Question is, how did you make your cuts so neat? Did you just use a very sharp craft knife ot did you use something like a dremmel cutting disc? Also how did you dig out the recess for the servos to get the bottom surface flat?

Excellent instructions btw!

When completed, I will be happy for any interested parties to view my flying exploits on YouTube.
Thank you for the opportunity to add to your blog.
Cheers: Gary:)

See http://av8n.com/

I’m heading over to Some Dude’s today to pick up push rods, EZ connectors and servo extension wire.

As for how a plane turns on rudder only, well, it all depends on the dihedral of the wing. The more dihedral, the better a plane can turn with a rudder, as more dihedral increases the coupling between yaw and roll (one induces the other). The straighter the wing (and the cub’s wing is pretty straight), the less effective the rudder actually us because the coupling is less. The problem is that all the rudder does is push the tail around. Ideally, there should be no coupling between the three axis, and under such conditions the plane will still continue to travel in the same direction with rudder applied, just sideways; it doesn’t naturally want to actually turn.

If you hold the rudder long enough, as the plane yaws, eventually the plane will kind of bank as the wing tip picks up speed. With ailerons, you can bank immediately, then pull up on the elevator and turn very precisely. All that a rudder does during a turn is to coordinate the yaw with your bank. The reason this is desirable is that it keeps people on the plane from getting sick. The rudder is not used much at all at altitude and speed, as turns at 300FL and 480 knots are wide, gentle turns.

In RC, rudder doesn’t matter that much, so most people rarely use the rudder with ailerons at first. There are many maneuvers that require the rudder, such as a knife-edge, and rudder is also used to help counter coupling between the axes during maneuvers like slow barrel rolls. I have to confess, though, that while I’m not very good at using a rudder, coordinating the turns is very beautiful. My current planes are too fast for me to think about what to do with the rudder! But I’m trying to learn!

The HobbyZone Super Cub turns with the rudder only. Since the wings have pretty big dihedral, and rounded wing tips, it would bank on rudder input. The reason is that the rudder would swing one wing out in front of the other, giving it more air flow, and causing it to gain more lift than the other wing, resulting in a bank. The problem is that every turn shaves off some of the plane’s air speed, since it has to yaw to one side. With ailerons, it’ll be much smoother, since there will be almost no yaw (assuming it even flies after all my foam hackery).

–Dave

–Dave