Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
04-01-2013, 05:25 PM
#1827
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
That's good to know, can u take a picture of the stock ones next to the Seagull? If not, that's ok. i'll have to pick up a set.
04-03-2013, 01:28 PM
#1828
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
Resurection "almost"
Here's my rebuilt Decathlon back after it was shot down (fm radio) by a fellow flyer.... Yes it was on FM because everbody has gone to 2.4 (well almost...smile). The bird has numerous alterations which made it one of my favorite planes, hence the rebuild. If you look closely at the angled profile photo you will see where there is a diagonal line running just behind the rear window; almost everything from there forward is new. The rest of the plane was perfect..... Until it crashed again fifteen minutes after the first crash. You see as I was riding back with the crashed plane on a golf cart if fell off the back and that gave it some minor road rash on the wing tip and tail. I was amazed how well it with stood the initial crash, being buried in the gound and all.... build em strong I always sy.
Anyways, It initially had a Saito 150 aboard, but now it has YS DZ140 as it was in the barn doing nothing. I loved that saito though, will rebuild one day, just need a cylinder head. Looking closely at the images many of you will see other changes, like the wing mounting method. It screws on from the top, leaving access from the top if you remove the small cap just behind the front window. Its not scrwed on in the photo so you will see a minor gap. The front window is just taped on for the photo, but you get the idea. I also shorted up the wings by four ribs total (say 9 inches shorter) and it now has a Fiberglass Specialty cowl. Great cowl but tight fit, I made the mistake and recovered it first before the cowl arrives so I had to sand a bit down and will recover... barely visible amount. Not being a fantastic flyer I did not mount the tuned pipe (mabe later) on the underside of the fuse; thats why you see the header only sticking neatly from the underside. Does anybody know if this will compromise the performance of the YS? I don't mind a power loss of say 10% as it's build super strong yet light weight. Finally the covering is Solartex, which I love working with. I will paint the cowl later.... Maybe, as I want to fly it sooner..
OK Guy's great to be a part of the Decathlon fleet again and keep em flying ... even after the crash.
Here's my rebuilt Decathlon back after it was shot down (fm radio) by a fellow flyer.... Yes it was on FM because everbody has gone to 2.4 (well almost...smile). The bird has numerous alterations which made it one of my favorite planes, hence the rebuild. If you look closely at the angled profile photo you will see where there is a diagonal line running just behind the rear window; almost everything from there forward is new. The rest of the plane was perfect..... Until it crashed again fifteen minutes after the first crash. You see as I was riding back with the crashed plane on a golf cart if fell off the back and that gave it some minor road rash on the wing tip and tail. I was amazed how well it with stood the initial crash, being buried in the gound and all.... build em strong I always sy.
Anyways, It initially had a Saito 150 aboard, but now it has YS DZ140 as it was in the barn doing nothing. I loved that saito though, will rebuild one day, just need a cylinder head. Looking closely at the images many of you will see other changes, like the wing mounting method. It screws on from the top, leaving access from the top if you remove the small cap just behind the front window. Its not scrwed on in the photo so you will see a minor gap. The front window is just taped on for the photo, but you get the idea. I also shorted up the wings by four ribs total (say 9 inches shorter) and it now has a Fiberglass Specialty cowl. Great cowl but tight fit, I made the mistake and recovered it first before the cowl arrives so I had to sand a bit down and will recover... barely visible amount. Not being a fantastic flyer I did not mount the tuned pipe (mabe later) on the underside of the fuse; thats why you see the header only sticking neatly from the underside. Does anybody know if this will compromise the performance of the YS? I don't mind a power loss of say 10% as it's build super strong yet light weight. Finally the covering is Solartex, which I love working with. I will paint the cowl later.... Maybe, as I want to fly it sooner..
OK Guy's great to be a part of the Decathlon fleet again and keep em flying ... even after the crash.
04-09-2013, 09:26 AM
#1831
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
Just got one of these delivered yesterday to build.
Kind of perturbed the plans were layed out such that every single plan ( wings body etc ) were laid out such that you have to tape multiple sheets together to get a full plan. Not a huge deal to tape them together... just not sure why they couldn't have made the plans 2 sheets instead of 3.
