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NEW project Building 2 supercubs from scratch, is building two better than one ?

cdenora

Registered User
Leon Mexico
Hello , I apologize if this is a repeated question , I am new in the forum and would like to get some advise, we have the crazy idea to build 2 supercubs from scratch.

My brother and I are planning to build a super cub from scratch, and we finally decided that it would probably be much better to build two at the same time to take advantage of the shipping , buying bulk, jigs etc.

We really have not totally explored the forum ir so maybe there is a lot of information already out there ( we have not found it yet ).

We would like to know where would be the best place to buy all the bulk material at once to get the best deal possible.

Also I have not been able to find a modern list of materials except for the plans but, Im sure that there must be one available any ideas ? I believe that the best way to buy all the tubes should be in the largest length possible or is there a good efficient size for the tubes to be ordered ?

As for plans is there any source to get printable 1:1 templates to build specific parts? :roll:

Hope to get some feed back or advise on the DO's and Do nots from people with previous scratch build experience

regards

Chris
 
Five buddies decided they each had to have a Bearhawk. Plans were bought, money was pooled, tubing was bought, jigs were built, fuselages, landing gear, and tailfeathers got welded up. Then one by one interest was lost, money was needed, and projects were sold. Eventually all five went to new homes. I hope you and your brother have more perseverance, ambition, and resources.
 
4130 tubing comes in 20-24 foot sticks. I would do a google search of "scratch build super cub site:supercub.org". Several build threads going here on the website. Lots of drawings available on the Northland CD sold here and on Christians website. There is more information on this website than you can ever imagine. I would suggest spending a lot of time Google searching it on specific topics followed by "site:supercub.org". Also handy to post where you live and meet some loacl Super Cub.orgers, you will be amazed at what you can learn by looking at a full scale 3D blueprint and the plus and minuses of certain modifications.
 
Charlie Becker at EAA is doing the exact same thing with another guy. I’m not sure how far along the projects are but they are scratch building two -18s at the same time. He’d be a good one to reach out to about the logistics. I’m sure you can find contact info on EAAs site.
 
Charlie Becker at EAA is doing the exact same thing with another guy. I’m not sure how far along the projects are but they are scratch building two -18s at the same time. He’d be a good one to reach out to about the logistics. I’m sure you can find contact info on EAAs site.

Yep, Charlie and John Egan, both EAA employees, are building two Super Cubs. John has a great thread here in the forums:

https://www.supercub.org/forum/showthread.php?49762-Building-a-Scratch-Built-Cub&highlight=building

Check it out, and reach out to Charlie and John by calling EAA HQ. Good guys both, and doing a great job on their Cubs.
 
Maybe buy a precut tubing kit. Difference in shipping cost would offset cutting cost and would give you a big headstart?

Glenn
 
My friends and I scratch built 3 at same time. We made every airframe part from raw material except the windshields. Mine was last to fly ten years later. Expect to invest 3000 hr per plane. Carlson aircraft and Aircraft Spruce for materials. Good luck it's a long dusty road but I enjoyed every minute.
 
Thank you Steve Im fairly new at posting stuff It is taking me some time to understand how to use the forums and stuff, I am located in Mexico so that is why I would like to buy and get everything in bulk and pretty much set up to work alone as there are no resources down here, fortunately I had a J3 cub and got to know it very well before I mistakenly sold it. currently flying my RV12 nose dragger, its ok but miss my tail dragger a lot, this is why we are trying to get the build going , we are hoping for a two year build process.
4130 tubing comes in 20-24 foot sticks. I would do a google search of "scratch build super cub site:supercub.org". Several build threads going here on the website. Lots of drawings available on the Northland CD sold here and on Christians website. There is more information on this website than you can ever imagine. I would suggest spending a lot of time Google searching it on specific topics followed by "site:supercub.org". Also handy to post where you live and meet some loacl Super Cub.orgers, you will be amazed at what you can learn by looking at a full scale 3D blueprint and the plus and minuses of certain modifications.
 
Really hope this is not my case, I have nothing but time. ( for now )
Five buddies decided they each had to have a Bearhawk. Plans were bought, money was pooled, tubing was bought, jigs were built, fuselages, landing gear, and tailfeathers got welded up. Then one by one interest was lost, money was needed, and projects were sold. Eventually all five went to new homes. I hope you and your brother have more perseverance, ambition, and resources.
 
