jmir

My Feedback: (1)

>>>>>

I used the Great Stuff foam and it worked great. Had quite a few crashes while learning and it held up very good.

When are you crashing? On take off? On landing? Perhaps you are flying when it's too windy? Not letting the Cub gain some hight?
Anyway we can help?

mjamm

I read from the beginning of the threads and would like to find out the latest for everyone's number one choice for a tail wheel? Anyone have any recommendations and/or explain how they made their modification?

I have a new cub arriving in the mail probably tomorrow, and I would like to get a tail wheel set up on it ASAP and maybe a quick motor modification, such as, a fireball motor... Will I need anything else for this? Also, I see recommending foaming the nose... Is this the spray foam for sealing cracks? Where do you exactly spray the foam? Inside the Cowl or in the fuselage near the fusealage????

Appreciate the feedback.

Adam G

My Feedback: (17)

Posthole,

I used 5 minute epoxy to glue the tail back on my Cub when replacing it after a crash. I also drilled some holes and used thick toothpicks to pin the tail to the fuse using ample amounts of epoxy to glue both the toothpicks and tail in place. I also cut the yellow "covering" off of the foam on the tail where the glue was applied to give it a better bond. Be sure the tail and stabilizer are properly aligned. This is hard to eyeball with the shape of the stabilizer. You will want to measure.

mjamm,

Spray the foam between the front of the battery cage and the firewall, not in the cowling where the motor and gearbox are. Scrape the excess out of the battery space as it expands and before it gets too hard to make it a little easier on yourself. You can cut anything you miss out of the battery area with a hobby knife after it is dry. Don't get too crazy with the amount because it will add some wieght.

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

mjamm,

The spray foam expands to about 3 times its orignal size, so make sure you don't use too much. Too little is better since you can always add some more later on.

This is really sticky stuff, so make sure you unplug the wires attached to the motor and take them out of the fuselage so they don't stick to the foam. I enlarged the hole through which the motor wires feed into the fuselage to make it easier for feeding the wires through the hole. I then took a pencil covered with vaseline (to keep it from sticking to the foam) and inserted into this hole making sure it went in far enough inside the fuselage. This creates a tunnel through which you can then feed the motor leads later on. I kept turning the pencil every now and then to make sure it was loose and finally took it out when the foam dried out.

Adding foam is probably the most important of all modifications to protect the Cub. It works great.

Hope the above helps out.

[email protected]

Up here in girdwood alaska, pretty cold out... batteries dont last long and you dont get to be at peack power for as long. We went through 4 to 5 bats each today in the cold with no other failures. I learned and am learning on the j-3...its a great plane. We added skis to ours by taking the stock wheels from the axle and adding to a 9 dollar aftermarket ski set up. It takes some research and development on your own but after you throw the instructions away from the skis and by using loc tite and small springs you can build a bomber pair of skis that stay upright to do smooth landings and butter touch and goes with full flair in the snow (lite trace and hard pack). Take offs have not been witnessed. Skis make high altitude flying nearly impossible...but it creates a different kind of flight slow and stable at low alt. If you dont like the loss of high alt. flying try the 2 inch foam tires..minimal extra weight with the real added benefit of the alaska tundra tire. Lots of great tips in the forum keep mods coming for this plane...but what is the best prop up grade? It might be obvious but by adding clear packing tape all around edges of the wing and cowl before you fly you end up having longer lasting stuff. any tricked out power suggestions? Warren

[email protected]

I go the e flite 370 brushless motor with the brushless speed control. Everything seems to line up fine in the gear box. Still waiting to finish the switch by getting my first ever real radio with a receiver that will take the speed control. The new motor is slightly heavier, maybe that wil help with the climbing. Any suggestions on this mod? This plane is fun!

gtramontelli

hey everyone,

I had my fourth or fifth attempt at flying today. I am getting much more comfortable and only had 1 minor crash from about 5 feet. I have a few questions, though. In that crash, I broke the nose of the plane. It had already been broken, but this time a section actually came free and I was unable to reattach it. I have a new one on order (it should probably come tomorrow). Anyway, after this came loose, the nose of the plane was almost like a scoop, with the motor exposed. It seemed to be making full power, but I could not get the plane to go more than 20 or 30 yards from a hand toss before it lost altitude and touched down.

