thibor

Hey,

For Xmas, I want to treat myself with a new kit.
For years I told myself never to do a Cub J3, because the sky already is full of them... but now it got to me .

So I did some research, I'm gonna do a 1/4 (sport) scale version, but probably not in yellow ...
The kits from SIG and Balsa USA look good to me. I just can't choose [:@]

Any thoughts on these kits? any other manufacturer I should consider?
Pictures of alternative color schemes are very welcome!!

Thanks,
Phil

WacoNut

Here are a couple pics of my Sig 1/4 Clipped Wing Cub and a link to my build thread,
This is the best flying plane I have ever had, very stable and predictable and does basic aerobatics very well. Touch and go landings are a blast in this plane as well. [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_2708451/mpage_1/key_Sig%2Cscale%2CClipped%2Cwing%2Ccub/tm.htm]C/W Cub[/link]
Anthony

thibor

Wow, that's a real nice color scheme!!

Thanks for the pics!

Phil

Jacque

My Feedback: (22)

I have both cubs .the sig and the BUSA, I really like the BUSA better it seemed to go together with less hassels. I also enjoy flying it more than the sig. it also is a stronger built plane ,that is just my opinion. good luck with what ever you build.

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

Anthony makes a great case for the Sig kit, but then I think you could give him a handful of sticks and a sheet of balsa and he'd give you back the Concorde.

The biggest difference between the BUSA and Sig kit is in the wing attachment. Sig's design has been around a long time, it uses a 2-piece wing that joins together and screws to the top of the cabin with locating pins and nylon wing bolts, the center section of the cabin roof is part of one wing half. I believe (correct me, Anthony if I'm wrong) that struts on the Sig kit are not load bearing. The BUSA builds with the center section as part of the fuselage structure and the wings bolt to the root ribs of the center section, and the struts are functional. This is more like the wing attachment on the fullscale. Both planes can be made very scale, if you desire.

I highly recommend coughing up the extra bucks and getting a set of functional landing gear, rather than the wire gear that comes with the kits. Both Robart and Wm Wallace make a nice set. Wallace's web address is www.piperj3gear.com

carl01

My Feedback: (4)

Im in the middle of a build right now ,, Im doung the Balsa Usa . It's a vety nice kit and a lot of fun Attatched are a few pictures.. No matter wich one you choose you'll have a good time with the build.. Carl

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Guess I'll chime in too. I'm building the busa J3 and the L4. I bought the L4 plans and the J3 kit from busa. I'm doing a two fer. I made templates and cut out the parts for the L4. My plan is to build the J3 as a practice plane and the L4 might be for competition. Then again, it might just be my pride and joy. The fuse for the J3 is covered with koverall and the wings are ready to cover, just too cold in the shop to work right now. Also have pull-pull setups for the ailerons. I really like flying cubs. Nice and laid back, low stress. To me, nothing looks finer than a cub side slippin down to the runway.
Edwin

Stormovic

My Feedback: (29)

The sig is the way to go. The struts are functional. I have built two of the Sig kits and they are super quality and I think dead on tru scale. The sig will fly fine with a 4 stroke .90. Anothe choice is the 1/5 scale sig. To me this is the best Cub kit on the market and goes together like a Swiss watch. With it you will have the functioning fold down door and fold up window designed into it.

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

I didn't mention the 1/5 Sig Cub because you said you wanted 1/4 scale, but I agree with Stormovic. It is a very nice build, I have built it and converted it to an L-4. At 84.5 inch WS it isn't a small plane, but will fly on almost nothing. I have the BUSA 1/4 scale Cub and will also build it as an L-4, but will not go fully by the BUSA plans. I plan to use carbon fiber rods and replicate the tubular framework in the cabin area as a functional scale detail.

WacoNut

The Sig Cub built per plans is a one piece wing,
You can modify the design for a 2 piece but I chose to keep it one piece. The struts are functional and I chode to build some scale aluminum struts for my plane which work great. I am sure you will be pleased with either kit.
Ken is a little to kind about my building skills
Anthony

Stormovic

My Feedback: (29)

The Sig 1/4 kit wing is not one piece. It is designed as a two piece wing. I know as I have built two of them. You would have a tough time getting a 105 in or so wing in a car or truck. The kit has a two piece wing.

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

Anthony has the clipped wing version, which is "only" 86 inches, but would still be nice to have as a two-piece wing (my 1/5 scale full span is 84-1/2" but the two piece wing is very easy to transport, as each half is only 40")

Sig should update their 1/4 scale Cub to build like the 1/5 scale does. The plans for it include both full span and clipped span, and the different struts, so it can be built either way. I suppose it would be easy enough to modify the full span 1/4 scale kit into a clipped wing version, but Sig chose to make separate kits for each version. I also like the wing attachment method of the 1/5 scale better, since it more closely follows full scale construction. The included wing tube on the 1/5 scale is really unnecessary, as I deleted it when I converted mine to an L-4. The BUSA 1/4 scale Cub uses the same method to attach the wings as the 1/5 scale Sig does.

phuffstatler

My Feedback: (20)

I've had both, and currently have two Sig Cubs. I find that the Sig version is easier to assemble at the field than the BUSA version. Bot h fly well. Mine main one has a Zenoah G23 and removable floats w/rudders also. Has been my favorite airplane this last year.

Phil in Waco

thibor

Hey guys,

thanks for the answers, but your not making it any easyer
I'm hearing good things of both kits, gues that's why I can't make up my mind...

The army scheme is verry nice as well!

Keep the pics comming.

