Experimenter

November 2012

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.

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Mike Finney's Cl ipped Wing Cub dance, and the square seat, although being easier to build, makes that dance just a bit more difficult." The Cub has always been about simplicity and utility, but a few of its features, like the baggage area behind the rear seat, for instance, border on being downright crude. The baggage bin in Mike's airplane, however, is anything but crude. The old lawnmower bag has been replaced with a nicely done aluminum box structure that maximizes the room but protects the fuselage side fabric at the same time. If you decide to try Mike's Cub on for size and climb on board, as you're settling into the European leather back seat, you'll have to move the control stick to get clear- ance for your leg. That's part of the getting-in dance. And the second you touch the stick, you realize that Mike made another major change: He removed about 90 percent of the friction in the control system, and the control stick moves as if it's stuck in butter. Or in a Pitts. It's amazing! The old sawing-wood feel of a Cub is completely gone! "That was easier to do than it sounds," he said. "I just lined all the fair leads up as perfectly as possible and replaced all the pulleys in the control system with ball bearing units normally found in Luscombes. I knew that would clean up the system, but I was really pleased when I felt the final result. It makes for a nice- feeling airplane." One of Mike's cleverest mods, and one seldom, if ever, seen is also the most subtle and difficult to spot. Stock- clipped Cubs must suffer the indignity of having a notch cut in the top of their bottom door about 3 inches wide and an inch or so deep. This in turn requires a match- ing cover plate be attached to the top half of the door to cover the hole when closed. The notch is necessary for the bottom door to clear the struts that are at a steeper angle when the wings are clipped. Mike's airplane doesn't have that notch, but almost no one is going to notice it's missing. However, Mike will. Next to naming babies and picking spouses, deciding on a paint scheme can be the most diffi cult decision in most homebuilders' lives. Not so Mike and his Cub. "That's another beautiful thing about building your own fuselage," he said. "I just raised the lower doorsill a little, which allows the door to go all the way down and clear the struts without the notch. Again, a simple thing that can only be done to an experimental airplane." The Wag-Aero wing plans are very Cub-like but depart in the construction of the ribs: Rather than being truss ribs made out of a funky aluminum T-shaped T e seats in Mike's Cub are more square, like a Super Cub, than a typical Cub. T at doesn't make it any easier to get in and out of, but they are comfortable. 18 NO. 3/NOVEMBER 2012

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