The Super Cub is Only a Memory
Well, the day finally came: My Super Cub’s last flight. After strapping a co-workers shock resistant camera to the fuselage, I took off for some aerial video. Unfortunately, a rubber band broke during flight, causing the wing to shift around. One thing led to another, and the plane ended up in a cork-screw spiral of death straight into the ground. Here’s the post-mortum video:
Just for the record, the Cub was running a new Tower Pro Brushless 2908-10 motor with 8-cell Elite 1500mah NiMH battery pack with a Spektrum DX6 radio and S75 servos for rudder, elevator, and ailerons. What a great plane! Here’s a fly-by with this setup:
My next plane will probably be a GWS Formosa.
Rest in peace Super Cub.
11 comments to “The Super Cub is Only a Memory”
Holy Carnage! Sorry about the loss Dave. :(
I hope some of the electronics are at least salvageable.
Dave…
Goodbye Super-Super Cub… you will be missed in OKC. All that work and experiments for a 2 cent rubber band. Not fair…!! Tell me the electronics survived..!! I, for one, will really miss the Super-SuperCub’s next adventure up here. As you said; R.I.P. Probably the most watched HZ SuperCub up here.
Update on the OKC Spektrum DX7:
Still have brand new guts in my SuperCub… so went to a RC Swap meet here in OKC… and ended up with a KMP TaylorCraft ARF kit. Wanted a “Cub-like” plane… but not another yellow J-3 Cub that are more than abundant at every field down here. I assume ARF means you could have it ready in a few evenings work. Well… I’ve been on it for the last 5 weeks (off & on) getting it ready. My kit building skills was 30+ years ago (Falcon 56)… so the learning curve has been extensive. The motor (Evolution .46NT) under a cowl was biggest OJT I have been through. How to dremel out an opening at the right location…. while best-guessing where the location should be while you are blind… has been REAL fun..!! But the DX7 gear is now installed… and seems to be working OK. Even bought new Hi-Tec digital servos and installed them in the Falcon so I can run both from the new Spektrum Tx.
Then… after all that work… ran across another blog showing several who have converted the KMP Taylorcraft to electric. Of course, I found this after a week of installing the nitro engine… first inverted… then removed and installed sideways… by advise of some ol’ time flyers at a local field.
Oh well… it has kept me occupied. Will go now and break the bad news to my HZ SuperCub… who waits in the bedroom for at least ONE day here where it’s not gusting 20+ MPH. Two and one half months of nothing but gusting wind.
Stan,
Your KMP sounds quite fun, albeit a bit frustrating. I’ve shied away from gas planes myself, due to the locale restrictions. I like to fly in local parks and fields.
Myself, I’ve picked up a GWS Formosa pattern flyer. All the Super Cub’s electronics survived, so I’ll be moving them all over to the Formosa. It’s about half the weight of the Cub, but with the same power system, so it ought to scream through the sky. Hoping for straight vertical climbs.
I’ve been taking pictures during the build, so I’ll write it up just like the cub. It’s an ARF (cost: $29), so it’s taking me some time. I’m about 5 hours into it now, and I’ve got one aileron hinged, firewall and motor mounted, and fuselage glued together (it comes in two long halves). I even sanded down the foam mold marks, and covered the wing in packaging tape to help with those “less soft” landings. I picked up some more $1.97 epoxy this morning, so I’m armed and ready to go for more building. I reckon this will take another 10 hours or so, and I’ll be ready to crash, errr, fly it some time in the next couple weeks. :)
Take care!
–Dave
Dave…
Went and took a look at the Formosa. If it’s 1/2 the weight of the Cub… you’re going to need binoculars to keep it in sight…!!! With the motor and electronics updates you had in the Cub… this baby is gonna’ scream through the sky. I’m still working on the “slow and VERY forgiving” type of craft. That one video you showed of the Cub “fly-by” with the new motor and electronics… I do believe you might have been pushing the limit of the famous Z-foam. The Cub was smokin’ in that shot…!!!
BTW… this whole KMP Taylorcraft adventure will be using that DevCon 5 min. epoxy you turned us on to earlier in this blog. Finally found it at WallyWorld for a Buck-98… and it works just fine. Thanks for that little jewel of info… since my LHS wants 4.99 for a 1/3 of the volume amount of their version of epoxy… I’ll be a DevCon man for quite awhile.
Understand you staying with the electric gear. For some reason… there are apparently two camps in the OKC area about power systems… IE; gas/nitro/glow Vs electric. I’ve asked about any flyers that use electric gear around here… and you kind of get that “look”. Can’t really explain it… just that “look” when you inquire..?? These guys I keep meeting are pure “combustion” type of individuals. Unfortunately… I can’t find (at least not yet) the “electric” crowd in the OKC area…??? But… most of them I have met are Helicopter flyers… so maybe “fixed-wing” newbies are a bother…???
I found another LHS that deals in nothing but park flyers…. mainly our HZ stuff. The best part… his #1 seller is the HZ SuperCub… and he stocks ALL the parts locally…!! And the prices are the same (or better) as you can find on the Net. But… he really has no clue to where his customers are flying them.
Will be checking back on your Formosa adventure. Will it be a continuation on this blog… or will you start a new one…??? If new… send me the URL info so I can stay informed.
Also… fixing to take several pics of my Taylorcraft before it’s maiden flight… just in case the “expiration date” is due. All of them have an expiration date… just hope my T-Craft has more than one flight left on it’s dance card. Even new… out of the box. You never knowl.
Later….
Stan OKC
Stan,
Sounds like you’ve found a great hobby shop. That’s excellent. About the epoxy: It’s great to find out that you were able to get SOMETHING valuable from my ramblings!
I will post the Formosa build photos on this same blog. Stay tuned! :)
–Dave
Well Stan, here’s the Formosa build log:
http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2007/04/17/rc-gws-formosa-build/
I’ll maiden it some time next week.
just got a replacement motor 480 brushed. It says i should rn it in for eight, yes 8 hours. Can that be right. I’m new to all this, so need all the help i can get.
Motor break-in is a dark art. I would say just throw it on the plane and start flying. That’s what I did with my Super Cub when I replaced the brushed 480 motor, and it worked great!
haha my super cub lp looked like that when i went wide open into the ground the motor mount was smashed into the body and the wings snapped in half it was f###ed
Those Damn rubber bands!!
Thanks for this website. I just bought Spektrum equipment for another project and I already have a Super Cub. I will benefit greatly from your information and experience with the conversion process.