My first airplane model. A J3 Cub.

[NevadaBlue]

I typed a post and put the links to the pictures and the forum said something about 'post denied, too many URLs. Is it not permitted to link to my own pictures?

[NevadaBlue]

Well, let's try this again.

I needed an airplane to deliver mail to the little town in my railroad layouts. The name of the town is Tobar, NV. Tobar was a real place in Nevada, but little is known about it. I am just using the name because it has a neat history. Legend has it that the name of the town came from a sign someone stuck on the train station. It said TO BAR, indicating that the bar was 'that way'. :D Folks thought it was the name of the town. Tobar was in a mining district and it did have a railroad.

I started working on the plane about February 20. I've never done one of these before, but I think this thing will be a good addition to the layout. It is for mail delivery to Tobar.

This is what the start looked like.



Unfortunately I forgot to take more pics of the progress, but here it is as of today.

[NevadaBlue]

I discovered a few things about the model. The bottom door section is hinged too far down so the door won't open properly. I did move the hinge up about 3/16" and I still have to trim a bit. The struts are too long, even with a bit of dihedral angle. I didn't worry about it, I just made the wing mount points a bit farther out. I did use florist wire inside all of the strut members. This allowed me to make them quite strong by inserting the wire into the wings and bottom of the fuselage.

My windows (side ones) are plastic from a container (the kind you cut your fingers off while opening). The side windows are thicker and the windshield is thinner from a different package. I cut out the window frames and super glued them to the plastic then cut them out. The side windows are mounted separately from the windshield. Sigh... I broke the windshield today trying to make the bend around the front. So, I cut it in half and made a new half to replace the broken part. The windshield will have a center bar like some larger planes.

I also put florist wire inside the landing gear and gear struts. The wheels came off of an old .049 engine that I had. This plane will be landing on rough terrain so they are sized appropriately. There are also prototypical braces (part of the airframe) in the cabin as well as a couple more to give me a place to attach the windshield.

This is FUN!!!

The wheels came off of an old .049 engine that had the wheels mounted on a spring wire landing gear. I had looked at them before and thought 'too large', but study showed they are fine.

I once saw (something over 50 years ago now) a super cub that had tandem wheels. Two wheels on each side, one in front of the other. It belonged to Great Lakes Pipeline and I saw it at the old Fairfax airport in KC where I was pumping gas for the summer. The thing would raise the tail and then leap into the sky. The pilot said he could easily land across a plowed field. Neat machine for sure.

Something else I learned on this model. If you look at the first picture, where the fuselage is open, you can visualize this one.

I couldn't get the fuselage to behave when I was working on closing it up. I had installed the interior and the side walls just wouldn't cooperate. So, with great difficulty, I fitted a 'frame' made of florist wire just behind the back seat. It was glued in place with PVA and works great. This allows the paper fuselage to be bent around and hold it's shape. I would have installed several had I known... and WILL install several in any model I do from now on. Florist wire is a lifesaver for these things, IMO.

Something else I forgot to mention earlier. I glued a slab of styrofoam on the inside bottom of each wing. It is about 3/8" thick and a little over an inch wide. There's a thin soda straw glued on top of that. The idea was to stiffen the wing and help hold the shape of the top of it. This strengthens the wing and gave me a way to make the whole assembly stronger and stiffer. I inserted a sharpened bamboo skewer about 3 inches into the foam and created a 'main spar' this way. The spar also made assembly of the wings and center section much easier by holding everything together while the center section was glued. I used white glue on the skewer. I also used white glue on the foam to hold it in place, but that was a mistake. It of course wanted to wrinkle the wing. Next time I'll either seal the wing or use different glue.

Look at the hair clip on the landing gear in the pic above. Those things are GREAT! They are stiffly sprung and hold a lot. I got a hundred off ebay for 10 bucks. You can cut off one prong and have a good narrow clamp too. Handy...

