brschmid

i've flown full scale Decathlons, the mode'sl empennage looks the same as the empennage on the full scale.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

The wing on the GP is symetrical and has +2 deg incedence. The stab (if I remember correctly) was set at 0 deg. The wing is not that thick when compared to similar wings such as Super Sportster 40, 4Star 40 and so on. And is VERY short coupled. On the other hand, the Sportsman Aviation Decathalon I believe has a semi symetrical wing along with the Thunder Tiger Decathalon. Dont know what the wing incedence is but I've seen both of those planes fly and novices dont appear to have any trouble with them. Anybody have any additional info on those two. Might shed some light here. GP Decathalons I've seen flown by experienced pilots (high time pilots) dont appear to have any problems with them. It might be an experience thing.
Edwin

Safebet

My Feedback: (12)

I have been studying the plans for the Decathlon, and I wonder if anyone has:
1. installed dual alerions for flaperons?
2. reduced the alerion about 3 or 4 inches on each side from fuselage out and installed or made that portion flaps?

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Safebet,
Sounds like a good experiment. I'd say go for it.
Edwin

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I had mine before I really soloed but my instructor figured I was close enough to not need the buddy box. He took the plane up for me and I would fly it then he would land it after A while. I had the OS 70 four stroke in mine. Very easy plane to fly and the 70 was more then enough power. The most notable thing I learned with that plane was to NEVER take your eyes off of any plane you are flying. When I last saw it the poor thing was spinning out of control and went through A tree [the wing was still there] and the fuse scooted along the side of A monutain. Other then that one small error I loved that plane and would like to build another one some day. It's A shame they pulled it off the market but the market will/is flooded with the replacement ARFs. I may be able to pick up the GP kit this year at our big air show.

Safebet

My Feedback: (12)

Graybeard, picked mine up on E-Bay. NIB kit, Great Planes, pristine condition for $90.00. Even had a GP 1991 catalog in the box.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

That was A good price, I keep meaning to go onto Ebay and look for A Giant AeroMaster kit. At the moment I have A very nice 60 size Aeromaster kit on my bench. I found it at our big air show for $50.00 this sumer. I had it up in the closet as A replacement to my other small Bipe and I put that into the ground A couple of weeks ago. My kit was also complete with nothing missing, another lucky break for me too.

DFEDORKO

My Feedback: (5)

I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR PROBLEMS!.I now have a gallon of fuel through my gp decathlon and have none of the problems I keep reading about here. I built mine as per plans,no washout,recommended cg,with a O.S. Max 46ax. I'm telling ya, it flies great! It tracks on the ground as streight as an arrow on both take-off and landing roll out, it doesn't want to snap (tip stall) on take off, and I can 3-point land it all day long. It slows down quite nice , you just bleed off the rest of the airspeed on the round out and it settles on the ground in a 3 point attitude as nice as could be and rolls to a full stop in a few feet. This thing is great , it isn't a trainer by far, but it flies nice. Don't see the problems I keep reading about.

dan

GarySS

My Feedback: (13)

Wow! Talk about waking up a sleeping post!
Do you have to be on your rudder a lot or can you taxi to take-off without much "rudder" thought? Glad you are having fun with it!!!

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Yaaaawwwnnn! Somebody knock on the door? About 4 years ago I archived mine to fly other planes. About this time two years ago I stripped it, put in new pushrods, recovered, and new fiberglass landing gear. The landing gear raised the plane up about 1 1/2" from the stock gear, which I didnt think was any big deal. Before all this, It was a good flying plane. When I did the re-maiden for it, it was unmanagable on the ground. I could taxi fine but was a ground looping fool as soon as I throttled up and could not get it into the air. So two old timer buddies and I sat down and measured and analyzed what the problem was. Remember, built per plans, the wing has +2deg of positive incedence. We figured that with the new gear raising the plane that my, on the ground, AOA was much higher. As soon as the plane started to get lift the wing would get light before the stab. That ment that the majority of weight shifted back to the tail wheel, which naturally is unstable if you're light on the mains. Well, the new landing gear is removed and the old is back on. I havent flown it yet but I expect it to be back to its old self again. Something to consider.
Edwin

DFEDORKO

My Feedback: (5)

