Going tomorrow to get 2 cubs they both have engines but not sure about radio, has a box to look through. One has a 7ft wingspan and a OS SP 120 engine. The other has a OS 70. They have been sitting in a shop closed for several yrs. motors spin free so not locked up. What should I look for, at the price I can't pass them up!! Any thing to look for would be appreciated.

It's hard to say without knowing what you're paying.

Defenitely make sure they have wings lol.

if they have radio gear make sure you cycle and test the battery capacities or simply replace.

dont use old rubber bands for the wings if that's how they fix.

take fuel, glow plug etc and see if you can start the engines.

The 120 must be a good sized plane so make sure you have the experience to fly it and do so in a safe place. With you asking the initial question it may be that you lack the experience to setup and fly these planes. You may have plans for a trainer first but worth mentioning. These are decent sizes planes that won't be too forgiving on a poor landing.

all the best with your purchases though bud. Keep us posted.

Asking price is $100 ea. I was planning on a trainer I've had exp in planes but it's been yrs since I done it. I thought for $100 I'd get 2 of them and $75 more get a box of parts and save and then get a trainer. A guy at the local hobby store has seen the planes and said they could go for 600 to 1000 in parts on eBay. This guy is not interested in them and inherited them so that's why they are cheap.

The fact that the LHS gentleman has seen the airplanes and is speaking in terms of what you could get for them parting them out is pretty telling. From that alone I suspect that the airframes are pretty rough and may require much more effort to get airworthy than you may think. As far as them being worth large sums on E bay well I have my doubts about that.

At a hundred bucks a pop, sure they are definitely worth that. But be careful you may want to return to you orginal plan for a trainer if you want to get started flying and these ships are very likely 'projects' and you know what that can mean.

One last point and I have to say it. Cubs are very poor trainers if you need a trainer.

John

I'd agree with John that Cubs aren;t the best for training even though they look similar to a trainer. They seem to have more volatile flight characteristics than a trainer.

If hte guy in the local hobby shop has seen then and he thinks they are worth so much then I'm surprised he didn't try to buy them. As for the large figures you quoted I think he is in dreamland. In the UK a cub with a 120 engine may fetch around £200 - 250 ($380 - $450) but no more and thats on a good day and in top condition.

As I said earlier its hard to give advice without seeing the planes as we can't be sure of what you intend to buy.

Are you able to post any pictures on here?

It may be worth considering selling one of them to fund a trainer purchase. If they are worth so much more then take a profit and buy a plane that you need.

If you can post any pics of the external and internal views it would help massively.

I must caution used airplanes and beginers are a bad combo. A beginner and a trainer or a beginner with an experienced friend would be good. As for Cubs. They can fly very nice but have some quirks if you will. They can be a problem on the ground and have some flight aspects that can be problematic to a beginner. with that though they can be good planes when set up properly. I preach to students all the time that most problems and most learning on models is in the pits. A good set-up flys great and a bad setup wont fly long if at all. In flying as with life discretion is the better part of valor. Or as I have seen take off is optional but landing is mandatory.

How many years have these planes been left sitting? If it's more than 2-3, don't expect any of the radio gear to be any good. Corrosion and thermal cycling take their toll pretty quickly. If the radio gear is analog and/or 72mhz, it's not worth anything anyway even if it does work. Don't expect any of the batteries to be any good. NiCds can last around 5 years if they are cycled regularly and stored properly, but that's pushing it. Just sitting in a shed I wouldn't trust 2 year old ones. Don't expect switches to be any good, and do some very thorough testing on the servos.
As for the airframes, look for covering that has come unstuck or is getting brittle, glue joints that have deteriorated, rusted hardware, stains that have set in and won't come clean, hangar rash, and previous damage. It doesn't take much to make an airframe unflyable, and once you start getting into fixing them the cost can skyrocket quickly. Failing glue joints in particular are bad, since if you can find one chances are the rest of the airframe is about to fall apart and won't be fixable. And if the covering isn't serviceable, figure how many rolls of covering you'll have to buy and then how much of your time will go into the restoration project.
Engines tolerate storage better than most other things. They can get gummy from congealed castor oil, but that's not a bad thing. The castor varnish has been protecting the metal and can be cleaned out, giving you a good running engine. Look for corrosion anywhere on the engine, especially on the aluminum. If the engines turn over, feel for the compression. If he'll let you pull the heads, check for scored cylinders.

So overall, you're not going to get two good airplanes for $200. You have the potential to get two good airplanes for $200 plus new batteries and switches, new radio gear, maybe new servos, a fair amount of labor on your part, and some odds and ends. You also have the potential to get a couple of worn out engines for $200 and a big trip to the dumpster. The difference is in the details.

Beginners are always looking for the next deal and most cannot tell what is a deal and what isn't. If you buy it on your own you may very well end up with unusable paper weights. Can you take someone experienced with you to look these over? I certainly would not let anyone disassemble anything I had for sale so I think you might count that one out. Has he tried to get rid of this stuff to others? If so why haven't the experienced modelers snapped this bargoon up. I always caution beginners buying used stuff to be extremely cautious.

Dennis

When I'm looking at a lot of beater plane, I make my offer based on what the engines and accessories are worth along with about 1/3 of the servos' new price and what I think the radios will bring on Ebay. I basically don't pay anything for old airframes because most of the time they need too much work. If they are free I can evaluate them and figure out if it's worthwhile to fix them, and if they were free it usually is.

If your a beginner I would suggest you build a new ARF plane and then you'll have a greater understanding of how the plane works by the time it's ready to fly. There's no greater feeling than flying a plane you put together yourself.

Not trying to pick a fight or anything but an ARF is something you buy and assemble the prefabricated parts, not something you would actually put together since pretty much all of the building is already done. If you want to put an airplane together, buy a kit instead

I would never ever suggest to a beginner to even go near a kit. I know an ARF isn't building a plane from scratch but it's plenty for a beginner to tackle. By the time he get's an ARF airworthy he'll have a good understanding of what goes into a plane and it's setup.

Okay, I see where you're coming from. I tend to lean the other way as many of the early ARFs that came out were garbage, some just hot-glued and covered. I would rather have a beginner build their own trainer WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF AN EXPERIENCED BUILDER. There is a lot that can be learned by building a good kit or from plans(that would be a second or third plane). Learning how to install pushrods, bracing for landing gear or wing saddles are things you can't readily learn from an ARF as that's usually done for you. Give me someone that's willing to do some work, listen and learn as well as a Sig Kadet MKII or LT kit and I can almost bet the house that the plane will fly when done. Would I give a beginner a Senior or Seniorita? Not a chance on that but again, that's not the point. The point is to give the beginner a plane that will fly and the knowledge of how it's built and how to go about fixing it if needed

I agree with Hydro, my ever first kit and only built was a Zig Fazzer with the assistance of a mate who is great at building WW1 planes I could of not done it with out his help thanx Pete lol