Hangar 9’s
Piper PA-18 Super Cub
It can be loaded with a lot of scale detail, but this ¹⁄₄-scale ARF still flies great.
By Frank Fanelli PHOTO: BRIAN MADIGAN I
s it an ARF, or not? Hangar 9’s new ¹⁄₄ scale Piper PA-18 Super Cub that is. Of course it has the trappings of an ARF— a ply/balsa airframe already framed
and covered—but this new model is also loaded with a lot of scale features. It’s those features, like the scale function- al bungee landing gear, the scale wing struts, the optional scale nav lights, the op- tional scale cockpit kit that turn what would be just an assembly process into a far more engaging and challenging project. The out- come is a very satisfying sense of accom- plishment. In its own smaller way it’s al- most similar to putting a homebuilt aircraft together.
Except for the radio gear, the options al- ready mentioned, and the engine, there’s nothing else needed. There’s a load of hard- ware and parts, bagged according to their function so it’s easy to keep track of every- thing.
The quality of the parts is quite good. The hardware isn’t the cheap stuff that comes with some of the offshore models. And what’s even nicer is the fact that it’s Eng- lish, not metric so if any substitutions are the preference, there should be a stash of English hardware in anyone’s inventory. The airframe sub-assemblies are very nicely constructed of accurate laser-cut parts. The way that’s discovered time after
18
time is that everything lines up. If a screw has to be inserted, every time—and I mean every—it fits precisely. And the covering, which I assume is UltraCote, is applied very well. Because of the low humidity of the win- ter, the wood shrunk a bit and resulted in the usual puckers that are easily resolved with a covering iron. Once the seasons change and the humidity levels rise again, all that will go away.
At this point it’s probably appropriate to state that a 6-channel radio could be used to fly the plane in a simple setup without any of the options. But it’s probably more appro- priate to use at least an 8-channel radio to utilize all the options mentioned. In this case, the new DX18 radio was used to take advantage of 2-channel operation of things like the flaps, ailerons, and elevators. This isn’t a plane that needs step-by-step comment since the 60-page instruction man- ual is pretty thorough, and logical. Each il- lustrated step is explained in four lan- guages:
English, German, French, and
Italian. Aside from a very few minor cri- tiques in other areas, the one observation about the manual is that in a few instances the pictures are not clear enough to show what needs to be done. Fortunately, they are few and don’t document critical steps. Along with the basic kit, the Zenoah G26, eight JR 821 digital servos, the optional nav
lighting kit, and the optional cockpit interior showed up as well. Perhaps the projected 20-hour time span of assembly is possible with the basic kit. Based the time needed to add all the extra options into the basic kit, I’d say 50–60 hours of work is more realistic. This isn’t a 2–3 day airplane, unless you don’t sleep for 72 hours.
It’s a plane that needs some room for as- sembly but to prove that it could be built in an apartment the FMeditorial office served as the workshop, with a desk as the work- bench. Except for a few trips home for the weekend, the plane stayed there and was completed there.
Perhaps the best way to approach a re- view of the Super Cub is to follow the logic of the manual and offer what I found would speed up the process.
So let’s start where the manual starts, set- ting up the wing with the ailerons and flaps. It’s a pretty straightforward procedure. The flap hinging needs some trial and error fit- ting before the proper insertion in the flap and the wing is determined. Once that’s set satisfactorily, a grease pencil mark around both points of insertion helps when gluing the hinges in with epoxy.
That grease pencil, by the way, comes in handy for marking other things during as- sembly and could be added to the list of tools documented in the first pages of the manual.
APRIL 2013
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