Piper J-3 Cub


NEAT Fair 2006

This SIG Mfg. 1/6 scale Cub has a long and checkered history. I originally bought it for $25 in about 1980. It had been framed up by another modeller as a first project. There was much to be "reworked".

Over the years I picked away at it, finally having it ready to go in the winter of 1988-89 with an inverted two stroke O.S. 30 for power . Late one winter's afternoon I test flew it off a frozen lake in Maine. Due to an unseen rigging error, I stalled on takeoff, and broke the prop. That was it for the evening, and it went back into storage while I developed a new plan. Frankly, I wasn't that happy with it's appearance, and so instead of replacing the prop and fixing the warp, I stripped the covering and "restored" the model again. This time with 21st Century fabric, a two piece wing, functional struts and a horizontally mounted O.S. 40 four-stroke as seen below. Control is maintained with a Futaba 9CAPS radio. 2 Futaba S-133's are mounted in the wings for ailerons, with 3 standard servos in the fuselage baggage compartment. Rudder is driven with a prototypical pull-pull system. The elevator has an internal pushrod.

The markings were choosen based on a full scale Cub in Maine that also has float fittings on it for summer time fun. It was again ready for test flying, July 24, 1993, moments after the picture below was taken. As the story goes, all's well that ends well. Sure it has had a bump or bruise since then, but it lives on, and thrives.

A couple of moves have prevented me from flying the Cub for a while, so I recently decided to convert it to electric power. I have fit it with a new cowl, and an Astro Flight 825GM brushless geared motor and a 4S2P 4000mAh Li-Poly battery. It can use a bunch of additional detailing, but for now it is great to have it back in the air.


With O.S. 40 4-stroke - July 24, 1993


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Copyright 1998-2006, Thayer Syme. All rights reserved