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I am sure that back in 1931 when William T. Piper bought out the bankrupt Taylor Brothers Aircraft Company for $ 761.00, he did not think his airplane would have touched the hearts of so many people in the modeling community for so long. Yet, its boxy shape, giant wings and honest, un-assuming flight characteristics has done just that for the last 70+ years.
The J-3 cub went through many changes to evolve to where it is today. Engine horsepower was increased, electrical systems were added, wings were “clipped” for more aerobatic rolls and costs increased. In 1938, you could own your own cub for $1300.00 dollars. Today, a Giant Scale J-3 model could cost twice that to put into the air.
Both the full-size Cub and its many large and small modeling versions share the original airplane’s easy flight capabilities and majestic appearance as they carve a stately path through the sky.
Smaller J-3 Cub models fly just as well as their larger cousins, not always true of some model aircraft. However, small engines can be more difficult to properly tune and keep running. This factor has always limited the popularity of Cubs with wingspans under ~45 inches. But With today’s boon of electric power, everyone should have a small J-3 Cub in their fleet. At 41 inches, the ElectriFly J-3 sport-scale ElectriCub is a good example of modern Cubs that can be flown anywhere by anyone.
The ElectriFly J-3 Cub meets all the aircraft requirements of the Academy of Model Aeronautics’ (AMA) Park Pilot Program. The aircraft weighs less than 2 pounds (the Program’s upper weight limit) and has a level top speed under 60 mph (the Program’s upper speed limit). For complete Park Pilot aircraft details, follow this link.
The AMA Park Pilot Program offers non-AMA members the opportunity to become AMA members at a much reduced cost. Park Pilot membership includes a great magazine “Park Pilot”, $500,000 personal liability insurance, $2.5 million liability insurance for the flying field owner (see insurance details) and membership in the world’s largest sport aviation association – the AMA. For complete information and details about Park Pilot membership, just click here.
Photo 1
Let’s start with the box, which was nicely packed. Upon opening, you are greeted with that famous cub-yellow wing. I continued to go thru the box checking things out. The only item that was damaged was the cowl, more on this later. I had misplaced the manual since I was reading it long before I unpacked the entire kit. Always try to return the instruction manual back into the kit until it is time to build the airplane. Fortunately, ElectriFly understands that we modelers can’t resist reading about our new airplane long before we start building it. So they make all their instruction manuals available on-line at no cost and that is where I got my replacement instructions.
This Cub has a 41-inch wingspan with 269 sq inches of wing area. It is powered by an included T-280 size motor with a 3.5:1 gearbox energized by a 9.6 volt- 650mah NIMH battery pack. The supplied propeller is a 10 in. x 7 in. electric style.
Now let's move on to the building. I was impressed that there were no wrinkles in the plastic covering which, on this airplane, is Super Monokote. The ARF wooden wing’s construction is straightforward. I used some of Bob Smiths epoxy and CAA for the construction. First, glue the dihedral brace together and let it dry. It took a small amount of sanding to get a good fit with the dihedral brace and the wing halves. Always test fit wing braces into both wing halves before applying the glue.
 
Photo 2 Photo 3
With one-half of the wing on a flat table, a block was used to set the dihedral at 3 ¾ inches from table top to the bottom of the raised wing tip. Once happy with the fit, I mixed up some 15-minute epoxy, put some on the brace, and more into each slot in the wing and on the roots of each wing halve. With this all slid together, some tape was placed on the leading and trailing edge to hold them in place until the epoxy cured (photo 3). I wiped off any excess epoxy and cleaned the residue with some alcohol on a paper towel.
Photo 4
Okay, while all this was drying I did a little repair work on the cowl. It had arrived with a few cracks from shipping damage. ElectriFly would have been happy to provide a replacement cowl at no charge, but I was eager to get the small Cub into the air. So I matched the cracks up and placed clear tape on the inside to cover the cracks and to provide a larger gluing area for the CAA adhesive.
I then took some medium CAA on my finger (wear a thin rubber glove for this and protect your eyes while providing good ventilation), rubbed it over the tape and surrounding area inside the cowling and then sprayed it with CAA accelerator to stiffen it up. Photo 4 shows that this minor repair is invisible from the exterior. Never apply the adhesive to the outside surface when performing such a repair.
The landing gear was very easy to make and install. Make sure you have a good sharp #11 hobby knife blade to make the cut outs in the covering material for the wing dowels and the battery door cooling holes. The holes themselves are already cut but the covering must be removed over each hole.
The elevator is already hinged to the horizontal stabilizer, as is the rudder to the vertical fin. The hinging material appears to be clear Super Monokote. Both surfaces have more than enough movement.
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