1/3rd Scale Super Cub

by aviator08 | August 6, 2019 | (10) Posted in Just Fun

After a year and a half of building, the Super Cub has taken flight. Wingspan is 12' with the fuselage about 7'9". It is powered by a DA 50 cc gas engine. The Super Cub is scratch built with mostly aircraft spruce and birch plywood glued together with a 2 part epoxy . The covering is Stits polyfiber light aircraft fabric. It flys extremely scale.

It's not until you put someone next to it that you get the true sense of the size .

Maiden Flight


No aircraft was injured with the making of this film.  :-)



Assembly time is about 20 minutes at the field.


First engine start at the field.

Photo shoot after successful maiden flight.


It all started with a set of plans  Jan '18

The cowling was purchased from Balsa USA.

Elevator / Stabilizer near completion.

Tail feathers mounted in place.

Landing gear is made of steel tubing.

The start of the wings.... all from scratch.

Leading edge installed.

Center section also made from steel tubing.

First photo with gear installed.

No, that's an aileron, not a wing. :-)

First assembly of wings on fuselage. Flaps were added ( not on plans)

Temporary struts were used to set dihedrel, angle of incidence and washout.  Permanent struts are made of aluminum tubing.

Tail mostly covered.

Pull, pull cables for aileron.

Fabric covering going on the wings.


Fabric tape applied.

Fabric applied to fuselage.

Base coat of paint.... seals fabric and provides UV protection.

Windshield fitted.

White painted on.

......Then the blue.....


First engine start-up




It's been a challenging, but rewarding journey. I'm glad I can just go fly now. :-)

COMMENTS

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Vmar planes on September 5, 2019
This is a great and inspiring article. We very thankful for this great information.

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VishalRao on October 14, 2019
Amazing build! Just a quick question on gussets on the tail feather. I believe they are overlay gussets. Won't they affect covering?
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aviator08 on October 31, 2019
I sanded down the edges so they won't affect the covering any. For looks purposes I could have inlayed them to be flush.
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FPVology on July 18, 2020
Looked like a fun maiden!
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Jackson T on September 5, 2019
This thing is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! How did you cut out the ribs, and what airfoil did you use? Where did you find the plans? What a massive, beautiful plane!
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aviator08 on September 5, 2019
Thanks, I cut out the ribs with a band saw, hole saws and hand saw. They were traced from plans I printed out from a disk of plans I bought online.

I now have a laser cutter with a large cutting area so future builds will be laser cut ribs / formers. :-)
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CubCrafterRC on May 5, 2020
Incredible effort! Are you planning on making more good builds?
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aviator08 on May 6, 2020
I am currently building a 1/8th scale SGS 2-33a glider. I will post when I get a little further along. Thanks.
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1/3rd Scale Super Cub