I managed to get the other half of the windshield mounted and the center divider installed. The skylight is glued to the top of the center divider, which is T shaped. Tomorrow morning, I'll try to bend it down and get it glued to the top of the wing. I devised a clamping system that will work... hopefully.
The landing gear is finished now. I'll try to remember pictures before I install it. I want to make a 'real' tail wheel for this thing.
I also built a 'pilot' today. I used two chinese naked figures (ABS 1/24 people) and a head from another kit. He turned out too big to get through the door and into the seat, so a smaller guy takes his place.
The bigger guy should work fine in the Boeing 40 which will be the next airplane I do. He even has a leather helmet and goggles.

More pictures...

First the landing gear. There is florist wire through the cross brace/shock absorber as well as the main frame. The wire that goes through the main frame also sticks out to provide 'axles'. It has a loop on top that was glued to the top of the frame to give some strength and resist twisting.







I laminated a couple of layers of card stock on top of the main landing gear frame to make the top flat, allowing the loop in the wire to become flush. Also, I blackened the edges of the top frame so it will 'disappear' when glued to the bottom of the fuselage.

Now the scary part. I DO NOT want to do this windshield again.

First, you can see the windshield with the T post center section and the skylight glued and clamped to it. This sat overnight to ensure the glue was 'dry'. I use Loctite gel type CA glue. I'm down to the last drop or two in my backup tube. I normally use a larger bottle, but I ran out and had to resort to the tiny backup tube hanging on the spares rack. grrr... hope I have enough. Must go to town. We live in the middle of nowhere and normally only go to town once a month or so.

The T post is thin aluminum. I have a bunch of the sheets that they print newspapers on. I've used it for many years for LOTS of things, but now I use TINY pieces for things like this.



The big plank in this pic is the plan for holding down the skylight while the glue sets. The reinforcements inside the wing will allow me to actually clamp this.



Here it is, clamped. Nothing broke or cracked. Hopefully it will stay in place when I remove the clamps. I'll outline the frame with PVA, a couple of coats, before I remove the plank and clamps.



IF the windshield holds, it is on to the landing gear and tail assembly. I'm making a custom tail wheel too.

More progress...

So, here is what she looks like now. The windshield installation worked as well as the main landing gear assembly.









There is still a lot of detailing to do, including toning down that glossy black windshield bar. Tie downs, more struts, the tail braces, etc...

We decided to do a repower and the engine is being built. The custom tail wheel assembly is done and has been installed since I took the pictures.









LOTS of work to do on the new engine. Cowling, plug wires, exhaust pipes, etc. The cylinders are sections of flexible drinking straws and the cylinder block is foam core board.

[NevadaBlue]

So, we did install the standard prop (using a modified push pin to become the spinner) and the guys are going to test the engine. The young man at the controls is ready to solo, so he is in there right now (rather pale isn't he?) to see how she runs. (there's some of the florist wire inside the prop too)

[NevadaBlue]

The engine is complete except for painting and detailing. I had to see how it looks. It will work. It is nothing fancy, but it looks better than a cardboard box. Still need those exhaust pipes, plug wires and ducting though.

[elliott]

Good build thread with nice sharp pictures. The model looks very good also. Thanks for sharing your build.

[YOAVHOZMI]

like my friend said before, the model looks great and also pictures looks wonderful.

YOAV

[Leif Ohlsson]

Thank you for the story of your Cub! You found out many good techniques and use of unorthodox material. Good job on the florist's wire - I love them too. And the use of hair clamps was new to me, got to remember that one. Also very meticulous and good use of various grades of timber to clamp things down.

I was wondering about the scale, and the people you made. 1/24 is a decent scale, and the figures look fine. Does a lot to a model.

Can I use your familiarity with plastic figures to ask if you know of any good ones in 1/16 scale? Hopefully not at astronomical prices...

Kind regards, Leif

[eatcrow2]

Excellent work, with great photos and write up!!

[Vermin_King]

Very nicely done.