ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

I saw this plane in my LHS and it looked really good. Anyone have a chance to fly one?

Nick

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

i have one , its awesome........check out my username........i have a really long thread under the "Park Zone " topic ....i think its just a few down from this topic! check it out its the last thread in that discussion or just look fore J3 CUB FLYER username

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

Thanks J3Flyer!

Your review was helpful as I think this plane looks great and if I can fly the Firebird Commander I know I can tame this J3-Cub. I'm also learning to fly my glow trainer and just ordered the GWS Slow Stick from my LHS, which is where I saw this J3-Cub and fell in love with it. Maybe I should tell my LHS to keep the Slow Stick and take the J3 home with me.?

Nick

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

IMO i would say that the j 3 cub is more versatile, you can fly it slow or fast. You have 2 settings for begginers and advance, and you can do tricks too, it has the durability that the slow stick dosen't, although its not a front yard flyer!! its a better all in one knind of plane !!!!!

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

I also have a J-3 cub, and it flys great, though I am a beginner, and crashed it once, breaking the propeller.

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

$3.99 order a few , also stock up on a couple prop shafts! i just replaced my entire fusalage, i had to remove electronics from the original and re install into new one , i also replaced my wing....entire overhaul was $35.00, not bad considering i hit a street light (concrete) at WOT[:@].......i have invested about $50.00 in addition to the originl $150.00 i spent on the cub . IMO it has been worth it ..this is my first real plane so i new i was gonna crash it . i now have several flights under my belt and i beleive the worst is behind me and i have a perfectly rebuilt plane! i even have managed many decent landings! i deffinatly need to dial in the cub due to after the re buid it is a little "out of wack". i am addicted to this hobby, im ready for a more accurate plane control wise and more power ANY SUGGESTIONS ?? BEST ELECTRIC ARF/RTF?

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

Hello,

I posted something eariler in response to a review of the J-3 cub. I am a first time flyer and wanted to ge my feet wet. i have read others reports of first time flying with various levels of success. I have had three days of flying with several crashes. Two of the days the wind was too much and I shouldn't have been up. The one day where there was little or no wind it was perfect. While I did not roll or loop I was able to fly the plane about anyhwere I wanted. I fly at a local High School. Two soccer fields with a baseball field on the end.

Most crashed bend prop and shaft. After last hard crash I broke the assembly that the prop shaft goes into. I put it back together but order a new one any way. I recently discovered that I cracked the rudder. I have a feeling that I did this fairly early on because once I got it up it kept turning / diving to the right. On the windy days it made it tough to fly straight. I though it was just the wind and me learning.

I have a feeling I am going to have to order a new tail assempbly which is no big deal other than I have been waiting a week for parts already. The crack is on the base of the rudder. I would have missed it other than I was checking the control surfaces and saw the the rudder did not see very straight. And then I saw the crack. I was wondering if these things were real sensistive to balance. It looks like some kind of reinforcing tape would be a solution. I just don't want to wait another week to fly. The 'experinced" local flyer at my local hobbie shop is making sure they have a few of everything on hand for myself or others.

Also during my flights I had a few really hard crashed where my fuselage has creased a bit. The battery cage separated from the electrics and I used a small piece of foam to secure the case to the front of plane. I was worried this might throw the balance / weight off. But because I have decided to wait for my new prop shaft and gear box I haven't really had a chance to test it out.

Any thoughts about "repairs" taping, glueing and so on. Seems like since this plane is so new there are not a great deal of users / support yet. I was not interested in building a first plane and felt like this would be a good middle ground. I wanted something that was inbetween the glider / aerobird to hand build planes.

It feels pretty durable and after two clsoe your eyes and hope it doesnt hit anyone crashes. A bent prop shaft and prop plus a few dents is pretty minor. The "expereinced" flyer has been encouraging me even though I want to go it alone. I prefer to get advise and then go try it out. I think that one day I would like to keep moving up the "food chain" so to speak. Build my won plane and so on. I love the idea of once a twice a week taking a 5 min walk and flying.

Look forward to your stories and input...

Thanks................Jim Whitehouse aka rand256

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

I just got today a J3. I am a beginner and I am not sure if I should try flying by myself or tring to get someone to teach me. Some clasify it as a beginner plane and others say to get help. I don't know what to do. I would like to try it out this weekend. Also not sure where to go here in NYC.

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

FlyDemon,

One thing I learned was that even though I felt I could fly and do a decent job on my own, I got soooo nervous that this really takes away any skills you think you may have. It's different for everyone. I know the feeling of having a new plane that looks great but can't stand seeing it sit there in your house when it should be flying, right! BUT you will have more fun if you be patient and wait to have someone assist you. That doesn't mean you can't take it up for the maiden flight on your own but with someone experienced there with you, it will give you more confidence and should make for a successful first few flights.

I was one who was impatient and flew on my own at a park - which was my electric plane. After a couple trees and rough landings, yet the plane was in tact and still flyable, I got an instructor especially b/c I wanted to fly my glow plane. Plus I learned a lot more about different flying techniques and the overall hobby with an instructor - which is nice.

Nick

PS I don't condone trying it by yourself but I also don't blame some who try as it's exciting either way. You just have to ask yourself, are you willing to buy a new plane if you crash b/c most likely a beginner crash will put the plane in the garbage.

ORIGINAL: FlyDemon

I just got today a J3. I am a beginner and I am not sure if I should try flying by myself or tring to get someone to teach me. Some clasify it as a beginner plane and others say to get help. I don't know what to do. I would like to try it out this weekend. Also not sure where to go here in NYC.
[/quote]

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

I was flying mine yesterday in 10 mph winds. It ROG'd in about 3 feet. This is such a neet little plane. Too bad I put in nose first. Time for a new prop shaft...again!!!!

