That's right! After flying my Airmadillo Kombat 40 until it will fly no more, I am heading to the hobby shop today to get the last remaining supplies for my new 80" wingspan Piper J-3 Cub. This will be by far larger than anything I have flown in the past and unfortunately I wont be able to use my brand new .46AX on it. So, I'm just gonna bite the bullet and buy a new Saito .50GK 4-stroke per the instructions. I cant wait to see this thing take to the sky as my third plane.
1st Plane - Kadet LT40 Trainer (wing came off at 300+ ft.)
2nd Plane - Airmadillo Kombat 40 (13 different crashes until fuseleage broke in half and .46AX was damaged)
3rd Plane - Hanger 9 J-3 Cub (Currently building... I think I need a bigger build area...)

Any thoughts or comments on the J-3? The book says is a great flier and isn't hard to control at all.

I have the 80" hanger 9 J-3 and love it. Currently I am using a Magnum 61 four stroke in it. Plenty of power to get you out of trouble. Just stay on your toes on takeoff and landing and you will be fine. Wind can make flying interesting...do not try any crosswind takeoffs until you are very experienced with this plane. Once the wind catches that big wing it's hard to hold it straight. I generally fly without the struts (lazy), but I may start using them to increase drag. This plane floats, so set up for landing a little farther than normal. A good SLOW idle really helps out with that. Good luck!

Jess

Sweet. I'll do just that. Luckily the field I fly out of allows for landings in any direction, so until I move the the RCRC (Rocket City Flying Club's) 36-18 runway I will not have to worry about X-wind landings.

Sounds great! Good luck with it, and Welcome to RCU!

The 46AX actually produces a little more power than the four stroke 50, so unless you're looking for that sweet four stroke sound, go with the 46.

I have an 81" wingspan J3 Cub powered by a Thunder Tiger .54 four stroke and the power is marginal (but very scale!). Unfortunately, I think an OS 70 four stroke (I have one) would be way too much power, so I'm sticking with the 54.

Just make sure you're acquainted with that left stick or the Cub could be a handful.

Good luck with it, and have fun.
Dennis-

I love my H9 J3 Cub, but I used to hate it. Mine has an OS 46 in it. The first year out with it was very frustrating because I just didn't know how to take it off. Basically, I figured I would just pour the throttle on and blast off like my other planes. Well, that didn't work . Sure, it got off the ground (REAL FAST) climbed about 8 ft, rolled over and crashed. After about 4 of these sessions the whole front end needed rebuilding so I shelved it for a year. I had had it! NOW the best advise I ever got was right here on RCU. Very slowly throttle up, get it rolling but NOT pitching over. I don't use the elevator to keep the tail down, just very gentle, gradual throttle application. When the tail steps us as speed increases I may have to feed in a SLIGHT touch of elevator to keep her level if the tail starts to come up a little too much. A little more throttle, SLIGHT elevator input and she climbs out nice and scale like. Now I don't fly her on windy or even breezy days because as mentioned that presents a whole new set of challenges. Now, getting her down was something so back to the advice I was given. I set a nice slow idle, fly with the struts to create a little more drag, shim the motor mount to create about 2 degrees of down thrust. She now settles into a very nice descent, very easy to land. You'll really like your Cub if you can get it to survive the learning curve. Good advice as I found on RCU sure helps.

Why not get the Saito 56??? Horizon sells the combo for $349, I think...

one of my students bought the H9 cub. He put a saito .56 in it and it flies AWSOME! He actually soloed on the cub and not on his nexstar trainer!!! DO NOT PUT A 2 STROKE IN IT!!!! It will RUIN the plane!!! Trust me, with the .56, doing a 1/4 throttle flyby as slow as it will go about 8' off the deck is awsome!!! A 2 stroke in this plane would be a crime!!!

sean

Yep, a 4 stroke in my J3 would be real nice-at about triple the price of a good 2 stroke up here in Canada. My OS 46 2 stroke with Pits muffler sounds very sweet and has been a great motor in this plane. Hek, I'm even gonna put a super reliable inverted 2 stoke in my new Tiger Moth. I have nothing against 4 strokes except the price and have an OS 52 in my Smith Mini Plane and a Saito 65 in a Fleet Finch. But I think they would still fly great with a good 2 stroke. To each his own , I guess. Oh, and myb J3 Cub seems to get better all the time. I'm trying to figure out how a 2 stroke would RUIN!!! the plane.

The 4 stroke engine sounds much more realistic then the whine of a 2 stroke engine. Theres nothing like a low and slow pass with a thumper sounding nice and sweet, oh yeah!!!

sean