Kelly,

The Cub was stripped down to the last nut and bolt and all metal components sanded/primed/painted. The paint will be stock J-3 colors and scheme as requested by my son, John. The finish coat will be polyurethane.

I would invite all posts of Cubs; it won't distract, just give everyone a better idea of the genre' if you will.

Like I said, I anticipate about $35,000 for the rebuild excluding the new TXP/ADS-B out/ and new comm radio. We had to replace about $8,000 of components that we found "worn". Considering the price of any "Cub" new at 150k, seems cheap. Of course no new one is a member of the family like this one.

Jgreen

You are going to have a showpiece, that is very time consuming and their is an art to hanging the fabric back on. Roger Meagher in Baker MT http://bakerairservice.com/
is the guru up in this part of the world and I don't know that he is taking any outside projects. So your guys are very competitive and I'm sure we'd have a few things outside of norm also. I wish you were a little closer but that would make for a fun trip out I'm sure!! Thankyou, I agree J3's should be solid yellow, but some of the PA18's dressed up like the new cubcrafters can be eyecatching also. I like blue but here is a pic of my friends with a scheme that I like:

Well, it is progressing.

Beautiful cub yellow!!

JGG,

Wow! It really is really coming along. You must be getting excited!

JKM,

I will be happy to get back in the Cub. I hope to have it ready by the time John Jr. comes home for Thanksgiving.

Jgreen

John, I was looking at maybe getting a little Cub or something I thought - just as a second, fun plane I could use to ride in locally or when the big bird is in for maintenance. To and from the shop kind of thing. So I sauntered over to the ads and…

HOLY CRAP!

These little Cubs go for like $80K+ these days!!!!!

Too rich for me. So hold on to it!

I am a cub guy, but Champs are a much better value. If you want a screw off airplane for not so much money look at Champs and older Citabrias. Not as much nostalgia premium in the prices.

Nostalgia is more expensive than Beech parts!

Sounds like you were looking at PA-18 (super cub) and not the good ole J3...?

Adam,

You can pay a lot or a little for a J-3, and you will get what you pay for most times. Actually, though I own the Cub and have now for over 20 years, an old Aeronca Champ is the "better" plane for just flying. it is easier to get into and has more room. I learned to fly in a Champ and 172 when I was only eleven years old.

Jgreen

Well, she is done. There is going to be some detailing and a fair amount of avionics installs to make her ADSB out compliant, but that will come.

I'm buying insurance tomorrow and she will be test flown this week by Corey. I'll pick her up next week and the 2nd generation of her life with me will begin.

I bought her 21 years ago to teach John and Grant to fly.

Now, Little Hugh's turn, but he is only 4.

The limiting factor now is the time left to me. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

I'll post more and better pics when I get her home.

Jgreen

Start Little Hugh young.
Is there an age restriction for taking instruction?

John, you are tempting me terribly. I also learned in Cubs at age 12, as my family had two sprayers at their cotton ranches on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande (XB-FIH and XB-TIK). Natch, my older cousin, who already had his own (US registered) Cub got me started "unofficially" at the farms, where we would visit on weekends. The flight lessons came to a sudden stop when the Mexicans living nearby lodged a complaint with the local commandante about getting really low buzz jobs from us. The scolding from our parents was as severe as the fun we had, as routing women and chickens out of their houses was way more exciting than drag racing on the American side.
I keep one last cattle ranch in the mountains of the Sierra Madre, and even though my 180 can handle it, (900 feet at 5,800 MSL), I still kind of want to go back to the Cub days. Sooo, I keep looking at PA 18's with 31'' tundra tires.
I think it's called going full circle.... what fun.
Your Cub is beautiful; I really admire the family legacy.
Regards,

Tom

Tom,

We long for constants in life which is, of course, always changing.

The Cub is what it is: flying in its simplest form. It exemplifies the feeling we all felt when we first took the controls of an airplane: freedom. Freedom to move and soar seemingly with the restrictions of earth and gravity at bay.

My first touch of the controls was in the spring of 1960, in a Piper Super Cruiser. I was only eleven years old, but at that moment, in many ways, I ceased being a child because I was something else, a pilot. The man who let me take those controls was Glen See. His face, his name and that moment are embedded in my mind until my last breath.

Life doesn't allow many "constants", but, for me, flying was the exception. I shared it with my mother, who became a pilot, and my father, my wife and my sons.

I bought the Cub to teach John and Grant to fly and got my CFI and CFII because they wanted no other instructor.

Grant soloed this airplane one summer afternoon when he was 14. It was a moment and a passion we shared literally until an hour before his death. We were texting and he asked me how good a pilot I was. I texted back: "adequate".

Are these thoughts and recollections logical? Do they flow? No, they simply expound on something that I shared with those who I loved most.

I hope to be Little Hugh's teacher. I hope he will remember me in a special way when I'm gone and he's older; not just a distant granddad, but a mentor, a teacher, a sharer, and a common spirit.

The Cub is a constant because it enables those dreams.

Jgreen