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

I can't seem to find any prop shafts for my J3 anywhere. I would be grateful for any help in finding this part.

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

try brown's hobby shop. i know jeff has them [link=http://www.brownshobbyshop.com]Browns Hobby Shop[/link]

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

How do I contact Browns Hobby Shop. I didn't see a phone number or ordering link.

Thanks

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

330-532-1783

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

Well, I do got a J-3. I was (I guess I still am) a TOTAL beginner.

The first flight out of the box was GREAT, I learned A LOT. Kill the motor when you are going to crash, learned that the hard way. I was glad to see how inexpensive the parts were, so my mind set was this was my trainer plane and I WAS going to crash it. I was OK with that. Well, the 1st couple crashes ( I say a couple, but actually a couple dozen, ALL of varying degrees.), I orders a new prop shaft, some struts and a new prop (from *********, I was very satisfied, they all came in like 4-6 days). After super gluing some things back together, I got her back up and I am HOOKED! What fun! She (ya,ya its a girl, I checked) took a REAL HARD NOSE FIRST CRASH.
Prop shaft is bent, prop is bent, thingy that hold the prop shaft and motor is screwed up, cowl cracked and the battery cage thingy broke off. Not a big deal, I expected to crash, I am ok with buying more parts. I see it as paying for lessons, I pay more attention to what each part does etc.

Anyway, I have a couple questions:

What is the thing that holds the motor and the prop shaft called? Can you order one of these?

How do I repair the "cage" that holds the battery (It snapped from the inside frame). Does the bare fuselage include this?

How much am I disturbing balance by super gluing things together (like the tail, motor mount etc)

Thanks for reading,

yyn

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF (GWS Prop Substitution)
 

I like a lot of other J-3 owners have broken several props (getting better though). I was a little upset with the price on the J-3 replacement prop, if you could even find them. I decided to try using a GWS 9x7 prop from my Tiger Moth and found that it worked very well. It's a lot tougher than the Parkzone prop and is available at a lot more LHS's for only $1.98.

Mark

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

Well, I order a new gearbox, new tail and some struts.

I wasn't sure how the shaft went back into the box.
I put the 2 while plastic washer type things in the ends on the box, then I put the shaft on, then washer, 2 spacers, then 2 washers, then the nut.
then prop, washer, nut.

I got to the field , fired her up and she sounded good, then the prop fell off. AHHHHHH!

When I got home, I saw that the shaft wasn't in right.

Does anyone know what the secret is?

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

I'm not new to the hobby, but the wife and kids got me one of these little J-3s for Fathers Day yesterday. I took the jumper out first thing, and went to fly last night. It was a blast! I fly everything from coroplast to giant scale, and just loved the little Cub. I think I'll change the linkages to quicken it up a little, but it was fun! It's nice going 3 minutes down the road to get a "quickie" in, instead of 30 minutes to fly the "big stuff" ;)

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

I have a J-3 and think it flies great. I am concerned about not using NiCd batteries in the TX. How can you tell when the transmitter batteries are getting low on power? Does the red indicator light flash or anything?
Thanks,Woody

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

The Cub has an Audible alarm when the batteries get low (beeper).
Regard, DR

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

Thanks. I just installed a connector and 1800 mah NmHi batteries. No more worries. Dom

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

Hi all!

I'm a newly infected RC flyer and my first plane is the 37" J-3.
I finally got tired of worrying about crashing the silly thing and took it out last weekend.
Mmmm yeah - H O O K E D....
I had 9 hand launches and 8 landings. The one that's missing is a surperb landing - I swear! The wife can verfiy it ;)
I found myself much much more comfortable with an underhand launch - is this the norm or am I a strange one?

Anyway - my first weekend was fine - however - one night a couple days ago... I had my first 'hard landing' [&:]

Nothing major broken - however, I DID flatten a couple of teeth on the drive shaft gear. So now - if I were to run it - it'd almost sound like a little engine thumping along...
I took a mini file and made the best adjustments possible but it's not been enough - I'm still seeing a MARKED decrease in battery life because of the extra work the engine has to do to push past the bad spot.


SO... my question :) I know- I'm a rambler - but hell - this is a fun sport and I'm excited about it :)

How the HECK can I remove the drive shaft from the engine mount housing? I've tried all the things I could think of - but I'm not wanting to put too much pressure behind the wrench in case I'm doing it wrong. I'd prefer just to buy the shaft and not the whole engine housing ;)

Any suggestions?

Also: Does anyone have any mod suggestions for the little J-3? it's clear (at least to me) that I have enough basic skill in order to put some money into the sport, but I was curious to see if anyone has been able to put a bigger engine in this thing, and maybe a bigger battery?
Thanks!

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

Has anyone else notice that it is difficult to find props for the J-3? I went to two stores today and they were both out, and i just ordered them from horizonhobby.com, but it says they are on back order!!! oh well, i guess if i didn't act like a fool (try to fly between a soccer goal in a little too much wind) i would not need new props and prop shafts!!!!!!!!!!!

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

My freind got one and never got it off the ground?! The thing ground looped terrribly. Any ideas?:eek:

RE: ParkZone J-3 Cub RTF
 

The j-3 does seem a bit difficult to ROG. Why not try to hand launch it? I have done 2 or 3 ROG's but they weren't pretty. The last one actually caught a small rock and ripped the prop off. (there isn't much clearance when the plane steps up.) Save your prop and hand launch.