Wow , Im hoping to utilize our manufacturing resources and get it going non stop, I really hope it will not take us that long, but again I am always very optimistic on my projects.
My friends and I scratch built 3 at same time. We made every airframe part from raw material except the windshields. Mine was last to fly ten years later. Expect to invest 3000 hr per plane. Carlson aircraft and Aircraft Spruce for materials. Good luck it's a long dusty road but I enjoyed every minute.
 
I held a job while building mine. You will save some time by building several basic airframes. Then you will be 10% done. One is Like building 5 -2000ft houses without the sweat.
You need to enjoy the process.
 
Any ideas where to buy this kit ? I am thinking of building mine as a wide body.

I don't know of kits right now, but there is VR3 Engineering that will cut and profile tubes based on drawings or plans you give them:

https://vr3.ca/industries/aviation/

If you want a wide body, you might consider the Wag Aero 2+2 built as a tandem instead of 4 place. Here is a beautiful example:

https://www.supercub.org/forum/showthread.php?39079-My-Super-CHUB!

I'm scratch building a 2+2. I bought tubing from Wicks. A short-cut for a materials list is to check out Wag Aero's site for fuselage kits for the 2+2 and the Sport Trainer--they list lengths of tubing included, etc. Then cross-reference that with Northland drawings and/or Christian Sturm's website already referenced.

As John (stknrddr) said in his build thread, going through all the tubing tables in the Northland drawings will get you started on a materials list. It is tedious that way, but I did it. For one thing, it forces you to better understand all the other drawings.

As for fittings, I cut and bent mine. No fancy templates, just some stiff card stock, rulers, protractor, and a fine pen to get the template. I made copies on my copier, double checking scale, so I could have disposable templates to glue onto steel sheet to hold them in place. You can cut them by hand, but note that cutting oil will tend to dissolve the template and loosen the glue. I finally took the time to use a center punch on curves and cut free-hand with a milling machine.

My way is slow, but it worked. I'm stubborn, I suppose, but buying fittings pre-made is a good option and nobody would fault you for that.
It probably is cost effective to buy Wag's material kit because you get pre-made fittings, even if you decide to build the SC instead of something from their plans.

BTW, I bought approximately 15% more tubing than I figured I needed. Then I bought a bit more because of various little issues like kinking a tube while bending too sharp, or realizing I was out of alignment and cutting things out to start over. So it goes.

Lot's to learn, for sure. I'm still figuring things out myself. One thing--study up on the advances made to the SC fuselage discussed on this site. The Northland drawings show an aircraft that is perfectly fine, but might have some weaknesses compared to current knowledge. Gear tubing size and gross weight are two examples.

Vic
 
I held a job while building mine. You will save some time by building several basic airframes. Then you will be 10% done. One is Like building 5 -2000ft houses without the sweat.
You need to enjoy the process.

This is pretty much the whole truth. Don't do it to save money, but because you enjoy building. For a first time the best you can do is probably 2500-3000 hours. That's a hard full-time job for a year. Many spend more time than that.
 
Its not about the money , its more about not having gaps while building because we are missing material here and there, I am in central Mexico and shipping is terrible here as a lot more stuff, so the main idea is to get as much stuff in stock and having a little extra to modify fix re make etc without having to stop everything at once. This project is 100% about passion for me not in a hurry but dont really want a 10 year deal for sure.
This is pretty much the whole truth. Don't do it to save money, but because you enjoy building. For a first time the best you can do is probably 2500-3000 hours. That's a hard full-time job for a year. Many spend more time than that.
 
Its not about the money , its more about not having gaps while building because we are missing material here and there, I am in central Mexico and shipping is terrible here as a lot more stuff, so the main idea is to get as much stuff in stock and having a little extra to modify fix re make etc without having to stop everything at once. This project is 100% about passion for me not in a hurry but dont really want a 10 year deal for sure.

Sounds like a good plan. If you have figured out your wing options, it might be good to get that stock in place too. That way, even if everything is planned out, if something interrupts fuselage building, you can work on wings. Right now I have enough different subprojects with material that there is always something that can be done right now.
 
I have not talked to them yet I figure they will be legally bound to sell their kit in the US, I looked ate their planes they are nice
Kind of curious if they are a source for materials when you need something?
 
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