Top Flite J-3 Piper Cub - Manual (Page 2)

INTRODUCTION
Top Flite is proud to present it's large, scale version of the legend-
ary J-3 PIPER CUB. Few aircraft in the history of aviation have
had the overall appeal of this rugged, good-looking little airplane.
"Cubs" have been used in a wide variety of roles including; train-
er, bush plane, ranch work, crop duster, float plane, military and
just for all-around fun. The gentle "lightly-loaded" flying charact-
eristics of the original J-3 Cub have been faithfully reproduced
for you with this kit.
In the "clipped wing" configuration, your Cub takes on a some-
what more acrobatic nature. The full scale "clipped wing" Cub
has been the star performer of many an airshow and some of this
country's best-known acrobatic pilots such as Bevo Howard,
Pappy Spinks, Charlie Hillard, Pete Meyers, etc....started their
acrobatic careers in "clipped wing" Cubs.
Our kit offers you the choice of building either the full-span J-3
or the "clipped wing" variant. The only changes needed to build
the "clipped wing" version is to shorten the wing as shown on the
plans and to shorten the length and mounting angle of the struts.
With either version, your Cub will be an outstanding scale model
of the real thing, with flight characteristics to match. When your
Cub is covered with Top Flite's PIPER YELLOW FABRIKOTE.
no additional finishing will be necessary. Even the one piece
molded cowl has been color-coordinated to the FabriKote and it,
too, is ready-to-use without the need of paint. FabriKote will
also give your Cub a tremendous amount of structural integrity
by virtue of it's ability to shrink drum-tight and stay that way.
The construction of the Cub is straight-forward and only requires
attention to both the plans and this instruction manual. Since
the Cub contains so much open structure to duplicate the
original, techniques such as accurate joints and complete glueing
are very important.
GLUE JOINTS
Our prototypes were built using a variety of adhesives - aliphatic
resin, cyanoacrylate and 5—minute epoxy. We recommend that
you use any or all of these as you require.
The tools required to build the Cub are those found in the average
modeler's workshop. You should have a work surface that is large
enough to accomodate an airplane of this size, and it must be flat!
"Beaver board" or Celotex is an excellent surface to work on as
it readily accepts pins. Sharp, single edge razor blades, an X-acto
knife, a power drill and bits, T-pins, a good metal straight-
edge, soldering iron, hobby saws, sanding blocks and a variety of
sandpaper grades will be used in construction.
When removing the die-cut parts from their sheets, always keep an
X-acto knife handy. Do not force these parts from the sheet, use
the knife to carefully cut on the outline of the part and then
gently remove them. Remove only the parts that you require for
a particular construction sequence, leave the others in place until
needed. Touch-up sand any of the parts that may need it and
always trial-fit the parts in place before glueing, some trimming
may be required. The technique of double glueing all joints,
especially in an airplane of this size is advisable
1
The construction sequence in the instruction manual has been
proven to provide quick and accurate assembly. Do not deviate
from the instruction manual. Read through the manual first
while reviewing the plans BEFORE starting actual construct-
ion. Often this will clear-up questions that might not be under-
stood during construction.
Our production prototypes of the J-3 Cub used standard front-
rotor .40 engines with mufflers. Props used were Top Flite 11 -4
Power Props. Radios were standard 4-channel types with medium
output servoes. Our airplanes were covered completely with Top
Flite's PIPER YELLOW FabriKote (see box label). Calculated
data on our prototypes is as follows:
STANDARD SPAN J-3 "CLIPPED-WING"
795 Sq. Ins. Wing Area
Weight
Wing Loading 595 Sq. Ins.
72 Ozs.
17.43 Ozs./Sq. Ft.
76 Ozs.
13.77 Ozs./Sq. Ft.
WING
These instructions apply to both the "clipped wing" and full-span
wings. The "clipped wing" version requires that W-1/W-2/W-3
root rib lamination be moved outboard to the position shown on
the plans, sheeting applied like the root section shown, the inter-
plane eyelets be moved outboard on the W-13's and the struts
shortened accordingly. The instructions assume that you will
build both wing panels simultaneously.
1. a. Glue wingtip pieces W-16, W-17 and W-18 together and
allow to dry.
b. Glue aileron bellcrank tray supports AT-1 to ribs W-6 and
W-7. Note these parts face each other in the rib bay be-
tween ribs W-6 and W-7.
c. Glue the 1/16" thick W-3 (PLY) rib to the inside of the
1/4" balsa W-2 rib. Note there is a right and a left W-2/W-3
laminate, one for each wing panel.
d. Trim the wingtip ends of both 1/4" x 5/8" x 36" main
spars and both 1/4" x 3/8" x 36" rear spars as shown on
plans.
2. Using the 4 pieces of 1/4" x 5/8" x 21" balsa provided, cut 2
aileron spars as shown on the plans — these are 19-3/8" long.
Pin these directly to the plan, between rib location W-4 and
W-9. The 2 remaining pieces will become the aileron leading
edges. Trim these to 19-5/16" long. Using a few "dots" of
glue, tack glue these pieces directly to the back of the aileron
spar already in place and secure with pins. (Refer to the rib/
aileron cross-section on plans.)