piper cub kit 303

[Gmartin]

i am having trouble figuring out how to attach the tail pieces. any help would be appreciated

[Coloradoken]

Not sure about your question.
The completed elevator (stabilizer) glues to the rear of the fuselage and the rudder to the elevator, all at right angles.
Look at the full size side view at the bottom of the plan sheet

[Bill Gaylord]

Building one right now.
As stated before, look at the plan side that shows all the stringers in place. There are short lengths of stringers to be installed that butt up against B8 and run to the aft tip of the fuselage, and must be level with the fuse center keel. There is one per side, that support the stabilizer. These stringers DO NO go into the notches on B8. Looking at the plan, it appears there are also short lengths of stringers (1 per side) that butt against B7, and insert into the notches in B8. It would probably make sense to install these first, when building the plan method. The previously mentioned stabilizer support stringers will will be glued very close to the same notch location as those stringers, but not quite 100% in line.

I constructed this just a bit differently than per plan. First, there's a large degree of positive wing incidence for an r/c bulid, which is what I'm building. It is also quite likely excessive for rubber power also. I glued a tapered stringer (pic below) to the stabilizer support area of the fuse center keel, to raise the front of the stabilizer (added positive incidence) which effectively reduces the positive wing incidence. My rule of thumb is to set the stabilizer level with the flat bottom side of the wing. The shim is about 1/32" in height at the front, tapered to zero at the rear.

Next, for a bit more strength than using stringers for the stabilizer support, I cut long triangular shaped supports from 1/16" balsa sheet that support the stabilizer, and are set level to the fuse center keel stabilizer supporting surface. This creates a solid flat surface to mount the stabilizer on. I managed to get it dead level, but if a hair off it would be easy to sand level.

[Gmartin]

Thanks for the replies. The stab doesn't seem to have much support and is confusing to me. Being a new rubber band builder is a little different from rc planes I built 20 years ago. Just got the bug to fly a plane again, but rubber power. Looks like I bought the wrong kit to start with.

[Bill Gaylord]

The 303 kit should be fine for rubber, other than maybe being a bit heavy due to necessary nose weight added. The plan CG looks a bit aft for my likings also. For rubber power, the plan stringer stab support method should be adequate, using reasonably strong stringers. The stringers only run from the last former to the fuse end, making it possible to use stronger stringers in that area without adding the weight of running them the entire fuse length.