I want to add floats

[pschultheis]

Ok, I am very new to RC planes but have been flying the heck out of my Cub. I LOVE IT!!!

So as the Cub is about to be retired for an aileron trainer I want to add floats to it to keep it interesting. I am going to purchase the GWS kit which seems like the way to go. So my question. I have read the threads but am a little concerned about center of gravity. Can someone explain to me how to setup the plane with these floats as it relates to CG?

Thanks,

Paul

[jiml]

In general floats for these size planes should be set up so the 'float step' is about one half inch behind the center of gravity.
I have mine set that way and they work fine. I don't have gws floats, I made some from foam using jimsp's diy design.
Others in this forum use gws floats and I believe they use this setup.

[gorillacub]

What is the propper set up for the angle of attack for the floats? got a set of GWS. does the wood strip in the top of the float just need to be parallel with the bottom of the wing? Seems like when I've seen real float planes, the floats seem to be angled down a bit when the plane is flying level.

[mizzarty]

Do it with the 1/2 inch step back. the white with blue one (mine) in the pic is set at that and it sits a little farther back. My buddies is at the stock gws location, and wow the prop chop he creates in the water is nuts!!!



this isn't the greatest shot but you can kinda see the difference in the way they sit in the water

[jiml]

gorillacub,
From all I've read the angle of attack for the wing should be about 3 degrees when the floats are on step ( for the SC with 7.2 inch wing, this means the front of the wing should be about 3/8 inch higher than the back). I use this with my SC and diy floats and it works fine.
Another measure I've read is that you should have a 7 degree angle of attack when the floats are resting on both the step and the back end. (about 7/8 inch for the SC). This is so the plane can lift off without the back of the floats dragging too much. Mine is more than 7 degrees.
Not sure if this means the top of the gws floats are parallel with the plane.
Here is what mine looks like with diy floats. I think my floats angle down a little.

[mizzarty]

those DIY floats turned out so wicked awesome!!!

And remember with the gws floats to do the 10" rods to separate just like the gws float thread states. I did mine with 12" rods, and man does it ever stay level in the water. It doesn't look 'as to scale' as the 10" separation, but if the wing dips, it just pops right back up. I was on youtube watching a guy attempting to taxi his beaver with the factory width, it's kinda funny lol.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL-dFLBwvdQ