I just bought a GP .40 Cub kit for my birthday 2 weeks ago with floats. I want to clip the wings and occasionally fly with floats. Am I crazy to consider adding flaps to help with flying with floats? This will be my first kit build and I want to not screw it up too bad. I am not concerned too much with scale but I would eventually like it to be a Clipped Super Cub with wheel pants (if there was ever such a thing).
thoughts or advice welcomed..

-Paul

Do it.
The full scale cub had flaps. I fly an ultra sport with quad flaps and love it.

True, but I have yet to find a full scale clipped cub with flaps...
-Paul

Paul-
I have that kit on floats and have flown it for over 10 years just about every 2 weeks. It's a great flying plane. Mine is full wing, no flaps.
That being said, I'd advise against flaps for a float Cub. I can't see why you would need them. Landing speed is certainly not a problem and as for takeoff, it's best to let a float Cub come up to it's flying speed on it's own before you try and lift off. Now with a clipped wing they might come in handy due to the lower wing area. Just remember that trying to force a Cub off the water usually results in a problem.

I don't know how much float fly experience you have but just let me make a couple of comments. Make sure your floats are the right size for the plane. The standard is 75-80% of the length from your prop to the vertical post on the rudder. Shorter floats will give you problems with running straight for takeoff. Slightly longer is ok but you get a lot of extra weight. Make sure to install a water rudder. Make sure you have adequate power...size your engine for the top of the recommended range to compensate for the float weight. And lastly, make sure you have positive incidence between the wing and the floats (that is the wing should be + 1 1/2 degrees relative to the floats).

The GP Cub is a great first build with plenty of tips in the manual. Enjoy the experience.

Augie

I had a GP .40 Cub a number of years ago. It makes a great fun flying airplane with clipped wings. IRC mine had a single servo driving both ailerons but if I were going to do it again I would use a servo for each aileron. I doesn't really need it for aileron authority. With a clipped wing the ailerons cover much of the trailing edge. Although not scale you use mixing in your radio for functional flaps. I can't say that the Cub is likely to need them but that often isn't the point. If you want it, go for it. I enjoyed mine with a .60 four stroke.

Primarily I will be flying off a runway, but our club has float days at the local lake or reservoir that I have not been able to participate in. The float set is a Great Plane ARF sport float kit for .40-.60 I will be powering with a OS .60 2 stroke so i don't think i will have any power issues even with the floats. I know I will never need the flaps from the runway but I thought it may be a good idea to have them with the floats since I am clipping the wings.

How much of the ailerons should I cut back and add to the flaps? I am planning on using the bellcrank from the ailerons to control the flaps and install a servo for each aileron.

Those floats will definitely work and you have enough power with the .61. As far as how much aileron to cut, I don't know. But best of luck.

Set up the floats correctly and you will not need flaps - even with a clipped wing

The J3 Cub doesn't have flaps. The later Super Cub does.

If MinnFlyer says I dont need flaps then I dont need flaps...he's the authority...
But what if i want flaps...?

-paul

If you WANT flaps, then go for it!

Personally I love flaps and wouldn't hesitate to put them on anything

Mike,
How much of the wing should I cut up for the aileron and flap? If left at the stock length after clipping the wing, the aileron covers most of the wing length and doesn't leave much room for flaps.

-Paul

I generally use 1/3 of the aileron for flaps