1400mm eBay Super Decathalon
 

I picked one of these up for about $45 shipped. Several sellers are selling all kinds of Chinese-made stuff (cars, planes, motors, etc) at no reserve and free shipping and there are stupid deals to be had. So anyway I picked one of these up thinking it would be a fun knock around aerobat. If it turned out to be junk, then I was only out a few bucks.

I got the plane quick and I must say I am surprised at how nice it is. The covering is flawless. Just buying three rolls of Monokote to cover this thing would put you over $40. It is built very light but very strong. I got the recommended motor (3526 1,100kV outrunner) from the same seller for like $7 shipped. I used my own 40 amp ESC, Hitec HS-85MG servos and 3S 2,200 mAh Li-Po.

The only issue I ran into is that the motor mount has quite a bit of downthrust but the cowl is painted/stripped as if it had none, so it did not line up. I trimmed the lip of the motor mount box and moved the motor up about 1/4 inch. I also put two washers to remove some of the downthrust. I also replaced the tailwheel gear with smaller, more light-weight stuff.

I maidened it today and it flies awesome. I have it with maxed-out throws and it snaps and spins better than my PA Ultimate. The removal of the downthrust does make it climb under power, so I will mix it out. It glides extremely well and is very well behaved at low speeds, and who doesn't like a Super Decathalon?

Highly recommend, lots of bang for the buck.

P.S. For whatever reason it is not called a Super Decathalon in those eBay auctions, but a "1400mm Stable Type Wood Remote Control Aircraft High Performance" in case you want to search for it.