GP ARF float ?
 

I just came back from the hobby shop... I went to pick up some small stuff I'll need to put together my H9 Cub that should be here tomorrow(UPS willing:D)...as luck would have it my LHS had just received 2 set's of GP ARF float's... one impulse buy later and I spent $80 more than I planed:eek: ALWAY's happens:D

The build of these floats look's easy enough BUT I've found a few thing's I don't like...

1) What are the holes in the front recess for the gear used for? air passage from molding? I can't find a use for them in the manual... just look's like another place for water to get in the float to me... of course water could also get out here once you remove the float's... did any of you guy's that have put together these floats have the holes? did you plug them? I leaning toward plugging them but I'm not sure thats the right thing to do.

2) the wheel collars on the gear... did anyone use them? talk about an ugly way to keep the floats from sliding off the gear... what I'm thinking of doing is using a 1/16 locater pin drilled and silver soldered into the axle portion of the gear... drill a matching hole in the float and use a bit of silly cone to seal it up... no ugly wheel collars. I was also thinking I'd move the floats inner edge to match the bend in the axle so the too meet... I'll loose about 3 inches of over all float width 21 inches instead of 24... if thats OK I can probably shave off an oz or so by cutting off the extra meat on the axle portion of the gear(1 1/2 inches each side 6 inches total of 3/16 piano wire) not to mention the fact it will look better.

John

RE: GP ARF float ?
 

I have recently bought the same floats and noticed the same thing.

With respect to the holes in the top, I assumed they were to let air in and out so I left them as is. With the float attached, the seal seemed good enough that water did not enter the float. I've had a few flights with no leaks. I was more concerened about the seal around the pushrod for the rudder (I used a servo in the float), but the water has not got in there either.

I just used the wheel collars as supplied. One thing is that the floats can move to from side to side so you definately need something to keep them from sliding off.

The only issue I had was with the float mounts - I have a flat bottomed plane and had to use blocks to get the floats in the right place. Hopefully they will fit your cub without much modification.

Also, I needed to add a lot of weight on the left float to get the plane to balance properly - doesn't look that good but the servo controlled rudder is a lot better than the cable system I've used on other float planes.

RE: GP ARF float ?
 

Thanks ross,

I left the holes also... if for some reason they prove to be a problem with letting in water I can always plug them. I went ahead and drilled and soldered the locater pin for each side of the gear... cut off the extra axle. The floats are about 21.5 inches out side to out side so they should be plenty stable... they look better for sure. Since the GP cub and H9 cub are almost the same size I had no issue with mounting... save having to add a mount block for the rear portion of the gear. I went with the cable set up to rudder so I shouldn't need extra weight in the floats... I'm not finished completely with the cub so I'm not sure If I'll need any for for and aft balance between gear and float configuration... with any luck I'll be able to move the battery around to set CG for both.

John

RE: GP ARF float ?
 

I got the same float kit as you guys are using and to keep the floats from sliding off the wire I simplay used a couple small pieces of fuel line on the wire and used the straps and screwed the wire into place (not on top of the fuel line). The fuel line definitely wedges the wire into place in the grooves in the floats. It was tight enough to allow you to set the proper toe-in setting as well.