05:23 PM.
Old 11-24-2015, 09:14 PM
  #65  
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Originally Posted by RBACONS
Just a note. For any covering like Solartex or Stits Lite, when using an adhesive you only want to use it on the wood where your seam is, normally the leading/trailing edges of the flight surfaces or the corner longerons on the fuselage. You want the covering to slide over all the ribs/diagonals/sheeting/cross braces, etc when shrinking the fabric. It should only be secured with adhesive at the edges.

The one caveat to that is if there is a concave transition, in which case you usually need adhesive to keep the material from lifting off the concave surface when shrunk. For the cub, this would be at the transition of the fuselage to the vertical fin, although some people stitch the covering to the base of the fin and cover the stitches with pinked tape.

That's not how we were told to do it... anywhere the wood contacts the fabric, apply the stix-it, THEN when applying the covering for example; covering the bottom of the wings frist, attach the covering at the center of the root rib and then pull it tight to the wing tip and attach at the center of the wing tip... then pull the covering tight at the center of the wing panel span and attach at the trailing edge, then pull tight across to the leading edge and attach to the leading edge... then work your way out to the wing tip and wing root, pulling the covering tight and attaching to the trailing edge and leading edges... once you get the fabric taught and tacked around the perimeter, you pull the covering over the wing tip and wing root and tack it in place... then seal the perimeter edges completely, and trim and seal the edges again... then you shrink the fabric over the wing panel using the heat from the iron with no contact of the iron to the covering surface... once its taught and shrunk tight at the proper heat setting, you go back over the wing panel and seal down the rib caps, and any wood sheeted areas.

You do the same with the top of the wing panel, except when you trim the perimeter edges for your overlap, before you seal down your overlapping seams, you put a thin coat of stix-it on the covering surface where the overlap occurs... you let the stix-it cure thoroughly, and then seal down your overlapping seams... the seams will never lift after that... that's the way I've always covered my models using iron-on covering.

This was my first experience using solartex, and the recommendation to use stix-it on the overlapping seams came from the guys over at Solarfilm, so we did just as it was suggested by them... they also suggested to place the covered model in the sun for some time to allow the covering to normalize in the heat from the sun, and then re-shrink as needed... putting the stix-it over the sheeted wood areas prevents any wrinkles from ocurring in the covering over the sheeted areas when placed in the hot sun... I never had any issues with the covering after placing it in the sun, so I must have done something right .


John M

Last edited by John_M_; 11-24-2015 at 09:31 PM. Reason: Clarification
Old 11-25-2015, 04:26 AM
  #66  
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Solartex is pretty hard to screw up. It goes on so easily that most procedures seem to work.

Like RBACONS, I add extra adhesive around the perimeters.

I don't believe everything Solarfilm says. For instance, they say that pre=colored Solartex requires no clear coating. Try it sometime. You'll end up with a dirty, impossible to clean, surface.

Their advice to sit the covered model in the sun, is spot on, however.
Old 11-25-2015, 08:08 AM
  #67  
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Originally Posted by TomCrump
Solartex is pretty hard to screw up. It goes on so easily that most procedures seem to work.

Like RBACONS, I add extra adhesive around the perimeters.

I don't believe everything Solarfilm says. For instance, they say that pre=colored Solartex requires no clear coating. Try it sometime. You'll end up with a dirty, impossible to clean, surface.

Their advice to sit the covered model in the sun, is spot on, however.

Tom, I put stix-it on the perimeters as well... its funny you should say that about the clear coat, as I asked about the clear coat, and they did say clear coating wasn't necessary, but the gain of the fabric has a tendency to pick up stains... they further stated to use some mild soap and water and lightly clean the surface with a soft brush... well after my experience with 21st century fabric and the staining, I went ahead and clear coated this solartex with a couple coats of klasskote simi-gloss clear epoxy... I actually covered the model in white solartex, then painted it cub yellow, then applied the clear on top of that... the grain of the fabric is barely visible if that now, so there's really no where for the dirt and stains to accumulate, plus that klasskote clear is extremely resistant to oil and gasoline / glow fuels... I don't plan on flying her as my weekend go to aircraft, I'll fly it on occasions... I may fly it more and more after the novelty and over two years of work fades into my distant memories, lol... it was one of my passions to build a extreme scale piper cub, and I would hate to loose it so soon after completion... I have a bad habit of drawing the short straw .



