Model Airplane News had a
review of the Hangar 9 Cub that spoke highly of the plane both as a kit
and also about its flying qualities. The review covered two versions of
the Cub; one having a Saito 56 and the other having a Saito 60 twin. The
review was very accurate and detailed as far as the kit and building go,
and it flies as well as was written. R/C Report also had a good review
of the Hangar 9 Cub. Both articles would be excellent references for those
considering the Hangar 9 Cub as a future project.
This is the best ARF kit encountered
to this point. It comes well packaged and there are no missing, warped,
or damaged parts. The wood is very good and it is covered with Goldberg
Ultracote with vinyl trim. It has a fiberglass cowl with Cub Yellow gelcoat.
It has a very complete instruction manual with lots of pictures. There
are no plans since none needed. Assemby of this kit took about 30 hours
as opposed to the advertised 10 hours. This was due to a slow builder who
takes time to do things right the first time. Some of the time was spent
making a few modifications and some of the time was consumed correcting
minor problems.
The wing was easy to assemble
except for the aileron servo mounting. The servo bays were too small for
normal sized servos using the mounting described in the instructions. The
instructions called for mounting the servo to the 5/16" x 3/4" x 7/8" hardwood
blocks that are glued and screwed to a plastic cover that bends under the
weight of the servo. A period of 4 hours was wasted trying to make this
servo mounting method work only to have the servos move around under their
own weight. The plastic servo covers were finally replaced with covers
made of 1/16" aircraft plywood laminated to 1/16" aircraft plywood that
was made to fit into the servo bays. Also, 3/16" hard balsa blocks were
glued to the covers onto which the servos were mounted. This allowed the
servo cover to fit into the servo bay that was too small for the supplied
plastic servo cover. The new plywood covers were covered with Ultracote
covering to match the wing.
Although, no problems have
been reported with the wing joint, the covering was peeled back on the
wing joint and 2" wide fiberglass was applied around the center with 30
minute epoxy. This was done just as a precaution against possible failure.
The two holes in the fuselage that accept the 1/4" dowels supporting the
front of the wing are 5/16" in diameter. The options were to drill out
the wing and use 5/16" dowels or glue a plywood plate which was drilled
with 1/4" holes to the fuselage and use the supplied dowels. The option
to use the 5/16" dowels was chosen on this model. The wings were mounted
with 1/4" nylon bolts instead of the metric steel bolts supplied.
The slot for the horizontal
stabilizer was 1/4" too short which required that the stabilizer be notched
to fit in far enough to be flush with the end of the fuselage. The vertical
fin was not cut with the correct angle to fit against the fuselage and
stabilizer so this required modification. A 2-56 pull/pull rudder linkage
and a split steel Ny-rod was used for the elevator instead of the supplied
dowel push rods. This was done as a matter of preference.
The instructions called for
the landing gear to be mounted with two metal screws in the center into
a 1/8" lite-ply landing gear plate. It was decided that the hardwood blocks
that were supplied for the aileron servo mounts would be glued on the inside
corners of the landing gear plate. These were drilled and tapped for four
nylon 10-32 screws at 5/8" in from the edges of the landing gear. This
provides a more crash resistant mount for the landing gear. Because of
a concern that the machine screw axles that were supplied would wear out
the wheels, standard axles were substituted. The problem with this is that
the supplied plastic Cub hub caps cannot be used. The aluminum landing
gear is covered with a stick-on covering, which has started to come off
after the first few flights due to exposure to exhaust, fuel, and wind.
The aluminum landing gear bends very easily under normal landings.
The Saito 56 GK was installed
per the instructions using the supplied wooden engine mount so that it
was exactly 4 1/4" from the firewall to the drive washer as was indicated
in the instructions. There was no mention in the instructions of down or
right thrust. The engine was installed with 3 1/2° down thrust with
enough clearance to reduce this later if necessary. This amount of downthrust is about right. The Cub climbs slowly under full power when trimmed
for level flight at half throttle. The engine was then removed and the
cowl was trial fitted to find the distance from the firewall to the front
of the cowl which was 4 5/8". This required that the engine be moved forward
3/8". This should have been done before the engine was mounted but the
instructions were assumed to be accurate. The cowl was split as recommended
by the MAN review. The outer surface of the cowl cracks very easy and
CA does not work well with it. The supplied 8 ounce fuel tank was used
and the 1/2" hole in the firewall had to be enlarged for the 7/8" tank
neck to fit. There was some reluctance to have a solid mounted tank due
to the tendency of the fuel to foam due to vibration but no problems have
been encountered.
A Klett tail wheel assembly
was used because the supplied tail wheel assembly did not look like it
would hold up. The benefits of using the Klett tail wheel are two fold;
one is that it provides an excellent tail wheel assembly, and the second
advantage is that it works well with a pull/pull rudder linkage not requiring
additional control horns.
The balance point is 3 1/4"
back from the wing leading edge. This required that 3 ounces of lead be
added at the motor mount to achieve the balance point.
The first take-off attempt
with the Cub had to be aborted because it went back and forth from one
side of the runway to the other. On the second attempt, full up elevator
was held and the throttle was advanced more quickly. It only required a
little right rudder as it picked up speed and the elevator was released.
The tail lifted and a little up elevator was added and it lifted off. On
the next flight, full up elevator was held too long and full throttle was
reached too soon and the Cub lifted off almost immediately.
The Cub needed only two clicks
of right aileron and three clicks of up elevator to fly straight and level
at about 1/3 throttle. The Cub appeared very scale like in flight while
cruising at 1/3 throttle. There was a full size Piper Cub flying around
the perimeter of the field and the model looked very similar and flew in
a similar manner. The Cub will also do non-scale maneuvers like loops,
rolls, immelmanns, and split S's. Rolls require that plenty of altitude
is gained before the maneuver because it takes a good bit of time to roll
all the way over.
With the Saito 56 GK, 17 minutes
of flight time is standard with the 8 ounce fuel tank while cruising at
about 1/4 to 1/2 throttle. This is outstanding. The Saito 56 with a Zinger
13x5 prop and Cool Power 15% fuel seems to be a perfect match for the Hangar
9 Cub. It has plenty of power to pull the Cub off the runway quickly or
to get out of trouble. After the engine was broken in and the needle valve
adjusted, no further adjustments were made for the rest of the day which
amounted to seven or eight flights.
This Hangar 9 Cub kit is about
9 months old and may be slightly different from the new kits. Some of the
minor problems may have been corrected in the newer kits. The problems
that have been described should not deter anyone from buying this kit but
should help in avoiding or correcting the problems. Most of the modifications
that were made to the model were made strictly as a matter of preference.
This is an excellent kit.
