little question for all you cub flyers out there. Is the Graupner J-3 piper cub a good starting plane if i have an instructor. I know a trainer would be better, but i really don't want to spend the money on a trainer and then buy another plane.

thanks

wade

Generally, scale planes aren't reccomeneded for novice pilots. Some say teh cub is an exception, because ,well, it's a cub!! Best bet is to get teh trainer, learn on that, and plan to purchace teh cub later on..

Ideally, you won't just have one plane!!

A saying in the hobby: "IT's not IF it crashes, but WHEN!"

Most pilots have at least one flying plane, with another either in repairs, or being built..

Actually, the full scale piper cub is a good trainer because it isn't really all that easy to fly. It is a low powered tail dragger that will still whip around and bite you if you get complacent. It's a good trainer because it forces the full size pilot to fly. Most Cub models make poor model trainers because they are not as stable as a purpose designed RC trainer. Gets frustrating on the student when the model is always ground looping.

MTC
MrT

Keep in mind that (model) scale planes are harder to fly than full scale ones. Take a 1/4 scale cub. The overall size of the plane is 1/4 the size of the full scale, but the controll surfaces are actually 1/16th the AREA of the full scale ones. If you follow this, you'll see that the scale plane has less controll surface relative to it's overall size, and therefore is less stable. Also, a Cub is a plane that requires you to fly it with ruder all the time, and to fly it from the moment it starts to taxi, untill the wheels stop. A trainer is designed to let you learn how to fly RC, as it takes off and lands slow, is stable in the air and is very forgiving. That's what you want in a plane to learn on. Plus, by the time you've soloed and start flying on your own, that little trainer will look like you kicked it up and down the flightline with baseball spikes, due to all of the repairs you'll likely make to it as you learn. Do you want to have your Cub looking like that?

My advice is for you to buy the Cub, and buy a trainer too. Learn to fly the trainer until you're good at all of the skills needed to fly the Cub. Since you will have a specific goal in mind, you and your instructor can work on the differient skills you'll need to fly the Cub well, like coordinated turns, slow flight, etc. You'll enjoy that Cub much more in the air than in the trash bin.

Besides ground looping the CUB has no bad tendencies when it comes to flying.....on the contrary its docile and very forgiving on the landings. With its wingspan and the large wing area anyone can pretty much land a CUB in a day where a regular trainer would take much longer. A little practice during taxi runs would help anyone be prepared for ground looping.

Wade,
The one thing that I think people are missing here is the size. Isn't the Graupner Cub a small electric? I think it's similar to the GWS Cub in that it's a small, light weight, electric park flyer with a foam wing. (Around 30" wingspan.)

If I'm correct in my assumption, then this will not make a good plane to take to an instructor. It is much too light and will not fly in any wind over about 4 MPH. This means that the number of days available to you for learning are extremely limited. [:@]
Dennis-

OOPS, didnt realize the size of the puppy.........in that case I have to agree with Dennis. (Foot in mouth syndrome)

sorry i didn't tell you if it was the gas or eletric one. im talking about the glow powered piper cub by Graupner. sorry about the confusion. Thanks for all the responces. still a bit uncertain. You think it woudl be ok if I used the buddy box thing for it?

thanks again

wade

Well, although I'm glad it's not the small electric, a Cub generally isn't a great plane to start with. They can be extremely sensitive to when taking off (very prone to ground looping), almost always require coordinated rudder when turning, and can often require opposite aileron in turns.

That being said, people HAVE learned on Cubs, so.... Ultimately, the choice is your's. (I would talk to your future instructor about it first, many may not be willing to teach you with one.)

Good luck,
Dennis-

Do they tend to spiral into the turn if not held off with a bit of aileron?

Jim,
My (81" ) Cub requires using right rudder for a right turn, but it also requires adding a little left aileron in that same right turn. And yes, trying a turn without opposite aileron results in a turn that quickly tightens into a spin. (A lot "roll coupling" on the rudder.) All of this is true whether right or left by the way.

It's the only Cub I've flown, so can't comment on others, but I let a friend at the field fly it and he said, "flys like a Cub".) He's had a few, included 1/4 and 1/3 scale, so....
Dennis-

I have the Hanger 9 100" Super Cub with a G23 engine. Though it lands and flys pretty nicely, it isn't a trainer. There aren't many bad tendencies except for if you accelerate too quickly on taxi it will ground loop in a heartbeat. Also, it isn't too forgiving is you try to yank it off the ground too quickly and you don't have enough speed [sm=rolleyes.gif]. They are fun planes to fly but as most of the guys have said here, you need to worry about three things when flying

1) Rudder on take off
2) Rudder in turns
3) Rudder on both take off and turns

Go with the trainer and buy a cub later. You will have more fun in the long run.

Good Luck

Lee