Hi GARYSS,
yah, this one has been dead for a while, still good to read. I left my decathlon set for years after framing it up because of this web sight, what a mistake! But anyhow,, my decathlon will taxi to take-off with no problem. What I do (as with any taildragger model or real airplane) is hold full up elevator, apply throttle slowly and add a small amount of right rudder to keep it streight.(Once you get to about 1/4 throttle, start letting up on elevator to the neutral possition or it will jump off the ground and snap roll on you.) Just keep it heading in the direction you want with rudder and let the airplane fly when IT'S ready! Other than maintaining directional control with rudder, the model pretty much takes off on its own. I even back taxi fast enough that it gets light on its wheels and it wants to fly and it still shows no bad habbits. When taxing and the first few feet of take-off roll, always hold full up elevator to keep the wing stalled and to keep weight on the tail wheel to maintain stearing control . Keep rudder throw down ,add throttle slowly, and let the model fly when its ready.

Red_Jeepster

OK So I am feeling a bit better about my upcoming build of this kit! I have read everything I could about the handling, tip stall, incidence, ground loops... You name it.
I will be starting this 17 year old kit in about a week or two. I am thinking of starting a "Build Post" to chronicle the whole thing.
I got this kit while I was still living in America, before coming to Romania as a Missionary. Bought it from my LHS when someone brought it in for a trade. (Hobby R/C in Indianapolis)
I paid $60 for the kit in perfect condition - every piece, even the unopened bags of hardware, cowl, windscreen, etc.
There will be challenges as I go, mainly because I am living in Romania, and R/C is NOT a common hobby here. I have to go to Hungary to find a LHS.
Tower Hobbies does deliver here - that is a blessing.
Building may be a bit slow, I am a Missionary and my time is pretty full with ministry. But as you can see by my slogan below, I don't have Golf gettingin my way! HA HA (Preachers and Golf - always go together it seems)

Is a build thread worth doing for this kit?

jaycam

I hate to sound like a downer but this plane is garbage. I have built it and the ailerons are so small, it will stall very easily and spin into to its untimely death. It's happened to many people I have spoken to about it. I would suggest holding out for a .40 size Pilot Decathlon on ebay and grabbing it. It builds a whole lot easier and is more scale and flies like a dream. Here is a photo of mine. You can usually find one on line for about $150 and you may a bit more but you at least know that when it takes off it should land.

Red_Jeepster

Small Ailerons - CHECK
Heavy plane - CHECK
Washout - CHECK
Ease the Throttle on take-off - CHECK

And the list grows... All of these are VERY REAL concerns, but maybe they should be fashioned into the plane when building. (Ailerons changed, build light, etc.)
I am going to start this build as a new build thread, and look forward to attempting to solve some of the issues.
I mean, WHAT could be so different from GP and the PILOT kits? The Decathalon has a shape that both must adhere to, now to find proper weight, incidence, balance, etc.
We shall see...
Anyone up for assisting in the "Think-it-through" portion of this build?
Maybe we could "Bash the daylights" out of this kit enough to make it a great flyer.

BTW JayCam - Nice looking plane! I love the colors. Looks well done!

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I still have mine. Its been retired for awhile. Thinking about getting it out again. Check my last post about the gear and wing incedence. I didnt fly it again after that, mostly because I'm into warbirds right now. I already put the original gear back on, it makes it sit closer to the ground. I think I'll try messing with the wing incedence and reduce it to something like +1deg or so. Just to see what would happen. Mine doesnt have washout built in, it was built about 13 years ago. True, its a handfull for a novice and if its built even slightly not true it will have poor flying habbits. And that spin, it will do beautiful spins, you just have to be mindfull of how to get out of it. Its not quite like a regular sport plane. I've heard of several spinning right into the ground. Mine almost did that early on. Just lucky on my that it recoved just feet from the ground. Its a very menuverable plane and can get wild and woolly. But then again, its a decathalon. Its supposed to do that. The biggest help that calmed the plane down was reducing the throws. I ended up with elev 3/16" u/d, rud 1/4" l/r, ail 1/4" u/d. This toned it down considerably and it helped alot in getting used to it. As you get comfortable, increase the throws and test your skills. Once you tame it, its tons of fun to fly.
Edwin

beaver180

My Feedback: (10)