The nose was very non-aerodynamic, but it seems odd to me that it would prevent the plane from flying. Is this possible? Also, the battery compartment came loose, which may have altered the CG somewhat. I am considering starting over with a new fuselage and foaming the nose from the get-go. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Squirrel-Man01

Cool [8D] pics.

Squirrel-Man01

Your right man first flights are heart pounding Specially with new planes
Glad you got the J-3 cub in the air and had a succesful flight your right there its very stable & fun to fly.

Adam G

My Feedback: (17)

gtramontelli,

A broken cowl should not cause enough drag to affect performance noticably. I suspect that you may have bent the drive shaft slightly, or done some other damage to cause a drop in performance. You may want to inspect everything thoroughly. Also, run the motor while holding the plane in your hand. Vibration is a good indication of a bent prop shaft.

gtramontelli

I just ran the plane and noticed no visible wobble or noticeable vibration. I will replace the prop and shaft anyway to eliminate those as possibilities. I also ordered a new cowl and fuselage to "start fresh." The motor does make an odd noise, though. It is similar to a low whine or almost a steady tone. It is most noticeable when the throttle is moved just enough to give the motor some power but before the prop begins to spin. I suspect the gearbox may be damaged.

Gino

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

Gino,
Look at the mount and gears, like Adam said.
You could have broken the mount where the motor attaches, and it's throwing the alignment off.
This can cause slippage between the motor gear and prop gear. You'll see the prop spin, but it's slipping so bad the Cub won't fly.

sal37

hey,
i have a j-3 cub from pz that i got over the summer.

i was wondering if there was an upgraded motor for it?

or any interesting mods like putting ailerons on it.

thanks

mjamm

Finally got my new cub.. (Well, used from Ebay). Where does the receiver sit? I see a little retangle bracket in front of the two servos, does it stand up in there? Because mine doesn't fit or want to stay in there.

I foamed my firewall, added larger treaded foam wheels. I went to get a outrunner brushless motor today, but couldn't find a good motor mount to use... So I decided on just the Venom Fireball for now. What sizing in "turns" do I want to get for the fireball motor?

Thanks... I love this forum!

mjamm

Oh... One other question. Where is the CG on the PZ cub?

toyjunker

Yes, it stands up in the square bracket. You're right about it not wanting to stay put. I used a zip tie to keep mine in place. Sure don't want it and the antenna flopping around and possibly jamming a servo in mid flight.

Happy flying.[8D]

cram2red

Start out a least 3 mistakes high. Go into a slight dive and pull back fully on the stick.
If you don't have enough speed, she will stall. But at least you will be high enough to recover.
[/quote]

Thanks. Loops are easy. How do I do other fun maneuvers?

cram2red

oops

moore2424

I wasnt sure if i should buy the j3 cub. I am a beginner flyer and i have already flew the aerobird extreme but all that ive heard about this plane i am starting to like it.

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

Welcome moore.

Guys, he's looking into buying a PZ Cub. Could you give him a hand on making that decision.
Let him know the good/bad.

Thanks
GG

Adam G

My Feedback: (17)

moore2424,

The Cub is a great plane, and several guys that post on this thread have started with this plane. It seems that they have had a few crashes, and had to do some fixing and replacement of parts, but eventually found success starting out with the Cub. It seems you already have some flight experience under your belt if you have flown an Extreme. The Extreme is much faster, and is also a three channel that you can control pitch as well as turning. I would think that if you have already had success with an Extreme, a Cub will be no problem for you.

