michaelgantt

I bought this trainer last summer at a yard sale. $50 complete. never flown, had been "assembled" by the person that i bought it from. i took it home, went over it and tightened pretty much everything on the plane, glued some things better, ran the MDS .40 engine and swapped to a new receiver. she flew well, of course... its a trainer!!! i still have my original Hobbico SuperStar trainer from 1998, so i really had not use for this bird. i robbed a few parts off it here and there and it was grounded
i decided to redo it, to gain some use out of it, and to also gain experience in building and modifying, since my only experience is a kit built Sig Somethin Extra.
I cut the wing tips off, and added a balsa block, in the process of sanding it down to shape. going for a flat bottom, with rounded top and sides. planning on cutting some of the windows out and adding clear plastic vs the blacked out "windows" it came with. going to convert to a tail dragger, with oversize wheels/tires at 4.5 inch from Dubro. wing will be bolt on vs rubber bands, adding flaps as well for shorter takeoff and landing. covering will be Ultracote; cream, red and orange. all dull colors, not a bright vibrant color.
i may change the shape of the stabilizers, not sure yet. Keeping the MDS .40, its a little picky on tune, but runs strong for a 40. i was swinging an 11x5 prop with it and it flew well like that, slow flying, pulled well, with good slow down on approach.

flaps will be 30% of the original aileron length, which were full length. I'll add some width to both flaps for more effect, and ailerons to compensate for the lost surfaces with the ailerons being cut. going with Hitec HS-85MG mini servos in the wing, one for each aileron and flap. keeping the old JR servos for the rest, will run a 2200 MAH LIFE battery, and a Spektrum 6 channel RX.

michaelgantt

progress in progress
main wing set, bolt on modification. relocated main gear with reinforcements, waiting on servos to make servo trays for main wing. almost ready to cover!! Ordered a FPV camera, TX and goggles. i fly from home most days, and some of my family will get a kick out of FPV. this project is wrapping up, and the 1/5 scale J3 Cub can get finished. it was started around 1994-1998.

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

Nice work! It's always satisfying bring a model back to a usable condition.

michaelgantt

Yes it is, cheaper than all new too.

Ready to cover. decided not to fool with cutting out windows. was worried about structure support for the wing, plus i want to get started on the 1/5 Chipmunk build so i am wrapping this project up. servo trays added for ailerons and flaps. spent a few minutes this morning tracing out the color scheme. i have Ultrakote Dark Yellow, Deep Red, and Cream. going for an understated look, nothing flashy and vibrant looking. I went with Cream because i did not want a sharp, bright White color. I hope it turns out, hard to tell looking at the rolls on the workbench.

michaelgantt

i decided to stuff an O.S. 91 four stroke in this bird, so this morning i measured the thrust angles and cut the firewall out. marked the fuselage where the firewall needs to go. tomorrow I'll cut out a new firewall
I didn't want the engine sticking way out the nose, plus this engine weighs 7 ounces more than the 40 that came out of it, so shifting weight rearward will help balance things out.
this sets me back on finishing, but if it isn't done right, why do it?

michaelgantt

firewall was measured for thrust angles, and then cut out. new firewall is laminated, needs final sand to fit. covered the bottom of both main wings, and covered the top of one, thinking about a sunray scheme in red on top of the yellow. bottom is staying solid cream, may add red to the wing tips. waiting to cover the fuselage until i get the engine sorted out. might build up some cowling around it, but either way its still going to look like a flat sided trainer

scottrc

Nice progress, it will be interesting to see how the .91 will fit and work in it.

michaelgantt

not sure on work, but fitment is like stuffing a Big Block in a Vega. firewall is 1 3/8 inch further back, and can move my 9 ounce battery as much as 14 inches rearward from stock location if needed. i bought a 14 and 15 inch prop to start with. it looks like a massive prop compared to the 10 and 11 inch props i used on it before the teardown. I am interested to see how well it works. if i am not happy, I'll put a little smaller engine in it and use this 91 on something else

michaelgantt

I was going to reuse the old JR servos, but thought about the fact i was swapping from a 4.8 to a 6.6 v battery, didn't think those old 4.8v servo's would do well. at lest, i was not going to risk my plane over three servos. still used HS82MG in the wing, and figured since they had the same torque as the larger JR, i went with the HS82MG's for the rest of the servos as well. same torque, half the weight as the old servos. messed up and ordered 6 inch Dubro wheels, way too big. ordered 4 inch, too small.... 5 inch is perfect. I'll use the 4's on the Cub, and save the 6's for later, sending back wasn't a good idea with half the money going to return shipping. rather save the for something else
FPV camera and goggles came in, so now a friend or family member can get a birds eye view as i fly. will make dive bombing the donkey much more fun. KIDDING!!!

michaelgantt

wing is finished. don't mind the gap on the control surfaces, these pics were taken before the hinges were glued in place. should get the fuselage covered soon. firewall was installed, servo tray was modified for the Hitec HS82MG Mini servo's. they have the same torque as the ones i took out, with half the weight. and they can handle the LIFE battery too.. once the engine is bolted in, i'll get a rough balance, won't be long, and she will see the sky again. and this time won't look so much like a trainer lol. those 5 inch tires should do well on some of the fields i fly from

michaelgantt

fuselage is finished, need to run the control rods, mount the engine, balance the plane. its getting close... digging the 5 inch Dubro's for sure. she's got plenty of ground clearance for the 14-15 inch prop. ready to finish this, get my basement organized and dive into the Chipmunk build!! probably be doing a Sig Citabria kit along side it as well.

michaelgantt

finished the Bush Plane this weekend and had the Re-Maiden flight Sunday morning. she flies like a trainer still, with the .91 engine swinging a 14 inch prop, it take off before i can roll to full throttle, about 6 feet! cruises around on less than 1/4 throttle. its too much engine, of course. when i have an airframe that can put this engine to good use, i'll swap it out of this bird for something milder. I have what i wanted, a pretty bird that i am not attached to, and something that can handle my cow pasture runway, with those 6 inch Dubro tires. tail wheel is not attached to rudder yet, and aside from taxi, i do not need it on take off, the tail leaves the ground so fast, i can steer with the rudder within a foot or two on takeoff. one thing, she does not want to land, just floats along at idle, i find i have to do a slow and low turn on approach to line up with my runway, kick the rudder all the way and slide it down to the grass.