HobbyKing® ™ J3 Cub - Plug and Fly (Blue)

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Customer Rated

Oct 05, 2013

the design of the landing gear and battery box arrangement is too weak for the weight of the plane in my opinion. I removed the box and in its place glued a ply cover ,made a one piece 25 though 2024 T 3 alloy undercart ,pushed the axles 15 mm further fwd and fitted large diameter Dubro balloon wheels . I removed the rear plastic cover and made a new one out of the same alloy with longitudinal cooling slits. The esc ,battery and receiver are all accessed from this cover . This was done out of the box so I can't comment on its original configuration flight characteristics . It's a superb ,stable ,forgiving and predictable little plane . The alloy undercarriages absorb a lot of load with modest rebound. If you slam it harder on landing there is enough give (the undercarriage folds but is easily straightened in two seconds and you are off again)to absorb impact protecting fuselage ,cowling etc. I have done many flights and is still as new. The large tires allow it to take off and land on pretty rough surfaces with out dramas.

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Customer Rated

Sep 09, 2013

A very nice model that flies very nice and easy. Half throttle is enough to scale fly it around. Full throttle will make it go straight up in the sky!
Easy to build and repair.

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Customer Rated

Jul 28, 2013

Bought the Cub for my son, It arrived Thurs last week ,and we built it with no probs Thurs night. Maidened Friday. Flew beautifully with no vices ,and he was Delighted with it . Unfortunately the was an I/C Trainer flying at same time , and you can imagine what happened......In all that airspace...........a mid-air.....and they both fluttered to eath, and were written off.......It was highly manouverable ,and flew at scale speed at one third throttle.Never mind it was great as long as it lasted.Ah well rather fancy the new Hobbyking Panther 1050 mm Wingspan with retracts and sprung oleos.

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Customer Rated

Jan 22, 2013

Another great plane from HK. Arrive with no damage and went together in less than an hour!! Maiden flight yesterday with 1000ma 3c lipo and flew for 9 mins. Had to hand launch as the grass was too spongy half throttle and a gentle throw and away she went no trim required. flying in fairly strong winds and handles like a dream. like most cubs it was tail heavy so make sure you balance her before you take it to the flying field. I had to add 35grm to the nose and this balanced it perfectly. The only reason I gave 4 crowns for quality was due to the bloody screw used to access the battery compartment. Replaced this with a clip from an ond J3 - Green and works perfectly. The plan will fly slow or fast if you want and is capable of great barrel rolls and loops and will also easily fly inverted. great plane for a beginner and fun for intermediate or advanced flyers. do yourself a favour and get one!!!!

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Customer Rated

Jan 02, 2013

This is a great plane, albeit with a couple of (one very major) short-comings. Firstly, the good:

- This cub flies very nicely, and stably with sufficient power.
- The level is detail is fantastic (although the amount of scale detail breakable plastic makes it an intermediate plane in my opinion).
- Easy to put together, well boxed, no problems.

Unfortunately, it has a major design flaw: no supporting rod in the main wing, which being foam, is rather weak. This resulted in a wing fold-up and plane to lawn-dart conversion on my second flight while doing a gentle loop (the first I tried). Examination of the wing showed that it was nothing except foam.

Additionally, the battery cover uses a screw to open it, which is screwed into soft plastic that will fairly quickly become useless.

That said, HK is very cheap, and with some CF inserted into the main wing, and the battery hatch converted to velcro or similar, it's a wonderful model to fly, and I would recommend purchasing it for a relaxing flier - just so long as you strengthen the wing.

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Customer Rated

Sep 08, 2012

Is arrived in good conditions. Good quality... but fix front gear wheels or you will loose it! Good price at all!

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Customer Rated

Aug 18, 2012

Fantastic little bird, only the gear is too weak and wrong fixed on the shaft and need to modify, but this is not a big problem for this price. My J3 arrived with stock 1300Kv brushless motor and with 1600 mAh /20C Turnigy Lipo. 8 minutes flytime was the first round. Good. :) But do not forget, that the gear fixing need attention otherwise you will lose that by the first flying.

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Customer Rated

Aug 16, 2012

Having more and more fun with this plane the more I fly. Quite stable in the air, fast enough, basic acrobatics. Looks fantastic on slow and fast flyby and even managed to pull off a few slow rolls.

The downside: Heavy, plus needs a lot of weight in the nose to balance on suggested CoG. Landing gear deforms easily even on the best landings.

I ripped the gear off and now use as a belly lander, 10 landings still have original prop! Floats in to land well dead-stick.

Overall 4 Crowns as there are better beginner planes for the $$.

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Customer Rated

Jul 01, 2012

Flew mine for the first time today flew great a little tail heavy with the 1300 lipo I got from hk as well.added some weights to the front then it flew pretty well. Only rated it low for quality cause the wheels keep coming off well the left side only.
This plane didn't do good off grass as well didn't do too bad with the hand launch and once it was in the air it flew great.Nice and slow perfect for a beginner.

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Certified Buyer Rated

Jun 15, 2012

Fles like a dream. Great quality at the price. Only comment is that for beginners the instructions Are missing a few steps. Other than that, all parts are good. I will be changing battery compartment closing from screw to clip as it is a little frustrating to change battery.