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The next set of plans are from Scale Plans-Photo Service, headed by Jim Pepino, 3209 Madison Avenue, Greensboro, North Carolina 27403. These plans are on the venerable J-3 CUB, but with a NEW twist. It can be converted to a Piper PA-11 and can be purchased with a set of plans for Scale Edo Floats. Cost of the Float plans is $10.00 and the J-3 plans can be had for $20.00 or both can be purchased together for $27.00.
These plans rival those of BOB NELITZ of Cedarbridge Scale plans of the J-3. In fact these plans and the plane built from them placed FIRST at the North Carolina State Championships in 1985. These plans come in two sheets with the third sheet having the float drawings.
On the FIRST Sheet: the Fuselage and rudder are shown, along with cut away drawings of the PA-11 and J-3. This is not a typical model airplane. Jim has put a lot of thought and engineering into this with a lot of building and flying experience also, which is more tham I can say for some kits on the market today. Fuselage basic framework is built from 3/8" square medium hard balsa. Formers are 1/8" balsa and stringers are spruce. The cabin area which is a weak point on the J-3 model is very well beefed up and should pose no problems. There is a full sized right hand view of the cabin area showing the door and how to install one that works. The front of the cabin in the windshield area is beefed up with wire braces that go to almost the bottom of the fuselage. An OS Gemini twin cylinder four stroke engine is recommended, and the engine cowling can be purchased from Fiberglass Master*.
The landing gear is made two ways: Scale or just the normal wire gear. I think it would be a shame not to make the scale gear, as the drawing looks like it would work exactly as the real one. The wheels used are DuBro quarter scale Cub wheels. Fin and rudder are built up of balsa with a laminated 1/16" ply core around the perimeter for stiffness. Even the stab incidence position is shown and would be very easy to make this so it could be servo operated and trim could be changed in flight. Tailwheel is a slightly modified CB unit and is scale in looks and the way it works. Float attachment fittings are shown on the fuselage, along with the functional strut fittings. Empennage strut fittings are also shown in the correct position.
The SECOND Plan Sheet has the wing and stab drawings, with rib patterns shown. The stab and elevator are constructed the same as the fin and rudder. 1/16" ply outline laminated with balsa to make it very strong.
Only the left wing panel is shown. The wing has two "I" beam spars of 3/8" square spruce with 1/4" balsa webbing, making it very torsion resistant. The ailerons I really like. They are not typical model construction. They have recessed hinge line and are rounded on the leading edge top and front making them a true friese type. Much more effective than the typical model type and disturb the airflow much less. The wing struts and jury struts are also very well thought out and are made from hardwood sanded to shape or buy from Hobby Lobby ready made. I guess, here I would opt for K&B streamlined aluminum tubing. I hate sanding wood to airfoil shape. But then have you ever built an airplane that you didn't change something on? That is, change it from what the plan shows.
Plan Sheet Number THREE: shows the scale Edo Floats. The floats are 45 1/2" long and about 6 1/2 wide, with, plywood bulkheads where the struts fasten on. They are sheeted on top and bottom with 1/8" balsa and 1/4" sides. Rudder hookup is also shown along with the fuselage sub fin. Very good looking floats and practical too! Exact scale, not square boxes.
If I were to build a J-3 or a Super Cub, I would not
hesitate to build this one, this is an excellent plan set. I would guess
the weight to be about 15 pounds with a span of 100 inches and a wing
area of 1600 squares, giving a wing loading of about 21.5 ounces. The
OS Gemini 1.20 should fly it very nicely.