Have a chance to pick up an Aircore military Cub, cheap.
Made out of corrugated plastic sheeting and uses contact cement for construction. Ugly as homemade sin, but might make a knockaround trainer?
Anybody built and/or flown one?

I thought that expression was "Ugly as homemade soap".

In either case, they ARE.

But it WOULD make a good knock-around.

How 'bout "mud fence" ugly...

Question remains, do they fly reasonably well enough to be a good trainer?

They are a heavy plane. I used a us aircore knighthawk as a trainer. It didn't glide very well. I used a .46 fx in mine, which was a good choice. They do need a powerful engine. But overall I learned to fly with it. And it survived several crashes. One crash it survived was hitting a fence post. All it did to the plane was strip a throttle servo and rip the engine out of the plane. But 15 minutes later the plane was back in the air. It is now 6 years old and still in flyable condition. They are a good knock around plane... literally.



Scott

That must be old! They've discontinued everything but the trainer and the Colt. The Knighthawk was essentially the same plane as the trainer, and it was discontinued a couple of years ago.

I've built and flown the trainer, and IMHO, it is the most damage-proof plane in existance, and I assume your cub would be too. But I can't say anything about how it flies.

I still have my Aircore 40 trainer it has a ST 51 these thing are durable but heavy. Mine once took the limbs off a pine tree. They land a lot faster than a balsa trainer, but you can stick it in the ground with little damage. I built the Cub one latter same plane as the trainer had much trouble with it being a tail dragger it will make you a pro War bird pilot. Check out the SPAD guys.

You know that home made soup was made with lye . They say if it won't crash it won't fly.!!!???"""" What goes up must come down.

learned all about flying the plane and not the engine with a Barnstormer 40. HA had a klank and Bang 45 on it .

Tough plane , hit more fences and trees then you can count
Ended up giving it away after a year of learning,

All aircore need more power

Have fun

DO you think a new OS 46 LA is enough motor?

as long as you don't put it on aircore floats.!!!!!
funniest thing I think iv'e seen. the engine woudn't quit and the wind keep blowing the plane further away.

your plane should fly OK.

remember power makes them go up, elevator only changes pitch attitude... make gentle climbs untill at a safe ( what am I saying, this is an indestructible AirCore) altitude. Too much pitch, too close to the ground , means broken props

A guy in our club has an aircore trainer, uglyest thang you ever did see...When he got out of the truck he would just throw it, and I seen it fly into trees and survive... They are one tough cookie...

I destroyed a Aircore trainer but it took a lot of abuse before I had to throw it away, still have the wing. The only thing I didn't like was building hard to build the wing with out warping it. And they are right there very heavy I ran a .46 fx seem OK but glides like a brick. "Also as ugly as a bucket of smashed a**holes with the cute ones picked out."

I learned to land with a aircore cub (yellow) and they are a good plane for just that. I had a ball with mine at the time. I crashed it I don't kno how many times and the worst that ever happened was a busted spinner and prop. They are on the heavy side but do fly well if built correctly. I had a ST 40 on it and had plenty of power for climb outs and it would hang on the prop for a few seconds. And they look a lot better in the sky! I also learned all basic aerobatics with it. I flew the daylights out of it and then sold it to another new guy. He learned a great deal with it too. Just keep a lower pitch prop on these as the ailerons will flutter if they go to fast. I have seen it happen on the trainer as well.

Oh now I remember! Mine had aileron flutter as well. I ended up building balsa ailerons for it. After that it wasn't a problem any more.


Scott