Graxafone

I am thinking about getting the Great Planes Piper Cub .60 kit. Is this a good kit? Is it easy to transport in a mini-van? Or should I get the .20 kit or the ARF? And other advice before I buy it? And what engine and radio would be best? I'm looking at a Hi-Tec with a 4-stroke (YS or Saito?) Any advice? Thanks.

jeffmd2

I built a GP 40 size cub. Good size, and should fit nicely in a mini van. I used a Saito Twin 60, WOW what an engine for a cub. Sounds and looks fantastic, fly all day on half throttle. Any good computer radio will be fine. The kit I built was an early 90's kit with lousy die crushed parts. It took some work but it came out real nice. See some pics of it at: http://www.angelfire.com/wa/JeffMDuffield/rcplanes.html

Jeff

Graxafone

Wow! Looks like a real nice plane? What skill would you say that its best for (beginner, moderate, expert, etc.)?

Old Mill

I am building the 60 sized right now, first kit in 15 years. I was not impressed with some of the die cutting as well. However, I think it is going together well. Great instructions. thing is HUGE!!!

Be careful about glue selection, alot of places call for thin CA, yet even with alot of effort, I could not get the pieces to fit good enough, I used 6 minute epoxy on alot of things.

Two weeks and close to covering stage, waiting for parts, probably a three week box to covering stage build. Seems straight too.

Good luck.

Mill

GarySS

My Feedback: (13)

Jeff, you are a craftsman!!

jeffmd2

My own opinion on Great Planes kits are that they are not for a beginner, moderate to expert building skills are needed to overcome some issues. I used Coverite fabric on my cub, I highly recommend it due to the scale look and feel of the fabric. The bigger they are the easier they are to build in some respects. You have to determine if it will fit in your vehicle. The 60 size cub is big, but it should fit. Go for the big one, you will like it.

Jeff

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

NO WAY!!!!!

GP kits arew IMHO the BEST kits on the market, bar NONE!

A cub is not a beginners kit. If you think GP's cub is tough to build (which I have done), try building a Sig (which I am currently doing).

If someone wants to build a cub, The GP and Goldberg are by far the two easiest to build. But they are still not beginners kits.

FlyingPilgrim

My Feedback: (26)

I just ordered a 40 size GP Cub, waiting for delivery. My only concern is the landing gear setup. It seems either a functional bungee suspension gear or a bent sheet aluminum (duraluminum?) would be better than the bent wire setup. Any comments or suggestions from those of you that have built/flown one? I'm putting a Saito .56 in it, can't wait to try slow flying.
F. P.

1/4 flyboy

My Feedback: (1)

Check out the Hitec Flash 5 very reasonable and it does about everything, personally I like the SAITOS hard to beat. good luck.

Iflyglow

My Feedback: (79)

Try comparing it to the new 1:5 scale sig cub . You cannot even compare the two. The sig kit is the best cub kit on the market bar none. Awesome laser cut parts, exact parts fit with no sanding, two piece wing, functional side doors, scale tail wheel, excellent instructions, and yes a fiberglass cowling, for $50.00 less than GP. The best thing of all is that it ways 3-5 lb's less than the GP. I know because I now have the sig cub, and sold my GP cub. The sig cub you were talking about was designed a quarter century ago. Look at a GP kits from 25 years ago, thats right they did not make one back then. The Gp kit is full of crunched non fitting parts and is extremely heavy and non scale looking. with a cheap plastic cowling and a wire glued into the rudder for the tail wheel. I lightened the hell out of my GP cub to get it down to 9lbs .

CheezWhiz

Graxaphone,

I'm currently working on my first RC kit, which is a Great Planes .60 cub with Great Planes size .60 floats...

Latest pics at http://www.fairwayreview.com/cub/index3.htm

Since I don't have any experience with any other kits (or RC in general for that matter), I'm not sure my opinion is worth the trouble. However, I'm hooked! This kit turned out to be everything I had hoped for. Sure, there's some extra trimming, sanding and gluing necessary, but I don't mind it all, as it is extremely minimal and doesn't impact on the building experience at all.

I've since purchased and mounted an OS .91 4 stroke, the manufacturer recommended engine. Should be plenty of horses for the large floats as well, although I plan on "scale flight" and not performing crazy immelmans and what not.

I would definitely suggest this kit, as long as you have enough workspace to build. A very large flat surface is a must for wing construction.

The instructions are great, but I have read the thing inside and out about 15 times. Like I said, I've never built a plane before, so a few of the instructions seemed a little "out there" for me. After a few reads though, you know what to expect. No surprises.

Looking forward to my first flight! Both on land and water (knock on balsa...)

Thanks,

Cheez

Flyfalcons

If you are building the 40 size I highly recommend using two aileron servos instead of one. This way you can fine-tune the aileron differential and eliminate the slop associated with the bellcrank setup. I found the gear setup to be rather weak; you may want to use a little more plywood in the fuselage to support the gear. There are a lot worse kits out there than Great Planes; a couple minor squabbles is nothing to complain about.

