Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/90184
Mike Finney's Cl ipped Wing Cub The answer to those questions is easy: Talk to Mike Finney (EAA 132617) of Albany, Indiana, and do what he has done to produce a J-3 that won Reserve Grand Champion Plans Built at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2012. Mike is not a newcomer to either sport aviation or build- ing/rebuilding airplanes. The fact that he and his wife, Sherry, were married in a Baron in solid IFR conditions while it was being flown by his father shows how deep his aviation roots run. And his Cub roots run at least that deep: He was barely out of high school when he bought his first airplane—a 1939 J-3 Cub. "I flew that old airplane a lot," Mike said. "It was a good airplane, but it was a typical Cub for the time. A little ratty around the edges but pure J-3, and I loved it. How- ever, even at that age, I kept thinking how cool it would be to have a Cub that was perfect in every way. At the time, I thought 'perfect' meant smooth and shiny. Now, however, having built an airplane or two and having flown many kinds of airplanes, my definition of 'perfect' has changed a little." Mike's life experiences have given him a better appre- ciation of what makes one airplane better than the next and have given him the realization—and this is danger- ous to say out loud—that a J-3 Cub is not absolutely perfect. Shocking, isn't it? But you only have to look at some of the details Mike worked into his scratchbuilt (yes, scratchbuilt) J-3 Cub to know that even the "Lock Haven Legend" has room for improvement. "I'm not sure exactly when I decided to build my own Cub," Mike said. "However, since I bought a set of Wag- Aero plans in 1975, I've obviously been thinking about it a long time but didn't actually start until 2000. T e modifi cation involves removing 40-½ inches from the inboard end of each wing, two rib bays each side. "Before that, I had scratchbuilt an Acro Sport II, which taught me a lot of stuff having to do with building rag and tube airplanes. I got really good at making jigs and welding. And being a biplane, an Acro Sport has a lot of ribs, so I got good at building those, too. [What Mike doesn't often mention is that Acro Sport took home the Plans Built Champion Bronze at AirVenture '94.] "Another thing the Acro Sport taught me was that I really liked being able to do light aerobatics. So, long before I started cutting metal for the Cub, I had already decided it was going to be a clipped-wing Cub, which I like better anyway regardless of the aero- batics, because they're a little faster and their higher wing loading makes them less like a whiffle ball on final." We don't know when the Reed Clipped Wing Cub STC was developed, but clipped Cubs have been on the air show circuit since the 1950s, and Cub pilots have been enjoying the added utility it gives them ever since. The modification involves removing 40-½ inches from the inboard end of each wing, two rib bays each side. This moves the ailerons to within one rib bay of the fuselage, which is the easiest way to identify whether a Cub has been clipped or not: The proportions appear so perfect that sometimes it's hard to tell. Making Improvements Mike and Sherry Finney enjoy their Reserve Grand Champion Plans Built award at AirVenture 2012. 16 NO. 3/NOVEMBER 2012 Since Mike was scratchbuilding the airplane, he could change anything he wanted without worrying about the 337/ STC hassle of changing something on a certificated J-3. And although the air- plane was going to be a J-3 in fact and spirit, it would include a lot of improve- ments that, in Mike's mind, improve on its utility by improving those items that have irritated generations of Cub pilots.