RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Something else I did, just to be different, and because I didn't like the set up.
Instead of the wheel collars and epoxy route listed in the manual to attach the two elevator control rods together, I put a Z bend on the left rod and used a crimp connector and silver solder to hold the rods together. There was a method to my madness. The right rod falls right in line with the servo arm, the left doesn't, so in pinching the rods together with the collars it would cause both to bind on the tubes as they were connected to the servo arm. By putting a Z bend in the left rod I was able to make it slide with little drag and line up with the right rod's direction of travel. The rods are strong enough that the Z bend won't affect it, and now there is less drag for the servo to overcome. Every little bit helps when making a servo work.
Oh and I did it outside the bird, after marking the spots on the rods for the connection. Once it was soldered, it was just a matter of slipping the rods in the tubes from the cockpit side and sliding them into place.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

I also did not like the wheel colars as they were too big and the rods would move, so I replace them with smaller colar and use two of them and secure with JB weld, to avoid any bend I simply placed the servo after conecting the rod to it and it worked really good .
For the controller I have the 35 in the cowling and I open the radiator hole so the controller has a perfect airflow so heating is not a factor.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

I was asked to show details of my landing gear bungee.


Well here it is ,I simply use medium size piano wire, one end has a bend shape like a hook and goes around the end of the landing gear and the other end is also a double bend and goes under the plastic gear hold. Under the plastic is a smaller bend so it locks in the plastic.
The bungee cover is simply black foam rubber that used to be little bumpers from a small tug boat I had I simply slice them and made a cut to slip the piano wire then I applied CA and press the slice together and bingo its a working bungee.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Thanks folks, all neat ideas. I do have a Castle 45 that I was planning on using, but had been wondering about the need to go larger.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

xrossbow,

I have Hitec 225 in this plane and in the Ultrastick 25. Both have CC Pheonix 60 controllers. The servos fit perfectly and I have never had any servo issues or the need for a UBEC or separate pack on these.

I would have to check the specs again, but I think the 60 and 45 are rated the same as far as how many servos they will handle.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

hey greg
can you recommend any other batteries other than what it says.
the lipo is mega expensive and i cant seen to hold of the eflite 1 in the uk

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

I would recommend to follow Greg's configuration. The extra security of the second battery is valuable at my point of view. If your ESC fries or water get in or whatever else happens, you still have control of the plane direction...

This Eflight 40 AMP ESC problem happened to me and I couldn't do a thing but to watch the plane drop from the sky. Could be dangerous too.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Thanks P51 and Luc,

The Castle 45 is rated for 4 servos.

Luc, when you had your failure, were you flying with floats? It doesn't get abnormally hot where you are does it?

The local LHS's don't have the Hitec 225's or the JR MN48 servos, so does anyone have some online stores or mail order that they would recommend from personal experience? Or not recommend from personal expedrience?

Thanks........

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

On mine I used the Hitec HS-81 Micro Servos at 36 oz of torque at 4.8 volt, they work very well.

Paul

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

I was indeed. Axi 2808 motor, TP4200 MHA Lipo on a Multiplex Magister, a 5 pounds birds that I modified in order to put fiberglass floats on it. Weather was normal, about 75 degrees.

The first couple of flights were successfull but the third time, due to the extra power needed at take-off and the weight of the plane, the ESC fried while the plane was flying at about 400 feet over a public lake. There were many people around the lake watching it.

The plane went down like a rocket. Crashed nose down at about 20 feet of a couple of young parents sitting with their baby. Thank god everyone was vigilant.

When I found the plane I couldn't care less about the wreck, I just thanked whatever god saved me from what could have become a tragic event.

On the casualty side the Lipo battery was doomed, completely crushed. The servos and Axi Motor were fine though. As for the kit, it was a total loss including the crushed floats.

This plane was gliding very well, with a separate battery to power the servos I could have been able to land.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Hello
Novice question here. I'm confused.. But that is nothing new :eek:

I am about to purchase one of these planes, and have been reviewing this thread. I am going to use the recommended setup.. And no floats for now....

The confusion is

Important Note

We have found, during continued flight testing, the possibility of a rx/servo current overload to the BEC in the speed control, causing the motor and radio to shut down in flight. This has typically happened on extreme high temperature days with continuous extreme flight control inputs. Most speed controls on the market today are designed for use with 4 sub-micro servos with relatively low current draw, like the E-flite S75. The newer sub-micro digital servos, as well as most micro and mini servos, have a higher current draw and can cause a BEC to shut down due to high temperatures. In order to provide the most reliable product, E-flite recommends the use of a separate BEC (like the Ultimate BEC), or receiver pack and switch using the following items to ensure trouble-free operation:

(1) Expert 720mAh Ni-MH 4.8V receiver battery (EXRB100)

(2) Expert Standard Switch (EXRA050)

Use these items to power the receiver and servos after disabling the BEC on the ESC (by following the instructions included with the ESC).

E-flite does NOT recommend using the speed controller’s BEC in the applications described above.