FlyingPilgrim

My Feedback: (26)

Ryan,
Thanks for the tips on individual servos and beefing up the gear. I was wondering if the individual servos would be needed or at least a good idea. I notice that this seems to be the latest trend in 40 sized kits. The bellcrank setup sounds like it has potential to have added slop (like you stated). I wish I could find some scale functional gear for the small 40 size (1:5.5) scale, but I'll probably just use what the kit provided. Robart has some sweet gear for the Sig 1:5 kit, I don't know if it would fit the GP model or not.
Jeff (FlyingPilgrim)

Cougar-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Well here is my 2 cents. I have always flown Goldberg Cubs
and there GREAT and easy to fly. Last year I built a 60 GP cub
and I couldn't believe how heavy the darn thing was. Then I built the floats. I didn't like how it handled at all. nothing like the Goldberg cub. I was very disappointed in this kit.. Its hanging in my shed now with floats. and will stay that way! Or its for sale , but shipping would be outrageous! maybe if I put a 120 OS F/S
it might have enough power? Oh well. I learned my lesson I guess
Jeff
note: this is MY opinion ONLY.. I hope folks that are building them really enjoy it. and fly great for them.

Flyfalcons

FWIW the 40 size comes out fairly light for its size. I put a Supertigre 45 on mine and it has enough power to hover. With all that wing area you will need to get your idle pretty low if you don't want to float all the way down the runway. The stock gear looks okay when flying around, especially if you build the optional bungee struts for the gear. Also, maybe it's just my plane, but if I get the nose too high on landing it will drop a wing, so all my landings are wheel-landings. This is the first plane I've owned that I don't feel comfortable doing three-pointers with.

jcflysrc

My Feedback: (50)

My GP Cub was an easy build, and yes it's a little heavy(not sure now w/floats). I like the way it flies, and it is much more responsive with dual aileron servos. OS 61FX , 13x7 has more than enough power available.

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Are you sure you were building a great planes kit? I have found their stuff to be very nice to build. No problems at all. I don't see a problem with a beginner building a lot of their kits.

av8er50

My Feedback: (6)

The first plane I built was th GP 40 size cub with floats, I didn't have any out of the ordinary problems with it. The covering was the hardest part and that was only due to lack of experience. A little trial and error was all it took.
I have a sig lazer cut kit, the lazer cut is better than the die "crushed" as someone said, but both are functional.

av8er50

My Feedback: (6)

The first plane I built was th GP 40 size cub with floats, I didn't have any out of the ordinary problems with it. The covering was the hardest part and that was only due to lack of experience. A little trial and error was all it took.
I have a sig lazer cut kit, the lazer cut is better than the die "crushed" as someone said, but both are functional.

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Jeff:

Your airplanes look great. Two of the pics have people that don't look too bad, but that fellow in the rest! (haw)

Everyone:

Everybody "Has to have" a J-3. I looked at the GP Cub selection, said "No way." Both of my Cubs have been Sig. No comparison.

Both? Gave one away when I moved, still have the other.

Graduate to a twin, it'll keep you thin.

Bill.

Skycam41

I have the GP 60 size Cub with the full 90" wing, power is from a Saito .91. I took my time building this kit and completed a few in between it. It takes a fairly good size building board, especially when joining the wing halves together! I can just bairly get it to fit into my Honda Accord with the back seat folded down.

I have built a dozen or so kits which have been mostly Great Planes and Sig. I will agree that some of the die crunching (especially the tail section) of this Cub is pretty sad and I had to use filler on the stamping numbers so they would not show! The kit goes together pretty well with good instructions and lots of pictures to help you.

Last October I got my first 3 flights in running the Saito pretty rich seeing as it was new. All 3 flights were dead stick due to running out of fuel! The big Cub flies really well and looks great in the sky but on take off it will ground loop so fast its almost comical so be on the rudder and accelerate S L O W L Y, especially if you are flying from pavement. I am very happy with this Cub but I have not flown any others. If I was buy one now I would chose the new Sig 5th scale Cub as it is very scale as mentioned in a previous post.

I am currently building floats so I can join in with the float fly crew.

Skycam41

another picture just before first flight

Cougar-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Skycam41

Thanks Cougar Don't give up on your Cub too fast, yeah they are a little heavy but I thought it does fly well and I like the way that the bigger planes do not get bounced around in the sky, they look and fly just like the real ones! Having said that, I would really like to build the new Sig 5th scale (laser cut kit). I actually have a Goldberg Cub with the full size wing that I acquied, it has a Saito .80, covered with silk & dope and never flown. I have a set of floats for it that are being painted at the body shop. It will be interesting to see how the two compare, unless someone wants to buy it off me first and then I will get the Sig kit!
Cheers Mike....I just had to add another picture

twostroke

My Feedback: (6)

I building a .20 size cub great kit but not real impressed with some of the parts being warped other than that going great!