"Best Super Cub, Ever" (well, maybe not)

[KenSue]

I guess I'll start with why I did this to my super cub. It all started by wanting bigger wheels, then I wanted to learn how to fly with ailerons (before I put my wooden Edge 540 in the air). The whole goal was to learn some basics, and then move to a real aerobatic or pattern plane. So here's what I used (just in case anyone else wants a Super Cub that will go vertical, snap roll, fly inverted and knife edge).
Super Cub BNF receiver, Spektrum DX6I Radio, Fuselage, tail section, and main wing.
Reinforced rudder and elevator with hinge tape.
A power up sport 450 1100 kv brushless motor, a custom super cub motor mount, a 32 amp esc, and 04 9 gram servos from heads up rc.
Ailerons were made with pre-made wooden ailerons at my local hobby store, I used great planes nylon pin hinges, and great planes nylon control horns.
A 1 1/2 inch folding prop spinner (converted with a dremel tool).
Two 2 1/1 inch du-bro light wheels.
Misc. 440 hardware.
A 1800 mah Turnigy Lipo.
a carbon fiber rod in the wing.
And some left over trim for art.
I know it looks crazy, but it is truly wicked!
If anyone wants to know how I put ti all together, let me know. Please don't ask about watts, amps, thrust or anything technical because I have no idea how all of that applies.
I have since removed the wheel pants.

[CHELLIE]

Good Job Now you have a Hot Rod Super Cub Get a Wattmeter as soon as possible, to check your amp draw, it you used recomended motop /prop/esc/lipo from heads up RC Motor Charts, you should be ok on amp draw, Take care and Have fun, Chellie

[Fishbonez]

Love the graphics on that plane

[TylerJCooper]

Nice work!

[NJSwede]

Nice job!

Yes, I'm interested in knowing how you did it. How did you modify the battery compartment to fit an 1800-pack (the stock one barely fits a 1300-pack)? Did you take the dihedral out of the wing? Can you tell us some details about the motor mount?

[KenSue]

The motor mount, motor and ESC are from heads up rc (headsuprc.com). The mount is labeled as a super cub motor mount, from custom rc but sold at heads up rc. The mount replaces the original mount, and just bolts directly on, with no modification. The motor is the Power Up 450 Sport. The ESC is the 32Amp Power Up ESC.
I used wire ties to mount the ESC to the bottom of the motor mount, there is a photo of it on the heads up rc web page. I used 440 all thread and ran them through the motor mount, firewall and all the way into the battery compartment. The all thread is secured in the battery compartment with a couple of 1.5mm carbon firber rectangles and 440 nuts. You will need to do some kind of bracing like I did with the carbon fiber, because this motor will eventually pull the fire wall off of the fuselage after some use. The prop I use is an apc 10x7 (which is more than is recommended for this motor, but works fine), and the spinner is a 1 1/2" spinner. I modified mine from a folding prop spinner, but it would be easier to just get the right spinner.
The receiver is the BNF receiver for the super cub from Horizon Hobby, and I'm using a DX6I transmitter. This receiver has really good range.
The battery compartment: you will need to cut the back wall of the plastic battery tray completely off, then you will need to use a soldering iron and melt away the foam into the fuselage going back towards the tail. be careful there is not much foam between the bottom of the fuselage, and the bottom of the servo bay. I would suggest to try and go as far towards the bottom of the plane as possible, then if you have an oops, use some fiber strapping tape to fix the hole area.
The servos are 9 gram servos from heads up rc. They fit directly into the servo bay for the elevator and rudder.
I made the ailerons from pre made wooden ailerons from my local hobby store. They are 1/8" thick by 1 1/2" wide. I measured approximately 4 1/2" from the beginning of the dihedral towards the wingtip, cut from trailing edge 1 inch into the wing, then 10 inches towards the wingtip (so the ailerons are 10 inches long , and 4 1/2" from the dihedral). You can make them longer if you want, but I did not want to go into the curved portion of the wingtip. I used a heat gun and took some of the dihedral out, be careful because it will melt the foam. just run it on low heat back and forth a couple of inches above the wing while pushing down on the wing. there is a 2mm 10" carbon fiber rod ran in the wing at the top of the airfoil about 1/8" into the foam. I used an xcato #11 blade to make a slit, and just pushed it in. It is actually held in place with the trim work on top of the wing.
I beveled both sides of the wing where the aileron attaches. the ailerons are actually wider than the piece I cut out of the foam, so they stick out a little, but don't seem to affect anything, they may even give it more surface area for landing.
One thing I've noticed with the super cub is that the wheels like to move inwards towards the bend in the wire, making the wheel base smaller at the bottom. I put a wheel collar on the inside of the wheels to keep this from happening. The wheels are also 2 1/2" du bro light electric wheels, I did have to drill the center to fit the original landing gear. I played around with making my own landing gear so I could use wheel pants. But have since removed the wheel pants, they seemed to make my plow a little more than I wanted.
The elevator and rudder are reinforced with hinge tape, and the control horns were changed to nylon great planes control horns, then moved back a little (to get to a more "meatier" area of the elevator and aileron).
I would suggest reinforcing the area where the rubber band pins push through the fuselage with either fiber strapping tape or some light fiberglass weave, and the wing cradle area as well. There starting to try to pull through the foam on mine. The problem is this plane is not designed for all of these upgrades, it will handle it, but you have to watch were the weak points start showing up. I only did this to learn how to fly ailerons and some basic aerobatics before I move to my Edge 540.
Trust me, start with low rates, have fun this plane it has been a blast for me, If you decide to build it I hope you enjoy it as well. If you do these upgrades, send some photos would love to see what you did. At WOT the battery will last about 6 minutes. You can get close to double that at half throttle.
One last thing, I didn't take all of the dihedral out, so the inverted flights are a little tricky but definetly doable. The more you take out of i, the better the inverted and knife edges will be.
I hope this helps, if you have any more questions just let me know.