Maiden Flight of GP Cub with GP floats
Just thought I would share some information on my maiden float flight of this clipped wing cub (40 size). The floats are the 40 size gp floats that I modified with a water servo in each float. In these pictures, you can see the y harnes exposed behind the wing as I have not made a permanent solution for the wiring just yet.
The cub/floats was my winter project last year, and I have been flying the cub on land most of the summer with a 55 os ax. When I finally installed the floats, I was surprised how much lead I had to add (see pictures) in order to barely get the plane nose heavy. In the gp float kit, the instructions had me install 1.5 ounces inside each float, but in addition to this, I had to add 3 additional ounces on each float, mounting them to the exterior of the floats which I really did not like. Obviously, the two servos in the middle/rear of the floats had something to do with this. Needless to say, this whole kit was a little heavy and I was a little nervous on my maiden flight.
With high rates on the rudder/water rudders, the water handling was more than I could ask for and I can turn the plan on a dime. Upon take off, once it planned up on the floats (with low rates on the rudder), it tracked straight but took a lot of river before it finally lifted off. I was pleased how straight it tracked and the take off was more scale like than at the field. My first landing was rough as I'm used to floating this plane in at the field, but no harm was done and it just bounced off the water as I stalled it too soon. My second flight was better, I came in faster and was able to flare the landing a bit.
When flying the plane, I noticed once I was up I was probably a little more than a quarter throttle for a comfortable maiden voyage, but with the weight of these floats I doubt I'll be doing any serious aerobatics. I guess its just more of a scale looking project that looks really sweet on the water......Hutch....