Does anyone produce a current kit of a Piper Super Cub? I know that there are a couple of ARFs out there. I was hoping that someone offered a kit in the .60-ish size. Thanks.

Lachlan

try Balsa USA or try Sig they have a real nice super cub

I just check Towers great Planes has a 60/90 size cub for 149.00 90" ws

I want a PA-18 Super Cub kit. I have a SIG 1/5 scale J-3 Cub and really like it a lot. I just want a Super Cub to build into a bush plane. Thanks for your help, taildragger01. Anyone else know if there are any kits available?

LM

you might look at Adrian Pages site he has a super cub kit

http://www.adrianpage.com/

It's even electric, but could be converted to glow (4-cycle would be nice).

That would be about perfect! I wonder how hard a glow conversion would be? I have a .91 four stroke that would probably be about right...

Lachlan

Wow, the .91 would be too much!.......more like the OS.52, Saito .50-.56. Unless you are going to enlarge the control surfaces and do 3D! Which isn't so outlandish if you use some carbon fiber strips to beef up certain areas so they don't tear out.

Jeep,
What size Super Cub. BUSA (1/3), Sig 1/5, Horizon, Great Plans/Tower, Dyna Flight and now Dave Patrick (1/4). You say you have the Sig J-3, why not get another and bash it into a PA-18/L-21 Super Cub. The May 1998 issue of RCM has plans (#1251) for a 71" PA-18 with Edo style floats (can be built either way. Flying Scale Models (British magazine) has a 79" (1/5.33) scale plans.
I had taken the RCM plans, enlarged them to 84", bought the wood, wheels (Dubro 1/5 Cub), Robart landing gear, cut out the ribs and half ribs and then Sig came out with their 1/5 J-3. I will use the RCM plans to convert the J-3 to a PA-18. Differences are minor (flaps, one piece wing vs plug in, cowl and some other things). I plan on using servos in each wing for the airlerons and flaps, possibly putting Trexler #11 tires on the Dubro hubs for the big bush tire look (duability question) and maybe putting Horner style wing tips on.
Sources - Cub Crafters (wide body fus, square dash) Dakota Cub Aircraft (droop flaps/airlerons, slotted wing, Horner tips) and Bob Banka for photo paks. Do a search, there are many sources for scale info and model kits and/or plans.
Just decide on the size you want, gather the plans, wood and/or kit/ARF and go for it. If you need links for sources let me know and I'll get them to you. Good Luck

skylarkmk1 The thing that stopped me from doing that is the windshield shape. The Supercub has a squared off top as compared to the J3's more pinched off shape. That requires a different plastic windshield which I don't want to tackle in a scrach-build...molds, ovens and all... If an aftermarket windshield could be found and adapted to the Sig kit that would be a different solution. Reshaping the balsa wing areas to fit a different windshield would not be as hard as you would be working with wood and not plastic.

I was just hoping that someone actually produced a kit of a PA-18. I really want a kit. I am not at the stage where I could build a scale Super Cub from scratch yet. Someday, maybe. Right now I just wanted a kit that I wouldn't have to "bash" into something that I didn't want in the first place- an ugly "sort of" version of a Super Cub. I don't want to buy a $600 ARF, either. I guess I'll just have to wait (maybe a really long time) and build my skills on other models, so that in the future I can scratch build one.

Lachlan

You shouldn't let so small a thing as a windshield stop you. Just get some material and make it yourself. It's the least difficult part of the kitbash. Take the J-3 windshield from the Sig kit and trim the "wing corners" off so you can flatten it out enough to trace a paper pattern, add whatever you need to bring it up to PA-18 specs, and trace it out onto another piece of clear stock. Trial fit the paper pattern until you have it just right. I think you'll find that you can make it flat and then fit it around the front corners of the wings. I did the same thing on my 1/5 cub when I built it as a L-4 (a Sig kit). I trimmed the corners off the windshield and made blocks from balsa to replace them for a more scale, realistic appearance.. Should be able to make the PA-18 mods as well.

Gary, Jeep and Khodges,

Like khodges said, the windsheild is easy. The RCM plan has on the plan the patterns for the windshield, side and top cabin windows. You do not need to make any molds, ovens or such. The directions say the same as khodges, make a paper pattern as a guide, trim it to fit and then cut your plastic (.015 butyrate). DO NOT USE CA, it will frost/fog the plastic. Use RC-56 or something similar. If you start to get a little cracking around the wing area, soften the plastic slightly with your heat gun, go slow, in brief applications of heat, you just want to relieve the stress at that area, not distort any of the windshield. Use a piece(s) of cardboard as a heat shield if neccessary to protect other portions from the heat. If you go to far, you may have to start over, but practice makes perfect (well almost, it took me 3 times before I was satistfied, try #2 would have been ok).

Making the cowl is no big deal except for the nose bowl. Make formers of the inside of the cowl at the rear and just behind the nose bowl and build a little structure to hold these in the proper relation. I used 2 layers of 1/64 ply wrapped around the form with epoxy beteween the layers. The nose bowl was carved from some soft balsa and glued to the front former. A ring former positioned properly inside the cowl makes it easy to attach the cowl to the firewall. An alternate method is to carve a foam cowl and coat it with fiberglass and then dissovle the foam away or use the cowl with foam as a pattern to make a female mold. Making molds for cowls have been covered in magazines and such, so I won't go into it here. My plan is to use a .52-.56 four stroke or maybe the RCV-.58 (the low profile appeals to me).

Also check the outlines of the rudder and stabilizer, they are a little different. Some fullscale J-3's converted into areobatic air planes have had Supercub cowls installed in place of the J-3 cowl, wings clipped, horner style wing tips, fusalage shortened, bungee changed to shock absorbers or ridgid landing gear etcetera. Find a plane to model and stick with it.

Another source of info, is the video, Bush Pilots of Alaska, distributed by KAKM Video. I found it in the local PBS store. It has Supercubs and Beavers in action in the bush.

Guys,

Just for your info. Page 107 of the same May 1998, RCM, has a PA-18 (L-21) full page "5" view with cross sections (courtesy of 3 modelar). This version has the squared rear windows (not the L-4) instead of the droopy "D" style that are more common. The cowl also has a center line "bump" along the top that most cowls do not have. This "5" view also shows the location of inspection ports, drains, wire exits and some other details. Enlarge this plan and you may be able to build your own Supercub (construction style is up to you). I can not say that this 3 view is 100% accurate, but it is one of the few around with any detail. A Supercub similar to the "5" view is featured in the video "Bush Pilots of Alaska".

To convert one of my 80" Super Cub kits to glow:

(1) Glue a piece of 1/8 aircaft ply to the inside of the stock firewall.

(2)Attach a .46 2 stroke to a .70 4 stroke to the firewall using a plastic engine mount.

(3) Install a throttle servo in the pre-cut opening in the servo tray.

(4)Install a 10 to 12 oz fuel tank on the "battery tray".

(5) Go flying.

Adrian