Carbon-Z Cub
ing the wings and the landing gear to the fuselage, it presents an opportune time to ding a wing or scrape a little paint off the fuselage. The Carbon-Z Cub boasts a wingspan of nearly 85 inches and is nearly 56 inches long. Due to the size, it’s likely that the wings will need to come off during trans- portation although it will fit in the back of a pickup truck in one piece. There are two hex-head screws on each wing and two pins on each strut. The struts are designed to fold flat against the wings by removing a couple of pins, making transportation and storage easier. I found a permanent and convenient hiding place for an Allen wrench inside the battery hatch of the airplane. The first flight with the Carbon-Z Cub was both a test of the Spektrum AS3X incor- porated in the Spektrum AR635 receiver that’s installed and the pilot’s nerves. Winds on the ground were 6 knots gusting to 18. The Carbon-Z Cub had plenty of power to leave the ground within just a few feet and then climb like a homesick angel. Although it was difficult to tell in so much wind, no trim was used. Subsequent calm wind flights confirmed this.
The rudder requires a few drops of thin CA on each hinge for attachment. The control horns are held on with a screw and lock nut. A carbon fiber spar (above) is employed to give the horizontal stabilizer halves plenty of strength. Two hex head screws hold each stabilizer half to the fuselage. Concealed under a hatch just behind the cockpit area (below) are the pre-installed Spektrum AR635 receiver with AS3X and E-flite digital metal gear servos. If the airplane is to be used for aero towing, there is a place for a release servo to be mounted here as well.
I flew a few patterns at altitude to get a feel for the handling. The upwind legs took about 30 seconds and the downwind legs about 5 seconds; the winds aloft were clearly quite
brisk. Surprisingly, the AS3X
smoothed out all but the worst bumps and really took the sweat out of the terrible wind conditions. Landing the Carbon-Z Cub was a piece of cake even with the wind. Once the winds calmed down, I was able to really get down to business with the Car- bon-Z Cub. The STOL capability of the full scale Carbon Cub is truly remarkable. Cub Crafters claims that, when light, the Carbon Cub will get off the ground in as little as 2–3 fuselage lengths and land in just under 250 feet.
E-flite has obviously taken this into con- sideration in their design of the Carbon-Z Cub. With the Power 50 motor and a 6-cell battery, this airplane will power its way off the ground in just a couple of feet. Just as in the full scale, the Carbon-Z Cub sports flaps and vortex generators. With a combination of full flaps and a slip, the Carbon-Z Cub is capable of making very steep approaches and will only use a small amount of runway for landing. This means despite the physical size of the airplane, it can be flown from a small field. Further enhancing the possibilities for suitable runways are the true-to-scale tun- dra tires. Tires of this size will certainly tame just about any grass surface within reason but will also work on sand, gravel, dirt, etc.
The Piper Cub is not known for its aero- batic capability. In fact, between the slow roll rates, the adverse yaw, high drag, and low power-to-weight ratio, it can be quite challenging to get through an aerobatic rou- tine. None of that holds true with the Car- bon-Z Cub. It will perform all of the basic aerobatics with unbelievable ease. Before long, slow-rolls on takeoff will become nor- mal. Rock stable inverted passes in a Cub? Yes. Point rolls? No problem. The Carbon-Z Cub will even hover!
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It’s amazing how the airplane can be as JANUARY 2014
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