Great Planes Piper J-3 Cub 60 Kit - GPMA0162 - Manual (Page 41)

D 16 Fill the seams on the outside of the cowl Bondo® or
similar automotive filler works well Decide if you will be
using the dummy engine mounted on the cowl See the
"scale details" section of the manual (page 41) Otherwise,
the cowl is ready for priming and painting
Fill any scuffs, dings, or scratches with balsa filler Sand
the wing, fuselage and tail surfaces with progressively finer
sandpaper, ending with 320 to 400 grit.
Many smaller "dings" or dents in the balsa wood may
easily be removed Before reaching for the filler, try
dabbling a little water on the dent Use a sponge or wet
your finger The balsa will swell, thus eliminating the
dent. After the area has dried, final sand
The Great Planes Cub 60 was not designed to be a "Top
Gun" Expert Scale qualifier And frankly, the full size Piper
Cub itself doesn't have many intricate details However,
with a little extra time and effort (building is fun, right
7
) you
can duplicate a few key details on your Great Planes Cub
60 that will really finish the job and restore the nostalgic
feeling of the Piper Cub from days gone by (I need
a tissue).
wire and pinched at the end Then a hole is drilled for the
4-40 bolts The struts and suspension attachment brackets
are then primed and painted Cub Yellow before the
simulated bungee cord and boots are added To represent
the bungee cord covered with the boot, we added balsa
pieces to the struts Carve the balsa to an irregular shape,
then cover them with black heat shrink tubing.
The gas cap was carved from a dowel, primed, then
painted Cub Yellow The fuel gauge is simply a piece of
1/16" music wire bent and inserted in a hole drilled through
the middle of the gas cap (yup, that's what they
looked like).
The step for the cabin door is simply a piece of 1/16" or
074 wire bent to shape, then glued into two holes drilled
through the fuselage sheet. Be sure the wire clears the
wing strut attachments
This was turned on a lathe from an aluminum spinner nut,
primed, then painted with Cub Yellow epoxy paint
The full size J-3 Cub had landing gear struts with a "bungee
cord" that served as a shock absorber The bungee cord
was covered with a "boot" You can make your landing gear
struts functional, or just for display Our landing gear struts
were fashioned from 5/32" brass tube, 032" (1/32") brass
sheet, 1/8" music wire and 4-40 nuts and bolts See the
wing plan for details and templates of the brass attachment
brackets. The 5/32" tubing is silver soldered to the music
D 1 The false cabin floor was made from 1/8" lite-ply (not
supplied) and the template on the plan Make four cabin floor
support blocks from scrap hardwood and glue them to the
fuselage sides against the upper fuselage side doubler.
Shim the blocks with 1/8" balsa to raise the false floor Use
#2 x 3/8" S/M screws to hold the floor to the support blocks.
41