Chuck and Ryan's Build Tips

[ceslaw]

Door Fitment

Fitting the door was a pleasant surprise. Just a couple of swipes of the opening on the aft side and the locking mechanism worked perfectly holding the door in place snug with no movement at all. On the inside the door edge was straight and true with a consistent gap. On the outside, however, there was a small problem.

The gap on the leading edge varied from an eighth inch at the top to a quarter inch at the bottom. The aft edge had a similar issue, although not as bad. Since the door will be painted white and silver, the gap would be noticeable. To solve the problem a bit of Rage Light Weight filler (the same stuff used to smooth the stringers before the fuselage was covered) was used adding an eighth of an inch at the bottom tapering it down towards the top. The gap is now even on the leading and aft edges.


Masking tape provided a reference for the thickness of the filler when it was applied.

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[ceslaw]

Stripes

Here is how we applied the stripes. Note that Cub Crafters has specifications regarding the location of the stripes on the Drop Box site.

1. Fill a quart spray bottle with distilled water. Add a few drops of dish soap and a couple table spoons of denatured alcohol.

2. Trim the top edge of the top stripe while the backing paper is in place exactly even with the stripe.

3. Wipe down the fuselage where the stripe will go with denatured alcohol to make sure it is absolutely clean.

4. Apply ¾ pieces of masking tape (about an inch long or so) even with the bottom of the adjacent paint line at about 18” intervals. This defines the spacing of the stripe.

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5. Tape the stripe with green or blue masking tape, with the paper backing in place, on the top edge only, exactly even with the bottom of the masking tape spacers. This will pinpoint the location of the stripe. Put these tapes about a foot apart to make sure the paper backing with the stripe stays put.

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6. Now gently lift the stripe with the backing still intact from the bottom edge and begin removing the paper packing from the adhesive side of the stripe. While holding it up after the backing is removed, spray the area where it will be applied with the water solution. Try not to get the water on the paper being removed because it can dissolve and leave a residue on the sticky surface of the tape. Now gently set the adhesive side of the stripe in place. Do NOT apply pressure just yet.

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7. Work your way the length of the tape until you get to the opposite end. Now use a squeegee or rag on the backing to push the stripe in place and remove the bubbles, if any.

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8. With the stripe stuck in place, spray the paper backing with more water solution. By this time the masking tape spacers and the outside backing will be getting pretty soggy and will come off easily.

9. With the stripe in place and the backing removed, gently wipe the stripe with a micro fiber towel dampened with the water solution. Don’t worry about small bubbles. They will disappear over time, especially once it gets out in the sun.

10. We pre trimmed the areas around the hinges and applied each section separately.

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11. The lower stripe is done in the same fashion, but because the spacing tapers from about four inches at the rear to ¾ at the front, fewer spacing tapes are needed. Just measure the length, divide it in to roughly equal quadrants, than place spacing tapes that taper consistently front to rear. At the front make sure to keep the distance at 3/4" to match the spacing of the top tape.

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[ceslaw]

I am suffering from empty garage syndrome.

The Cub left the nest and headed to the hanger this week.

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[Cubrath]

Looks good Chuck! Not only does the airplane leave but almost every tool you have will end up in the hangar as well!

I didn't even have enough tools at home to fix my kids bike the other day!

[ceslaw]

Looks good Chuck! Not only does the airplane leave but almost every tool you have will end up in the hangar as well!

I didn't even have enough tools at home to fix my kids bike the other day!

So true. Made three trips to the hanger yesterday because of the tools I forgot on the previous trip. Good thing it is only ten minutes away.

[ceslaw]

Window Frames

The left and right window frames lined up very well when first installed and probably no adjustment was needed. There was perhaps a 1/16 to 1/8” variation from top to bottom and from side to side. But making them both fit perfectly was easy, so we took a few extra minutes to fabricate a couple of spacers.

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A 1/16” thick by 5 ¼” aluminum spacer was cut and drilled with holes to match the four mounting holes. On the left the spacer was placed on the front support and on the right it was placed on the rear support. The result was nearly perfect spacing of the window frames within the openings.

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AN525-832R8 screws were substituted for the specified AN525-832R7 to compensate for the thickness of the spacer.

[c130jake]

Next time I am following you by a month. You guys do great work!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[ceslaw]

Thanks Jake! You are getting close to that first flight.

[ceslaw]

Flaps / Ailerons


The ends of the flaps and ailerons are covered with a piece of aluminum tape. The tape usually found at home supply stores recommended by Cub Crafters is rather thin. Auto parts suppliers sell a heavier aluminum tape called Metal Mend Tape which worked quite well.

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[ceslaw]

Wings hung

Wednesday, with help of a couple experienced builders, we hung the wings. Once we got started it took all of twenty minutes to get the ‘bullets’ in place.

Saturday, with the help of a couple of builders, we aligned the wings and placed the bolts.

Without any adjustment, only the ‘pre set’ per the manual, the dihedral was spot on. The distance from the alignment string to the spar was within 1/32” of 3” on both sides. I am constantly amazed at the precision with which this kit is manufactured.

The washout required two turns of the aft strut on both sides to bring both within a tenth of a degree of perfect.

A job that I had been anticipating with some degree of apprehension went well. We are on the final stretch.

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