danielluarca

I recently bought a Multiplex Minimag, and after some time, I upgraded the brushed stock motor to the brushless power system, so now I have to spare a Permax Speed 400 motor, the ESC that came with it and a two 7 cell nimh batteries and I was wondering if I could build another plane to use those parts in. I would like an all balsa 4 channel plane, either in a kit or downloadable plans, but I have been unable to find anything suitable. It could be geared or direct drive, although I prefer the latter. Could someone give me a hand? Thanks.

RUSH

I'm currently building this kit:

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/supercub_18671_prd1.htm

It's set up for three channels, but I added ailerons to it. Not a very hard mod to do (I'll show you some pics if you would like). The plans and kit are set up to use the recommended gearbox with a speed 400 motor. Unfortunately, the gearbox costs almost as much as the kit It's definitely a "builder's kit" so If you don't have much experience, I'd say pass on it.

Steven's Aero and Mountain Models make some nice electric kits as well:

http://www.stevensaero.com/

http://www.mountainmodels.com/

Generally, you are going to get around 100 watts with that setup, so you should go for something in the 1 lb range - up to around 24 oz for a slow airplane if you use a gearbox.

danielluarca

Thanks for the links, I checked them out, and found some good picks.
The supercub looks good, and I would like if you send me please the pics of the mod. Did you use one or two servos for the ailerons?

I really enjoy the building part, maybe even more than flying, so theres no trouble with a builders kit. The only reason I bought the RTF Minimag is because I found it really cheap and it was a very complete kit, even with a 4 channel Hitec Radio. But whenever possible, I prefer builders kits, mostly because they have plans that come in really handy as a refrence when you crash and have to repair the plane.

RUSH

I'm with you on the building/flying part. I fly much less than I build myself.

I used one servo per aileron since I made them (somewhat) scale. Here are some pics of the aileron mod that I did. Pic 1 shows the right wing half next to the plans for reference.

Pic 2 shows a closeup of the aileron - I just copied the ribs on the sides and used the kit ribs to make the center rib pieces. Also, added some lightweight balsa for the aileron leading edge and trailing edge of the wing. You can see the structure I made to hold the servo hatch as well.

Pic 3 shows the aileron servo hatch as seen from the bottom of the wing.

Pic 4 is a closeup of the hatch with a servo installed, and Pic 5 is the same but from the bottom.

Let me know if you have any questions.

danielluarca

Thanks for the pics, nicely done mod you did there. Also, pretty neat the servo lead paper duct you built in there too. Thanks again for your help, hope to see some pics of your finished model.

RUSH

Thanks for the compliment! As you can see, it's pretty basic and doesn't require much additional material. I hope to get it done soon, but I'm pretty slow at building and have other projects on the bench too, so...

danielluarca

Hey Rush, it seems that Hobby Lobby no longer carries the Cub, too bad. But going through my old stuff I found some MAN plans of a Kadetito. I will try to build it with the speed 400 with the 2.333:1 GB and ailerons similar to yours. Thanks again for your help and pics.

RUSH

I guess it's inevitable that HL stops carrying kits since there are few kit builders left these days

The Kadetito should be a nice build, I know the Kadets fly really nicely, so it should fly sweet as well. Good luck on your build, and please post up a build thread if you feel like it - would love to follow your progress.

coriolan

Most 1/2A design convert nicely to speed-400 power, around 36" span and can be build lighter because of the low stress on the airframe (starting and vibrations). There is quite a few in that RCG tread:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1002490
If you move to Lipo instead of Nimh its even easier!
http://my.pclink.com/~dfritzke/index.html

danielluarca

The Kadetito could use a .049 as a minimum power setup, so I hope that with the speed 400 with a 2.333:1 GB it will handle in a similar way. Im almost finished with the plane, I expect it to weight around 22-23 oz. Also thought about using lipos, but I really want to put to work the spare nimhs from the minimag, maybe when they dont longer work, I´ll switch (or if it needs more power to fly).

coriolan

A Speed-400 on a gear box will fly that perfect, better than a .049 with no trottle!

RUSH

Hi danielluarca, would love to see some pictures of your Kadetito! I am stalled on the super cub since I'm building a plane for the warbird contest right now instead.

danielluarca

These are the pics of my kadetito, Ill be uploading newer pictures soon.

Im trying to emulate Rush´s ailerons, but , Im giving them a similar size as the ones on the minimag, since they work nicely on it and it has similar dimensions.

RUSH

Hey, the kadetito is looking good! Gotta love all that stick building, eh? BTW, you sure do have a lot of triangles

RUSH

Did you ever finish your Kadetito? If so, how did it fly?

danielluarca

Thanks for asking Rush, sorry about the delayed reply (almost a year!!)

Well, after many setbacks and advancing inch by inch, I did finish the Kadetito (just pending some minor details). I haven´t been able to take it to the field and fly it, mostly because I grow attached to my scratch built models more than my ARFs, and I would regret greatly to crash it, just waiting to very low wind conditions which have not happened at my very windy field. I feel that the plane ended up a little heavy at 28.5 ounces (was aiming for 24), which makes me a little concerned, I just will have to wait and see what happens at the field .

Thanks for the tip for the ailerons, you can see in the pics that the ones I built are very similar to the ones you built (by the way, did you finish your supercub?) Went on hobby lobby the other day, and they have now available the supercub kit, thinking about purchasing one.

I am sure to give you the news as soon as I am able to do the maiden.

RUSH

Hey danielluarca, your Kadetito looks great! Good luck to you on the maiden. I haven't done anything on the Super Cub other than buy some covering for it (gonna be cream and maroon). I've been busy doing household stuff and other hobbies instead myself.

Thanks for the update! (I'm rather slow at building too )