John M,
Old 11-26-2015, 03:15 PM
  #68  
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I've used Solartex on several planes and have never taken any additional steps to get it to stick properly. I find the adhesion to itself to be really high and have never had a problem with seam separation. My oldest plane is my Sig 1/5th Cub... The Cub was first flown in March of 2009 and I still looks exactly like it did the day it was finished. That was my first plane covered with Solartex so.. if anything... it was done with the least skill.

To show it's age, it is on it's third set of tires and now rests on some DIY machined aluminum wheels with bearings. The plastic stuff just wore out too fast.

I just cover and paint (Solartex Natural and Klass Kote Paint currently). The Sig 1/5th Cub was painted with Nelson Hobby paint and it was only used for that one plane. Just had adhesion issues with multiple layers of paint. The plane was going to have numbers but I had enough of the paint by that point.

I do store my planes inside the house... I live in the desert and the garage can get up to about 115 degrees in the summer.

SunDevilPilot

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Last edited by SunDevilPilot; 11-26-2015 at 03:20 PM.
Old 11-27-2015, 06:07 AM
  #69  
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Ya. I'm not sure that Solartex requires any additional adhesive. I add it out of paranoia.
Old 11-27-2015, 06:51 PM
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I've never had any kind of covering come loose because the adhesive let go from the wood except when I was new to this and sanded without vacuuming the dust off. Every covering job I've ever had peel has been because fuel residue seeped into the seams and loosened the covering over time. Since we're talking about a finish in this thread that's going to be sealed and painted, that won't be an issue at all. I'd expect the natural Solartex with a good paint job to be good for at least 15 years, maybe longer.
Old 12-04-2015, 10:38 AM
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One thing I noticed is the question has been asked two times, do I seal the wood prior to putting the covering on, answer is no. Instructions that come with Solartex clearly state not to condition or seal the wood. As far as the tiny fibers on the wood is concerned a light spraying of water will stand them up then sand lightly with 400 grit and blow or vacuum the dust off, blowing the dust will do a better job of getting it out of the grain which is just as important as getting it off the surface. I use Stix-it on any non wrapped attachments for insurance other wise have at it and follow instructions and temps they include. Great stuff, Solartex.
Old 12-04-2015, 10:13 PM
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Well I'm about halfway done covering. The solartex is very easy to work with.
I'm still trying to decide if i want to spend another $50 on 'kote paint or just use what the LHS guy recommended (regular polyurethane ).

Where can i get decals? The black stripe down the side and N #'s?
Old 12-05-2015, 03:56 AM
  #73  
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Oil based polyurethane will seal your Solartex and is glow fuel resistant. I've used it with success. Minwax has it available in an aerosol, if ypu want to go that route.

Be aware that it does yellow, though. For me, this is not an issue, but some modelers don't like the look.

Calle Graphics can handle your graphics needs. .http://www.callie-graphics.com/ She does great work. She provides excellent service at a reasonable cost.

If it were me, I'd paint the side stripes, but I'm sure that she can provide them, too.
Old 12-05-2015, 07:13 AM
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Originally Posted by Love2FlyMN
I only have 130 oz servos in my H9 Funtana 90 with a 30 cc in it. I don't think I need upwards of 100 oz for a Cub.

I saw a lot of threads of people using standard 3003's for ailerons, but I'd like to go 80oz+ for ailerons.

Do I just look for 80oz+ with speed of .20 or faster, or what should I look for?


Size doesn't matter because I'll be building the mounts to fit.

I found this - https://www.servocity.com/html/hs-54...l#.VlTdqXarS9I

A little more expensive than I want...Is there anythig close to that that's cheaper?
Why is it someone builds something spending money on the engine and airframe/covering then wants to put the cheapest electronics they can find in the thing? After all that work,time,effort and money you would think it important to be concerned more with reliability and quality when picking the items that will be your final and only control that you will have over the model in flight. Kinda like going to Walmart to outfit yourself for climbing ropes for mount Everest if you ask me.

Dennis
Old 12-05-2015, 10:39 AM
  #75  
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There is a difference between being cheap and buying appropriate electronics for the airframe. There is nothing wrong with Hitec servos, at least not with the 30 or so I have used. A 1/4 scale cub does not need expensive, hi-torque, hi-speed servos. Nor does it even need digital servos. Its not a fast plane and its not a particularly aerobatic plane. I would't recommend HobbyKing but any full-size offering from Hitec, Futaba, JR, Spectrum, Airtronics that meet the recommended torque specs for the plane's control surfaces will be more than adequate.

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