Wood seems mostly good... some of the bigger stuff is pretty dense and I may replace it but we'll play it by ear as we go.
Kind of perturbed the plans were layed out such that every single plan ( wings body etc ) were laid out such that you have to tape multiple sheets together to get a full plan. Not a huge deal to tape them together... just not sure why they couldn't have made the plans 2 sheets instead of 3.
Wood seems mostly good... some of the bigger stuff is pretty dense and I may replace it but we'll play it by ear as we go.
04-09-2013, 09:42 AM
#1832
RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
ORIGINAL: mattnew
Just got one of these delivered yesterday to build.
Kind of perturbed the plans were layed out such that every single plan ( wings body etc ) were laid out such that you have to tape multiple sheets together to get a full plan. Not a huge deal to tape them together... just not sure why they couldn't have made the plans 2 sheets instead of 3.
Wood seems mostly good... some of the bigger stuff is pretty dense and I may replace it but we'll play it by ear as we go.
Just got one of these delivered yesterday to build.
Kind of perturbed the plans were layed out such that every single plan ( wings body etc ) were laid out such that you have to tape multiple sheets together to get a full plan. Not a huge deal to tape them together... just not sure why they couldn't have made the plans 2 sheets instead of 3.
Wood seems mostly good... some of the bigger stuff is pretty dense and I may replace it but we'll play it by ear as we go.
Plans are printed that way because it costs less. It's got to do with the size of paper the supplier have and the size of press that you've got. It costs an extra fortune to inclreas your press size from a max. 40" width to the next range. Very similar to balsa wood. As soon as you go larger than 3" width or 48" length, you get an astronomic price increase. If you have a speial size, it's even worse.
Check the bulkheads. Unless the plans have been updtaed, you'll find that the are a different width where shown as the sketches over which you build and on the top view of the fuselage.
Also plan on lots of weight in the tail.
All the best.
04-09-2013, 10:12 AM
#1833
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
sort of, but not really. I've just been through that with trying to get another set of plans printed out. There are two types of printers basically, ones that print to precut sheets that are limited in size and then there are printers that print to a roll and the prints can be as long as needed. The first is limited by paper size, the second you have a limit to your width, however length is more or less unlimited since the paper is on a roll and not precut. With the latter, whether your plan is 40" long or 50" long you pay by the foot and its relatively inexpensive to go to the longer page, maybe a few dollars more. I paid $30 bucks for the plans to be printed on split sheets at Staples and then went to Kinko's and had them printed on 1 sheet for just under $40ish.I paid 149 for the decathlon kit through Tower... I would have paid 159 if the option was there for single sheet plans.
I was more pointing to things like if you take a look at the wings for example.. one wing plan is cut off by only 1.5" or so... but it could have been shifted to fit onto one page pretty easily, since the margin on the other half of the wing is easily 4-5".
regardless, this is really just a nitpick and not a huge deal in the long run. I just wonder about cost saving measures like this. If they charged you ten bucks more and had the plans not require taping.... how many fewer kits would they really sell. I think the kit is already a decent deal for a giant scale aircraft. The next closest kit would likely be sig's 1/4 scale cub at $222.
I was more pointing to things like if you take a look at the wings for example.. one wing plan is cut off by only 1.5" or so... but it could have been shifted to fit onto one page pretty easily, since the margin on the other half of the wing is easily 4-5".
regardless, this is really just a nitpick and not a huge deal in the long run. I just wonder about cost saving measures like this. If they charged you ten bucks more and had the plans not require taping.... how many fewer kits would they really sell. I think the kit is already a decent deal for a giant scale aircraft. The next closest kit would likely be sig's 1/4 scale cub at $222.
ORIGINAL: do335a
Plans are printed that way because it costs less. It's got to do with the size of paper the supplier have and the size of press that you've got. It costs an extra fortune to inclreas your press size from a max. 40" width to the next range. Very similar to balsa wood. As soon as you go larger than 3" width or 48" length, you get an astronomic price increase. If you have a speial size, it's even worse.