----------------
So use the UBEC or the above 2 items
What are the advantages/disadvantages of either system???
Im relatively new to this hobby and like everybody would like not to see a crash on such a nice plane.
----------------
Also the UBEC will help save the plane if there is a lock up am I thinking correctly... It also uses some of the MAIN batt as its power source...
I do not need a secondary batt to power the UBEC...

Just attach it in conjuction with the circuit not in line with the circuit, between the main batt and esc??

See. confusion galore...

tnx agn..

RCJacq

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

For myself no problem so far and no heat problem on Batt or Controller, I fly the cub nice and scale and do lots of touch and goes a bit of mild aerobatics and it performs very well.

I have the Power 25 E-Flite outrunner, the Phoenix 35 amp ESC and TP2100 LiPo and servos HS-81 Hitec and prop APC E 12x6

So if you intend to push the cub to the extream flight aerobatic flying mostly at full power or overloading with a larger prop well then better have a separate battery pack.

Paul

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

jbederok,

The reason they added the note about using the BEC is that the H-9 speed controller is not up to the task of handling the servo load. I have not had this problem with the Castle Creations controller I used.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Tnx for the replies..

I would be purchasing the recommended items e-flight motor and e-flight esc

********
PaulG-RC
So you are flying with just 1 2100 or 2 ganged together.. If only 1 then CG and power ok??
I sure would like to do that as I could reuse the 2100's and not have to get into the bigger battery..
and
If I intend to do only scale manuevers and resonable duration then UBEC should not be needed?

*******
P51-B
I use CC in all my other e-planes. Thats gud to know.. So you also just fly it with out an extra BEC..

tnx again

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

I use the same setup on ultrastick 25E, which I have been putting a lot of flights on using all the flight surfaces. No issues yet.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

I can say with certainty, there is no problem with using the BEC function of a CC 45 ESC. Mine powers 4 JR mini servos, I've had over 25 flights (90% on floats), even on 90° days without a problem.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Gents,

In this beautiful hobby of ours, especially with electric planes, my moto is "follow a proven configuration and stick to it" - others have crashed for you to benefit from their experiences...

the rest is personal risk management...

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

RC Jack
Yes I fly with only 1 2100 TP and if you saw my previous post and pictures, My ESC is in the cowling and I opened up the radiator hole for better cooling ,I also have the 2 servos more foward and I also added 60 grams of lead in the cowling and I fly with my DPR, still 3 oz less then its suppose to be.
Fly's extreamly well

Paul

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Hey Charley, Can you further explain the spacers for the floats to increase the AoA? How much of an increase do you think is required? Thx.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

All I know has been learned by rigging various models. If you rig a model with a flat-bottom wing so that the floats are at zero to the wing, it will ROW after you apply lots of UP elevator (yank it off). If you rerig it to a couple of degrees of positive incidence - floats to wing - it will get off on its own, with a bit of up-trim. On a symmetrical airfoil wing, you need a positive AoA in the wing-to-the-model to start with. So, you need a bit more incidence between the wing and floats.

I put the spacers in to be sure and it worked. Could be, less incidence would have been OK too. You have to experiment to get it optimum.

CR

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Gents, I'm really enjoying the EFlite Cub, and now have about 10 flights on her. This is the largest plane that I've ever built/flown so I guess I'm a little hard on the landings, judging by the bent condition of the wire landing gear. Anyone have this problem? Should I upgrade to pneumatic tires to absorb some of the load? I'll be straightening the landing gear frame today but I suspect that they will just be more prone to bending again. I'm sure that I will get the touch as I fly her more, but ... Thanks!

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

In my previous post here is what I did to add some scale touch and help the landing gear bending problem.


Well here it is ,I simply use medium size piano wire, one end has a bend shape like a hook and goes around the end of the landing gear and the other end is also a double bend and goes under the plastic gear hold. Under the plastic is a smaller bend so it locks in the plastic.
The bungee cover is simply black foam rubber that used to be little bumpers from a small tug boat I had I simply slice them and made a cut to slip the piano wire then I applied CA and press the slice together and bingo its a working bungee.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply. I did see your earlier post, but assumed that the work was cosmetic ... missing your "bingo its a working bungee" comment. I will try to implement your upgrade this weekend. Sure looks nice. We were thinking some kind of elastic band rig, but since this is a scale bird (and not a Piper TriPacer) let's keep it looking that way. I always learn something from your posts. I'm also going to try to add some of Charley's toe-in on the gear, and see what the LHS has on the rack for bigger tires. Regards!

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

Gents,

A few pictures to show upgrades. First, a new pilot.

RE: E-flite J-3 Cub 25 ARF
 

I guess that my earlier question about the landing techniques was answered! This is how I fixed mine. I know it doesn't look scale but it is very solid.

After looking at the local hardware store, I found those springs. Had to adjust the lenght and used tie-wraps to hook them. Finally I used black and yellow paint for finish. Will need to do a second pass with the black.

Will report on landings later when the weather allows me to fly!