Thanks,
Phil

BelAirBob

Nice to have a new forum on the J3 Cub. I thought no one was building them anymore. I started a Sig clipped wing one two years ago and it is sitting because I been stumped on the fuselage covering. The covering is supposed to go over the tail fillet as with the real one. Everytime I try to cover it, I just get wrinkles. I dug out some old tissue covering and wet it to shrink so I could see what it was supposed to look like. I am using 21st Century covering. I like the white and red scheme that WacoNut has, but I will take the star burst to the fuselage. The Goldberg kit has this variation on the side of the box and I aways liked it....but built mine in yellow....

If anyone has any suggestions on how to cover the top of the fuselage/tail section, it would be appreciated.

By the way, there are nice on line reviews of the kit. If anyone is interested, I will try to find the link. Several pages went over modern construction since everything on the plans and manual is 20 years old....such as the one aileron servo.

I agree, if Sig would use the laser cutting and construction similar to the 1/5 scale Cub, this would be a great kit. But I do not think anyone is going to invest in any more kits. The forum for the Ultra Sport went on for a few years and we finally got Great Planes to rekit, but it is much cheaper and more profitable to bring in an ARF from China, Vietnam, etc.

Thanks in advance

bel air bob

WacoNut

Bob,
When you cover the fin and fuse it can be a bit tricky, I covered one side of the fin and one side of the fuse top in one piece. So if you are looking at the fuse cut a piece of material to cover for the top center stringer to the top side stringer and the fin on that side. It will take alot of tugging and stretching of the material as you cover the fillet area of the fin. The Sig Koverall worked great for this and it wasn't difficult at all. Iron on coverings aren't as forgiving as the Koverall.
Anthony

Paulparkflyer

I am new here and in the process of doing the final finish off of a thunder tiger J3,
So this thread got my attention,
My cub is my first RC plane next to my E-flight apprentice,
I am not going to fly mine until ready but have teed up somebody at my local club to do the maiden flight for me,
I will fly, crash and repair my apprentice for a while first and continue to fly my cub on my simulator

I am really impressed with the build quality of the thunder tiger ARF cub so far,
I have done an electric conversion as I am entering this hobby electric,

And as a real plane I just love the cub
I got my restricted pilots licence in a cessna 172 but always envied those who learnt in a cub,
Its a nostalgic and graceful aircraft,

Sorry, but mine is yellow but thought as a learner its not a bad colour to see,

Cheers,Paul

BelAirBob

Thanks Waco Nut. I was thinking of getting some Sig Koverall too. It is supposed to shrink better than anything. The directions say about attaching to the bottom cross piece of the fin. But I am not sure which one they really mean. I got an extra roll of 21st Century and guess I will play around with it again. I hate a plane with saggy covering. My paper job came out, but would probably get holes punched in pretty quick.

Thanks

bob

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

No doubt about it, koverall does shrink better than anything. Stays tight forever. But you have to use a paint on adhesive like stix-it or some other type. I was apprehensive at first using stix-it, but it turned into a no brainer. Easy to use, just takes a little longer and is much longer lasting. I just finished covering my J3 fuse and am ready to cover the wings. Got grand kid stuff to do first.
Edwin

WacoNut

Bob,
You want to attach the covering to the bottom of the fin where it meets the Stab then attach it to the 1st angle piece in the fin above that. It is the cross piece that angles up toward the L/E of the fin. Once you get it secured down and then shrink it it will give you a very scale looking fin fillet. This is one thing that is a must to get a Cub to look right.
You want to make sure the material is secured very well to the cross piece or it will pull away while shrinking and then you have to start all over.
Good Luck!!
Anthony

GerKonig

I have both. The white one is the Balsa USA. It is like 20 years old, powered by a Quadra Q42. Major changes: the wings have tubes that go trough the holes you see in the side of the fuse. It is a snap to put together w/o help at the field. Second change is the tail. You can take the whole tail off (it allowed me to use my Nissan Sentra to carry the plane).

The Sig (yellow) is the clipped wing version. It has a brand new Zenoah G26. I purchased this from a friend that was liquidating all his big planes. He had a 1.08 2 stroke in it, I currently only have gas and electric powered models. Both J-3's have Super Cub fiberglass cowlings, they hide better the powerplants, and I like them:-)

Good luck with yours. The white one was re-covered w/century 21 fabric (great stuff) 8 years ago (looks like new). The Yellow one is coverite w/paint.

Gerry

ntsmith

I was thinking of building the Sig 1/4 105" version. Can anyone say if this kit is laser cut and how problematic is the canopy at the front? Is it from flat sheet or moulded?
Would a OS91FS be power enough. Just want to know as havnt got an engine yet but want to feel the water with regard to power requirements.

BelAirBob

The only Sig Cub kit that is laser cut is the 1/5 scale Cub. The plans and building are very 60's. You will probably want to modify to one servo for each aileron, etc. A 90 is probably OK, but you can always throttle back a 1.20. I have been working on mine for a while and the windshield does not look like a fun project. This is a building kit and does not fall together.

If you enjoy a challenge and building, then go for it.

bob

ntsmith

Mmm. Not so sure about this now, but then I wanted a building project!
I wonder how others have got on with the cabin front windsscreen. Some times the things you think are the most difficult turn out to be one of the simplest things. Perhaps it is true of this.

BelAirBob

I am told the Balsa USA one is easier to build but don;t know. There was some reason I did not buy it. The pattern for the wind screen is on the plans and has to be cut out and then slowly glued in place. I am sure it is doable with patience, but again, this kit does not fall into place. The covering of the tail section is difficult because of the fillet, but earlier in this thread, someone gave me some advice. The covering is not perfect, but not bad in the back. Sig Coverall has tremendous shrinkage and is probably the best to cover this with, but I used 21st Century covering.

If you do buy this, I will try to find the link to an article somewhere on the internet that evaluates kits and gave a few pages of notes that were very helpful in building this...

There is also a new OS 1.10 four stroke out, that fits in the space of a .90. It might be a good engine for this.

bob