I know I'm going to take a little spanking from the purists out there, but has anyone built their cub with tricycle gear to give it more of a TriPacer look?


Seems like all you would have to do is move the main gear back to a little behind the main spar and add a nose wheel assembly to the fire wall but I'd like to get input from someone who has actually done it before I go it alone.

You could do the conversion without too much trouble.

The PA-22 Pacer is not a Cub with a nose gear. The PA-20/PA-22 were side by side seating and the whole fuselage is different from a J-3. You could add the nose gear and a different cowling and get a stand-off scale Tri-Pacer.
Anthony

Paul,

Chances that someone has already done what you are planning and that will come in here and explain what they did are slim.

You can do it by yourself and have fun doing it.

You should end up with about 15 to 20% of the "ready to fly" weight on the nose wheel.

You will have to follow a specific procedure to achieve that.

If you need help on such a procedure , ask and we will help.

Enjoy,

Zor

There were a few J-3 cubs that came out of the factory with tri-gear. I can't find a picture, but they are listed in the US Civil Aircraft series of books bu joseph Juptner. If you can find them, those books are a great reference. They have all the type certificates listed in numerical order with pictures and technical information from the aircraft certification.

I'll try and locate the book you mentioned. I'm not trying to really scale this thing out. I just have never liked flying tail draggers and have always liked they way trik gear look.

On determining the nose wheel weight - I'm guessing the RTR weight on this will be around 8 pounds or so. I was thinking I would move the main gear around until I see about 1.5 pounds on the nose using a digital scale. Or do you have better idea.

I was considering building the clipped wing version but was not sure. I will be using electric power and I usually finish my planes with glass cloth and paint. There's not alot of increased weight when I do this but I am thinking between the extra weight of the nose wheel, the batteries and the finish I may stay with the full wing. I have never been that great of a pilot and may need to keep the wing loading down just to be safe.

Thanks for ya'lls help.

Paul M,

1.5 lbs on nose wheele with 3.25 on each main gear sound good with a total weight of about 8 lbs.

You know of course that you may have to reinforce the fuselage structure where you are moving the main gears.

No doubt you also know that the CG should remain close to where it was with the tail dragger configuration.

Have fun.

Zor

Balance will be the same, 28-32% MAC.
I am interested to see how your project works out.
Anthony

Here is a full scale one for reference. Just seems wrong !! lol !!!

I like the fact that they left the tail wheel on. Well now you can build a scale tri Cub. I do think that is the ugliest Cub I have seen

Yes it does look a little strange LOL. Looks like the mains are too far forward in that pic but could be the angle of the photo. I won;t be adding the the tail wheel

I was thinking I'd just move the landing gear doubler aft a bit and maybe lay a little carbon fiber over it just in case.

Yes I know about the CG - I am thinking (hoping) that the nose gear will offset the small change in CG that is created by moving the mains back.

I have been looking at the small Robart robo struts. Would be fine on the nose gear but since it is a high wing I don;t see how they could be used on the mains. Probably need to stay with the cub style mains although I really don;t like the way they look.

Keep in mind, I just happen to have this plane and I am trying to change it to suit my taste so it may look a little like blasphemy before I'm done LOL.

My garage is freezing right now so will be awhile before I start this but I'll start a build thread when it get's off the J3 beaten path.

Thanks to all of you for taking time out to help

I also like thefact that they left the tail wheel on.
The main gear reversal might not leave much weight on the nose wheel.

So ___while being ugly it might be intelligent.

Hee! ... Hee!

Zor

Found a couple more, HAHAHA!!!!

Zor,
I think the correct balance will take precidence over nose gear weight. It may be a bit bouncy on the nose gear but aerodynamics will take priority. You could move the main gear back another inch to help gain nose weight if desired.
A Cub is a thing of beauty even if it is an ugly Cub.
Anthony

As I was looking for full scale pics of tri gear J-3's I was reminded that I did the same thing many years ago. We have a paved flying site that is unkind to small taildraggers in rookie hands. The model was an EZ Super Cub 25 ARF that I put a nose wheel on and used stamped aluminum gear for the mains. Sort of a long wing Tri Pacer. Still looks wrong, but worked good as I remember.

That's the Ugliest J3 I have ever seen..........................I love it.
I used to work for Cub Crafters in the Late eighties. I saw alot of cubs but have never seen anything like this.

Hello Anthony,

I am fully with you Anthony.
The nose gear addition compensate partly for the main gears to be further back.

The correct balance certainly takes precedence.
I still think it is not difficult to get a satisfactory weight on the nose wheel and still keep proper balance.

It can only be done with experimental tests which is why I wrote that a specifc method should be used to achieve it.

Many Cub fliers wish to fly their model in an unrealistic manner and complaint about lack of response.
Some have oversize tail surfaces to achieve that goal. (compared to scale).

A J3 is not exactly an aerobatic machine (65 HP). Neither is a Super Cub (150 HP).

I have a book about Cubs that is most interesting.

Zor

I took a Hanger 9 J3 ARF and made it convertable from convential gear to tri gear. I made the nose wheel steerable on the model.

On the full size the main gear is simply turned around and the same mounting is used on the fuselage. The nose wheel on the full size is not steerable. There is a unit hanging up on the wall at Lock Haven in the Piper museum. The tail wheel remains on the plane. With only the rear seat occupied the plane sits down on the tail wheel.

I own a fullsize J3, but it is not tri geared and if it had been I would have removed it.

Hello Dan,

You pretty well confirmed my suspicions.

73 de VE3??? also VA3??

I forgot to mention that conversion from nose wheel to tail wheel takes about 15 minutes. Remove the nose wheel strut and replace it with a short piece of 5/32 wire to keep the steering stuff in place. Remove and turn around the main gear.

Take proof of the nose wheel version with you to the field because there are going to be some bets placed and you could get a lunch out of it.

I did a CG Cub on tri gear about 20 years ago. I had a small (for the time) Sony 8mm video camera that I wanted a platform for, so I built a full-length wing and added cf strips top and bottom to the spar. Substituted window glass for the windshield, OS 61SF for power, camera fully inside the fuse and looking right thru the prop arc like the pilot would....

At the time, I worked as a retail sales manager of a local consumer electronics store. We had a wall of big screens, all fed from a rack of video players. I'd pop the tape in there and it would play on all the big screens. People would lean in the turns so far they'd sometimes loose their balance....