Check the bulkheads. Unless the plans have been updtaed, you'll find that the are a different width where shown as the sketches over which you build and on the top view of the fuselage.
Also plan on lots of weight in the tail.
All the best.
ORIGINAL: mattnew
Just got one of these delivered yesterday to build.
Kind of perturbed the plans were layed out such that every single plan ( wings body etc ) were laid out such that you have to tape multiple sheets together to get a full plan. Not a huge deal to tape them together... just not sure why they couldn't have made the plans 2 sheets instead of 3.
Wood seems mostly good... some of the bigger stuff is pretty dense and I may replace it but we'll play it by ear as we go.
Just got one of these delivered yesterday to build.
Kind of perturbed the plans were layed out such that every single plan ( wings body etc ) were laid out such that you have to tape multiple sheets together to get a full plan. Not a huge deal to tape them together... just not sure why they couldn't have made the plans 2 sheets instead of 3.
Wood seems mostly good... some of the bigger stuff is pretty dense and I may replace it but we'll play it by ear as we go.
Plans are printed that way because it costs less. It's got to do with the size of paper the supplier have and the size of press that you've got. It costs an extra fortune to inclreas your press size from a max. 40" width to the next range. Very similar to balsa wood. As soon as you go larger than 3" width or 48" length, you get an astronomic price increase. If you have a speial size, it's even worse.
Check the bulkheads. Unless the plans have been updtaed, you'll find that the are a different width where shown as the sketches over which you build and on the top view of the fuselage.
Also plan on lots of weight in the tail.
All the best.
04-09-2013, 12:43 PM
#1835
RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
As for printers, presently we run on a 10 colour perfector with coating cababilities. That is sheet fed.
For glorified photocopies, that's on a roll from a machine that prints things like architectural line drawings. Still a limiting factor is width. I do agree with chopping up the plans. Prefer not to myself.
And you can still et that the reason that they do it the way that they do is because it is less expensive than any other way. That's what drives production decisions, no tboth your and my preference for rolled, unbroken plans.
The tail is heavy. If you read a lot of the earlier posts, you'll see that. There's a lot more wood there than necessary. HObbico/Great Planes who owns the Dyanflite brand has a history as far back as I can remember - let's say the 1980's or so when they started out by picvking up the Bridi designs,m had a history of using very heavy wood. I know that from experience.
In any case, I started with a Super Tigre 2500 and moved to a Super Tigre 3000. My servos were at the rear of the cabin and the heavy 4500mAh battery was to the front. I was able to balance without any extra weight.
You'll see lots of people much earlier on agree with the heavy tail. You'll see some posts where people used a G-38 or similar engine who also had a heavy tail. In fact, IMO the whole plane is heavy. The generous use of lite ply is definitely a factor in that.
You'll also see that a lot of found that the stock landing gear is weak.
Mine is burried way bck near the start. I don't remember eactrly where. It's the fluorescent orange plane with the tundra tires and the Scout color scheme.
For glorified photocopies, that's on a roll from a machine that prints things like architectural line drawings. Still a limiting factor is width. I do agree with chopping up the plans. Prefer not to myself.
And you can still et that the reason that they do it the way that they do is because it is less expensive than any other way. That's what drives production decisions, no tboth your and my preference for rolled, unbroken plans.
The tail is heavy. If you read a lot of the earlier posts, you'll see that. There's a lot more wood there than necessary. HObbico/Great Planes who owns the Dyanflite brand has a history as far back as I can remember - let's say the 1980's or so when they started out by picvking up the Bridi designs,m had a history of using very heavy wood. I know that from experience.
In any case, I started with a Super Tigre 2500 and moved to a Super Tigre 3000. My servos were at the rear of the cabin and the heavy 4500mAh battery was to the front. I was able to balance without any extra weight.
You'll see lots of people much earlier on agree with the heavy tail. You'll see some posts where people used a G-38 or similar engine who also had a heavy tail. In fact, IMO the whole plane is heavy. The generous use of lite ply is definitely a factor in that.
You'll also see that a lot of found that the stock landing gear is weak.
Mine is burried way bck near the start. I don't remember eactrly where. It's the fluorescent orange plane with the tundra tires and the Scout color scheme.
