mhancock

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Someone gave me a 1/6th scale J3 Cub kit, it seems to be a bit lacking in instructions on connecting the struts to the wing and fuselage, does anyone have a picture or a suggestion, please?

Thank you!!

khodges

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It will help to know who mfg the kit. SIG, Goldberg, Great Planes?

If it's a SIG, and the wing is one piece, then I don't think the struts are functional, meaning they're just for looks and don't bear a significant portion of the wing load in flight. But the lower (point of the "V") end attaches just forward of the rear landing gear attach point. With the wings in place and the plane upside down, lay the struts in place and mark where the other ends touch the underside of the wing, centering them between leading and trailing edge. If they are true to scale, the forward strut is thicker (wider) than the rear main strut. There should be some sort of reinforced attach point on the underside of the wing, possibly with blind nuts for screws. There are also "jury" struts that attach between the main strut and the underside of the wing at approximately the midpoint of the main strut. They should be perpendicular to the wing suface when properly mounted. Sorry I do't have any pictures. Hope this will get you on track.

mhancock

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Thank you very much, it is a SIG kit, in the instructions, they say that the struts are part of the wing support. I couldn't find anyway of attaching them to the wing. Meaning, there is no apparent mounting hardware in the kit. There is a perpendicular center point mount that has to be attached. I suppose that I could get some sort of brackets to attach at the wing end and make a connection between the wing and fuselage. There was some mention of a brass end that is suppoed to go on the strut, but it isn't in the box... If anyone has a picture of this area of the plane, my search would be shortened considerably.

Thanks again,

Mike

khodges

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It sounds like the struts ARE functional, which I thought would be the case if it was a SIG kit. This is an important part of the structure, and SIG has good instructions as a rule.

If I were you, I'd write, call, or e-mail SIG and order a hardware package for that kit. It sounds like it was either left out or lost before you were given the plane. If the 1/6 is anything like the 1/5, there are small aluminum pieces you have to bend using a guide in the instructions; two each for the brackets that mount to the fuse at the rear landing gear attach points, two each for the end of the struts where they meet, and two each for each of the ends that attach to the wings. The struts are spruce, you have to cut and glue them together, slot each end and insert the aluminum pieces in the slots, wrap a small piece of 'glass cloth around this connection and epoxy evrything, I went further and pinned them with tiny screws as well.

There should be some brass tubing to make the jury struts from; you cut pieces to length and flatten the ends and drill holes for screws. There are three pieces for each jury strut, and the instructions also contain a cutting and bending guide (full size templates). Without the guides, it would be a best guess how to cut and fit the jury struts; on the 1/6 they might even be made of piano wire.

As for the attach points on the wing, the 1/5 had a long narrow rectangular piece of lite ply that spanned from the front (main) wing spar to the rear spar, you had to measure and drill holes and place a couple of blind nuts ot screw the ends of the main struts to. There were small squares of lite ply that glued to the main and rear spar for the jury struts to attach. Ditto on drilling and blind nuts.

All this was for a 1/5 scale J-3, I can only guess that the 1/6 would be similarly built, but giving exact dimensions would be like a blind squirrel gathering nuts. I really think something is missing from the kit; SIG kits are builder's kits too; if this is your first kit, it's going to be a challenge. Maybe you could swap the kit for an ARF if you really want a Cub--they're fun to fly, but they're NOT trainers.

mhancock

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Thanks again, their are some little pieces of aluminum in the kit. It seems a bit clearer now. I think I can get it going from here.

Mike