geezeraviation

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Lets just say that this explains a lot of things. ROFLMAO
Doc

TKFOKKER

Took her to the field today finally.
Had a hard time getting the engine started for some reason? But got it runing good. Plane took off as if it never was in storage crashed all that time. Flew just as I remember her. No issues. Two landings and shut her down for refuel, discovered while I was refilling the fuel was leaking out under tank, took her apart and went home. Found a fuel line rubbing the crank shaft that comes thru fire wall. It wore a hole in it. All fixed ready to go back and have some fun. No pic's because I was alone.
TK

abufletcher

When, oh, when are they going to start making transmitters with built in camera/video capabilities!!!

TKFOKKER

Did a few more small details to the cub. Here I made some brake drums. They are made from medicine bottles and plywood. Simple.
TK

TKFOKKER

Here I took my Zinger flying prop, sanded it, stained, painted, decaled, and varnished. Makes a nice addition to the front end.
TK

geezeraviation

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Really nice job TK, I know how much work it takes to customize a prop like that. There is nothing I can think of that will lead to a props demise quicker than doing that much work on it. I'm just getting started on one for my favorite flyer, hope it lasts.lol
Doc

Tango Juliet

That's really nice TK. Can we get any more info on how you got to that stage with the prop? Like how you created the leading edge detail and riveting?

TKFOKKER

To customize or scale out a flying prop like this one is easy. I scrap the varnish finish off with a razor blade, then sand, stain, paint and clear coat. The stain is a puritain pine, the tips are a mix of chrome yellow and dark green. The leading edge is just taped off and painted with testors brass. After that drys I just take a piece of 1/16th wire and dip it in some aluminum testors buffing spray paint and touch the brass leaving a dot as a rivet. The decals are from Major decal. They make all kinds of prop decals.
TK

TKFOKKER

Here are some props I made for static and some I altered for flying. It's always fun to make stuff like this plus it adds so much to the front of your model. Nothing worse than seeing a big plastic prop on a beautiful scale model.
TK

Tango Juliet

Thank you for sharing that. It's one of those things that isn't really all that difficult to do, and makes the aircraft look just that much better, but a lot of people aren't sure where to begin with the process.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

All of those props look beautiful. Where did you get those decals, or did you get something off the Internet and print it to a clear backing?

Thanks,

Bob

TKFOKKER

Major Decal for most and GTM carries a great Axial decal.

N1EDM

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Thanks a lot!!

Bob

RBACONS

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I found this thread and thought I would resurrect it as I too have an old 1/4 scale J-3 built by Harvey Hjelm. I bought mine from Harvey just a few years before he passed when he was in his 90's and no longer able to fly RC. Harvey's 2 other cubs (besides TKFOKKER's) are with a close friend and mentor and have already been restored and are flown on a regular basis. I don't know in what year mine was built but it was at a stage that the dope was coming off the covering in large pieces and the fabric covering had gone brittle and was easily punctured. After a flying session in fairly high winds a few years back, while the cub was in the pits awaiting another flight, the wind picked the cub up, threw it backwards over a 3' high fence and broke the rudder and vertical stab. I had started restoration 2 years ago but had to put it aside while I moved and had a new home built. Now that the move is complete and I have a brand new workshop, its time to get the old girl flying again.

When I left off, the cub had been completely stripped, the wings repaired and recovered, new horizontal stabs, elevators, and rudder built and covered, and a new vertical fin grafted onto the fuselage. I also swapped out the G26 engine in favor of an OS 1.60 twin. While I now prefer gas over glow, the 1.60 twin sounds so nice and is such a good match for a 1/4 scale cub I couldn't resist.

Some pics of where things stand as I start back in on the restoration:

N1EDM

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Color me 'Interested' in watching your rebuild....

Bob

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

This one Cub rebuild I want to watch! There is a lot to love about this airplane!

RBACONS

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Slow progress. I went to fit the new fuel tank and remembered that the plane was originally built with the tank protruding into the cockpit.



It also revealed a couple of other issues. First, the tank is too low for the OS 1.60 carb by at least an inch. This wasn't a problem when the plane was fitted with the G26 but its something I now need to correct. The second issue is that the plane is very short between the instrument panel and the firewall, hence the long stand offs that were fitted for the OS 1.60. The nose is not long enough as is to enclose the tank.



I've been pondering options on how best to deal with the issues and whether or not I feel like rebuilding the whole nose of the plane to both conceal the tank and to raise it up. When the OS 1.60 was fitted a year and a half ago, I took pains to ensure the 1.60 thrust washer ended up in the proper location. If I remove the engine, delete the standoffs, and completely rebuild the nose, I'll need to figure out how to get the engine back in the proper location and ensure that all of the metal work for the cowl will fit properly with no plans for reference. Another option I need to look at is widening the opening below the instrument panel to see if I can wedge a tank in sideways and up high enough. A task for next week.

In the meantime, I started painting of the wings. Originally I had decided to forego rib stitching so I had just add pinked tape to ribs. I've decided that this was just lazy as the rib stitching adds a needed layer of texture to the models that makes them look so much better. Since the pinked tape was already down, I went with simulating the stitching with glue (RC56). The wings then had 2 coats of the polyspray silver UV undercoating and a light wet sanding with 400 grit paper to knock the glue "stitches" down, even them out a bit, and make them a bit more subtle. When buried in the color/clear coats, they will look reasonable from a couple of feet.

cocobear

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That looks great!

RBACONS

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In an attempt to solve my fuel tank issues, I looked at a number of options including building out an engine box to gain more room, turning a 16 oz tank sideways in the current space, and dual 8 oz tanks in series. None of these turned out to be viable. An engine box was problematic because it would interference with the throttle and mixture control rods and the exhaust pipes. The fuse was not wide enough to take the 16 oz take sideways, and the nose is so short that even the 8 oz tanks protruded back into the cabin.

I ended up opening up access to the nose and installing a 14 oz tank sideways. Its a little tight but it fits, the tank is now at the correct height as well, and the fuel tubing has just enough clearance. The opening will get covered over later.

RBACONS

My Feedback: (3)

I also took a look at the door opening and decided that needed to be rebuilt. The top window had an excessive gap, particularly along the front edge, the door latch mechanism had gotten very sloppy, the door had bowed beyond straightening and the facing on the door had begun delaminating pretty badly. I kept the same hinging and latch mechanisms from the original and just built a new frame in place on the plane.

RBACONS

My Feedback: (3)

The rudder and elevator servos (both pull-pull) have already been installed, along with the throttle and mixture servos and the false floor has been fitted. At this time, I think its time to paint the interior of the cabin and then cover the fuselage. In parallel, I'll continue with painting of the wings and tail feathers.

Although Harvey would cringe at a non-yellow cub, I've decided to go with a completely different scheme, partly because there are way too many yellow, green, and silver cubs. I also have paint left over from a previous build that I want to use so I don't collect 3 dozen different half-empty colors of paint.

This is a relatively simply paint scheme and because this is not a competition plane, I'm going to dress up the scheme slightly by going with wider blue areas on the leading edge of the wings, adding blue leading edges to the horizontal stabilizer, and adding the call numbers to the top of the right wing.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I love the color scheme! If you look close mine isn't Cub Yellow either.