04-09-2013, 02:27 PM
#1836
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
ok.. I follow now.. I thought when you said "plan on a lot of weight in the tail" that you were telling me I'd need to add weight to the tail... not that there is going to be a lot of weight there to offset up front.
I'm already planning on balsa sticks in place of the top/bottom sheeting which should save some. I also was going to scratch having the servos in the tail section. I'll get some CF for pushrods and build up some supports to limit the flex due to the added length. The stock wood is also heavy... I'm debating on ordering some contest grade balsa for the tail section only as well....
I remember seeing your plane.. I've actually read through most of this thread prior to starting my build.. lots of good information. I've got an o.s. gt22 and a gt33 that I'm deciding between for this plane... likely going with the gt22. Its on par with the super tiger engines as far as weight is concerned so i'll likely end with a tail heavy plane as well... we'll see how it goes.
I'm already planning on balsa sticks in place of the top/bottom sheeting which should save some. I also was going to scratch having the servos in the tail section. I'll get some CF for pushrods and build up some supports to limit the flex due to the added length. The stock wood is also heavy... I'm debating on ordering some contest grade balsa for the tail section only as well....
I remember seeing your plane.. I've actually read through most of this thread prior to starting my build.. lots of good information. I've got an o.s. gt22 and a gt33 that I'm deciding between for this plane... likely going with the gt22. Its on par with the super tiger engines as far as weight is concerned so i'll likely end with a tail heavy plane as well... we'll see how it goes.
04-17-2013, 07:25 AM
#1837
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
Hi guys, I'm Tim
I hope you dont mind giving some help to a newSuper Decathlon owner?
I just got me aDynaflite Super Decathlon in some trading around. I do not know who built it but they did a good job.
I just got me aDynaflite Super Decathlon in some trading around. I do not know who built it but they did a good job.
It has not been flown at all. Still newbuild.
The cowl is missing and wheel paints, but I will order the stuff to finish the plane.
The tiers areflattened from setting around, so I justordered some hobby king 3' dia. wheels and a 30cc rear landing gear. I wonder if I should have got the 3 1/4" dia. wheels
I am going to do this as a brushless set upbecausewe cant have gas here.
I allso wont to use a three blade prop to give me more clearance. anysuggestionon the prop I should use?
I allso wont to use a three blade prop to give me more clearance. anysuggestionon the prop I should use?
04-22-2013, 04:59 AM
#1838
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
Hi all,
here is a Video of som winter flying, my decathlon and 2 other planes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=BUUq1lsAs44
RGS
Jan Borresen
here is a Video of som winter flying, my decathlon and 2 other planes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=BUUq1lsAs44
RGS
Jan Borresen
04-22-2013, 12:26 PM
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
Kolbboer, nice video.
I noticed you put the wings all most together before putting them on the plane. Was this to keep the wing struts from being bent when putting them on?
05-06-2013, 02:58 PM
#1841
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
help needed
i am getting ready to cover my dc and i am going touse koveall fabric.does anyoneknow howmanyyardsit will it take to cover a dc also how many batterys and what mah to use thanks minkiehuoise
i am getting ready to cover my dc and i am going touse koveall fabric.does anyoneknow howmanyyardsit will it take to cover a dc also how many batterys and what mah to use thanks minkiehuoise
05-17-2013, 10:38 AM
#1842
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
nice looking plane. maybe you can help me with batterys .I going 2.4 too what battery are you using and 1 or 2 as I am using a dle 30 motor thanks for any help minkiehuoise
06-13-2013, 07:28 PM
#1844
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
Well guys,
I finally got around to balancing my Decath last weekend. I plan to take a week's vacation maiden the Decath. Have had one issue after another the first half of the year and have not been able to do much in the way of building or flying [:@]. I normally begin flying in March or April but this year my first flight other than a little foamie out on the farm will be next week. Anyway... I removed the cowl and had to epoxy 8 oz of lead in the very front of the cowl to get anything close to a balance. Looks like it's balancing at 3 and 7/8 inchs, which is the maximum rear balance in the instructions. I don't like to maiden with a rearward CG but I'm going to on this one. Hopefully it will behave and not be a 1st flight of stark raving terror
. Since the plane was so tail heavy and I had to add so much weight, the plane's all up weight is 18 lbs and 9.6 oz. 