A couple advantages of the Cub over the Extreme would be the space needed to fly, and the overall relaxing pace of the Cub to learn on. The Cub is a smaller plane, and can be flown in samller spaces. I would recommend starting in a large open field at first, but after some practice a soccer field would do. The plane also fly's nice and slow at 3/4 throttle on the stock motor. This is nice for sharpening your skills while still having time to react. The plane is very forgiving, and if you do get in trouble it will right itself if you just let off of the controls.

My advice to you would be to read through this thread from the beginning. You will get first hand accounts of peoples first flights with absolutely no experience, with just some simulator experience, and with prior flying experience. You will have to decide based on the amount of flying you have done if you would be comfortable with a 3 channel plane. It was my second plane and it was perfect for me. I then made it a 4 channel and put a fast brushless motor in it, and I am still having tons of fun with it after 100 plus flights.

Good Luck,

Adam

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

more2424,

I started with the J-3 Cub over a year ago as my first 3-channel plane. I graduated to a 4-channel Parkflyers Cessna 182, then a Parkflyers Edge 540T, a Parkzone Stryker and a Parkzone Typhoon. I enjoy everyone of these planes since they fly differently.

I usually take at least three planes to the field when I fly, but the J-3 Cub always comes along. That is the plane I always fly last since it flies so great, almost effortless and smooth. Works great calming down the nerves after trying 3D maneuvers or fast flights with the other planes.

toyjunker

moore2424,

First, Welcome, from one newbie to another.

I've had my Cub for a few weeks now and I'm loving it. It is my first plane and is fortunately very forgiving of my mistakes. I fly over the pastures just a few steps outside my house. So far I've had a couple of crashes that resulted in bent prop shafts and some damage to the plastic frame inside the fuselage. I was flying again almost immediatley after the minor crashes, and the worst one that broke the frame was cured very quickly with some epoxy and CA. I am very pleased with the durablity of this bird.

You said you have flown the Extreme, but that could have many meanings. I know nothing of the Extreme, but from what Adam G says about it, if you are comfortable with it, then the Cub will probably do well for you. But if you do not have much time in the air, you might consider a simulator. [link=http://n.ethz.ch/~mmoeller/fms/index_e.html]FMS (link here)[/link] is free, so all you'd need is a controller and cable.

I "flew" on our PC with RealFlight G3 for over a year before I bought the cub. I bought the G3 mainly to fly helicopters, but found lately that I was flying the fixed wing models more, so I bought the Cub. After all of that sim experience, my real flying has gone fairly well, IMHO.

When you buy the cub, go ahead and buy a couple of spare props (the GWS 8060 is a good choice and cheaper than the PZ replacement) and some spare prop shafts. If you're anything like me, you'll need them. Those are the most comonly "consumed" itmes on the Cub.

And not to complicate things too much, but if you go ahead and do the expanding foam "upgrade" to the front of the fuse before you fly, you'll thank yourself later. Lots of info on the foam in previous posts of this thread. The cracked frame I mentioned above probably would not have happened if I had foamed mine first. It is foamed now.

Good luck![8D]

cwksr

Gtramontelli As was previously mentioned all thru this forum when you nose in the cub you almost 99% broke the little sticks holding the mtr mount. Your statement about the Bat box broken proves this. Remove everything from the front of fuse cut the front off (about 3/8 in) you'll find an inner plastic panel reglue the sticks back on or fabricate something. Reglue the bat box all the while retaining the original alignment. When all solid glue the foam back and do whats been recommended spray inside with ? Right Stuff? foam spray. Check your gear box, new or not, for free play all 360 degrees of it. Any tight spots and theres a whole new program for that. I can talk you thru that too. I think you mentioned buying a new fuse thats kool but fix the old one and have a spare. Cliff

whoever asked about the Cub's gear ratio it's 4:33

zeroseven

Any of you guys fly without the spinner? I keep losing mine even after modding it with wire i have still managed to lose it.