Hiya Red... howz the build going there mate?? I have two of them :-) The only problem I have had with mine has been the ground looping on lift off. As much as I tried I just couldn't quite get a nice straight take-off. I ended up doing this... lined it up on the runway and then just gunning it hard ( powered with an OS 46 FX, 11x7 APC prop and BCM Pitts Muffler ) It would get airbourne in very short distance and then I'd climb out slowly picking up speed as it went. Great plane I think, thats why I got two!
Next thing I did was fit a small GWS PG-03 gyro on the rudder... this works great and now I can take off "normally"

Cheers, Paul

brenthampton79

I am almost done (finish putting the decals on it) with my decathlon still waiting till it gets warm i don't fly much in the winter, and also will be testing a giles and a cap hopfully from great planes, i've not flown my decathlon yet, but i don't think that it will be much trouble to fly, sounds like the ground looping stuff is typical of a full scale plane to me. I will post after the flight, mine is built completely stock with a 46 ax on the nose
brent

beaver180

My Feedback: (10)

Hiya.. I found that my 46FX was way too powerful for my Dec, I was flying around quicker than most sport planes. Having said that it is nice to fly at a more scale speed and having mountains of grunt in reserve!

I have another that I've just finished mounting an RCV 58CD engine into.. we'll see how that goes and let yawl know.
Paul

Red_Jeepster

Hello Guys!
I have been away for a bit. I live in Romania, but in November we went back to America to visit our family and preach at some churches. Then I had a herniated disc in my lower neck - leading to surgery! Now I am back in Romania, doing very well since surgery - Praise the Lord!

So,,, here is my build situation: The fuselage is complete, the wing is 95% complete, and the tail feathers are done.
I built the recommended wing dehidral, incidence, and even the "as designed" ailerons. In fact, I changed NOTHING from the kit directions.
I am in the process now of mounting the MVVS .46 up from, with Pitts style muffler.
While in America I picked up a bunch of supplies needed to finish the plane. I am not sure what I will do about the paint for the cowling, as I did not find "True Red" spray to match the monokote color I am using. I do have a friend who can ship it to me once he finds it. (should be simple to order)

I'll get back to taking pictures very soon. We have only been back here for a week, so I have many other things that I need to handle first.

4dogspete

Just built a GP Super Decathlon - and have read many of the nasty stories about it's not so great flying.
Now that 3-axis gyros are inexpensive, I'm going to install a gyro - anyone have thoughts about how this should be set up?
The GP Super is powered by a Saito 80. Right now the wings are covered, and the rest is coming - should be done in a week or so and would like to have some indication as to how to set up the 3-axis gyro.
I suppose knowing the brand might be a help, but I just ordered and am hopeful that they mostly act the same. Thanks everyone for your help
Pete

daytonarc

My Feedback: (5)

Pete, If you haven't done so make sure you check the wing incidence with the stab level it should be +1. My wing seat, built per plans had a +4 incidence and I had to build up the rear of the wing saddle to get it to +1. At +4 a tip stall at takeoff would almost be a given IMHO.

4dogspete

Thanks DaytonARC, I have checked the incidence and it llooks like +1 degree on the wing.
Any suggestions on the engine? or maybe that's not all that important???
Still looking for info on using a gyro to help stabilize.
Thanks again
Pete

daytonarc

My Feedback: (5)

If you used the spacer in front of the fuselage doubler just behind F1 on the left side per the plans your engine thrust should be good. I have never used a gyro so I can't help you there.

4dogspete

Thanks
I saw a table by GP that provides incidences for a whole bunch of GP kit planes. I'm going to use that as a guide, but just wanted to know if anyone has some experience in setting engine thrust.
It'll be a while - just ordered a fiberglass cowl - my next issue will be to find some monokote matching TRUE RED paint for the cowl...
Pete

RICKSTUBBZ

Here is a couple pictures of the GP Super Decathlon I built for my son. Built box stock. As in - exactly like great planes said to build it. This especially includes control throws. Too much elevator could spell disaster.



One exception is that the engine was put at such an angle that the muffler was exactly on the bottom and very little damage had to be done to the cowl.



Don’t believe all of the bad press you have read. The airplane when built square tracks very well. Meaning it goes exactly where you tell it. Knife edges like nobodies business. The roll rate is a little slow. But, not that bad.



I think the bad press for this plane comes from people expecting it to fly as easy as a Cub. It is not a Cub! It is a high performance aerobatic high wing airplane. Whatever you might expect from an Extra this size is what you should expect from this plane.

It is a short coupled tail dragger and you should expect it to behave as such. When you have it near landing speed you don’t want to be nailing the throttle. Just ease into it.