I took a picture of the weight in the cowl and attached below. If I hadn't mounted in the very front, there's no telling how much lead I would have needed. I noticed nh4cio4 also added 8 oz on an earlier post but I'm not sure what his all up weight was. I'm thinking, installing the tail wires hurt me in the weight department. Maybe I should go back and remove them. I would think with the engine I'm useing, tail heavy would have gone away but not in this case.
After I report on my maiden, I will be finished on this thread but if anyone adds to it I'll check it from time to time. I plan to start monitoring mattnew's new thread as he started one on bash and build of the Super Decath.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11..._2/key_/tm.htm
Hope everyone is well.
I finally got around to balancing my Decath last weekend. I plan to take a week's vacation maiden the Decath. Have had one issue after another the first half of the year and have not been able to do much in the way of building or flying [:@]. I normally begin flying in March or April but this year my first flight other than a little foamie out on the farm will be next week. Anyway... I removed the cowl and had to epoxy 8 oz of lead in the very front of the cowl to get anything close to a balance. Looks like it's balancing at 3 and 7/8 inchs, which is the maximum rear balance in the instructions. I don't like to maiden with a rearward CG but I'm going to on this one. Hopefully it will behave and not be a 1st flight of stark raving terror
. Since the plane was so tail heavy and I had to add so much weight, the plane's all up weight is 18 lbs and 9.6 oz. I took a picture of the weight in the cowl and attached below. If I hadn't mounted in the very front, there's no telling how much lead I would have needed. I noticed nh4cio4 also added 8 oz on an earlier post but I'm not sure what his all up weight was. I'm thinking, installing the tail wires hurt me in the weight department. Maybe I should go back and remove them. I would think with the engine I'm useing, tail heavy would have gone away but not in this case.After I report on my maiden, I will be finished on this thread but if anyone adds to it I'll check it from time to time. I plan to start monitoring mattnew's new thread as he started one on bash and build of the Super Decath.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11..._2/key_/tm.htm
Hope everyone is well.
06-13-2013, 07:49 PM
#1845
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RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
Wildcrashwilly,
I didn't add any weight, The G 38 was more than enough, I am around 17 pounds, I don't think your weight will be a problem, Mine just keeps floating when landing, so a little more might be better for you.
Good luck with the maiden
ED
I didn't add any weight, The G 38 was more than enough, I am around 17 pounds, I don't think your weight will be a problem, Mine just keeps floating when landing, so a little more might be better for you.
Good luck with the maiden
ED
06-14-2013, 03:35 AM
#1846
Senior Member
RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
Thanks for the info Ed.
I should have moved my servos forward but I thought this would not have been an issue with a ZDZ 40. If the weather is good I plan to take it to the field Tuesday. Sorry about stating you did the weight Ed. I looked back on page 71, and it was dand@oz that did the 8 oz. You had posted right after him and I confused who wrote what. Confusion is pretty normal for me at times
Thanks to everyone who had input on this thread.
.
I should have moved my servos forward but I thought this would not have been an issue with a ZDZ 40. If the weather is good I plan to take it to the field Tuesday. Sorry about stating you did the weight Ed. I looked back on page 71, and it was dand@oz that did the 8 oz. You had posted right after him and I confused who wrote what. Confusion is pretty normal for me at times
Thanks to everyone who had input on this thread.
.
06-15-2013, 09:51 AM
#1850
Senior Member
RE: Building a Dynaflite Super Decathlon
BakerBaker,
Your plane looks great. My plane is still slightly tail heavy. I'm planning on flying Tuesday. If I don't like how it handles I may may delete one of the elevator servos. I'll have to check and see how much torque is needed for the elevator vs how much is available on my servo.
Thanks for the idea.
Your plane looks great. My plane is still slightly tail heavy. I'm planning on flying Tuesday. If I don't like how it handles I may may delete one of the elevator servos. I'll have to check and see how much torque is needed for the elevator vs how much is available on my servo.
Thanks for the idea.