Thanks for all the helpful advice! It should be easy enough to add a touch of dihedral by shifting the wing tubes a little bit.

I'm going to replicate the new Xtreme Decathlon. It has flat wing tips and a bigger prop, so it'll be easier for me to make it scale looking.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2150304

FedEx shows delivery is scheduled for Tuesday!

Guys,

I have landing gear from my Dynaflight SD, the only thing to survive its fateful crash. It has a 3/16" music wire stiffener installed. Highly recommended. PM me if you are interested. I just updated my email address so hopefully it will come through. I will let it go for a paltry sum plus shipping. I can send pix.

Cheers,
Bedford

Just finished reading all 82 pages! Thanks to everyone for their contributions, it sure helps!

beepee, i am interested in your decathlon gear e mail me how much i am in st louis mo [email protected]

Message on the way!

Bedford

Guess what showed up on my doorstep today! I opened up the box and inventoried all the pieces, and every last stick, sheet, block, etc. was there. I didn't see any bad wood, though I haven't looked at it all real closely yet.

I rolled out the fuselage plan to see what the engine and tank layout looked like, and think it should all fit nicely. A brand new Super Tigre G3250 which will get converted to diesel after break - in. Also checked out the landing gear situation. The CF unit from my stash should work out, though it is a bit wider at the fuselage, and almost 3" taller, but this will help with clearance for a bigger prop. I also have a couple of good tailwheel assemblies that I'm going to try. One is the leaf spring type, and is kind of heavy, while the other is a CF looking unit that is much lighter. Either one will lift the plane up some to sort of match the extra height of the main gear.

Also, I now get to put those gigantic wing tip blocks in my wood stash, because the Xtreme Decathlon has flat wing tip plates!

I won't start building until I finish up a couple of other planes on the bench, but I am looking forward to getting this one in the air.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151531http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151533http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151534http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2151532

Well, I decided to start building today, and here's the result of my afternoon's work. All the tail surfaces are built and hinged, but not sanded yet. All up, 7.6 ounces! I ripped all the 15/16" tail stock down to 1/2" for the horizontal, and 5/8" for the vertical.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2152810http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2152811

I got a good start on the fuselage this afternoon. First I had to build the firewall. I elected to use 1/4" birch ply on the back of the 1/8" lite ply firewall front piece. I'll be sure to add a lot of reinforcing to it later. I scored a J-Tec Snuf-Vibe radial mount for the big Tiger, and had to build a 3/8" ply spacer in order to get the length right. More to come!

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2152916http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2152917http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2152918http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2152919

Rdjeff, glad to see that some new modelers are building the dynaflite super decathlon.
I had to stop working on mine due to my wife passing in december, i am back at my build. Have the tail feathers built and the right wing almost done.
I have a dle 35ra engine.
I spent a lot of time back & forth with the plans & the instruction book. They could have been done better.
My wood was heavy but i have been following this thread & cut weight where i can.replased some heavy wood & used mattnews lightning tips.forom his build post.
I am amazed at the various weights & ballance problems. Must be in the wood that you dont have to add weight to the nose. Some do & some dont.
Like your work. Be sure to inclose how she flys & your final weight.
On u tube there is a stephan pointner who flys a littel larger decathlon but wow! Does he fly it!. Frankie trainermaster80

A bit of progress to report. I framed up the fuselage, and put it up on it's gear. It looks a bit gawky with that tall gear, but I'll need all the clearance I can get to run a 22 inch prop, maybe even a 24! The frame up of the wings went smoothly, and I just had to take a glamor shot.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2154082http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2154088http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2154083http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2154084http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2154085http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2154086http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2154087

dont forget to put safety locks on your battery& servo conectors. some have lost thier decath due to this . some had a poor type lock & they fell of and a crash resulted.
i have got to learn how to post pictures on my post. frankie trainermaster80
youir work is looking good you are a faster builder than i. i can build lou andrews & sig kits in 1/6th the time i have spent on the decath. like your progress. i am deciding red or yellow finish on mine

Sunday was a sad day for flying, at least for me. My Senior Telemaster was totaled as a result of me mis-judging my landing approach and catching a wingtip on the top of a spruce tree. After hitting the tree, it basically spun/cartwheeled into another tree, and broke up. I had to climb the tree to retrieve the fuselage, which was broken in half, and draped over a large branch. I've salvaged the engine, electronics, wheels and landing gear, and the ailerons, which will go on another plane I'm building.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156320http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156321

Enough of the bad news!

A bit of Decathlon progress to report. I came up with the idea to operate both elevator halves off of one servo, so I stacked the ball links of each carbon rod and used one bolt through them to attach to the servo arm. Since that hole of the servo arm is centered in the fuselage, both should have the equal movement.

I'm covering the plane with yellow Solartex. I really like this stuff! I did a test where I ironed some blue onto the yellow, but unfortunately, the blue is opaque enough that the result was green. So, it looks like I'll have to pain the sunbursts and stars with Nelson paint. That should work out nicely.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156323http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156327http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156328http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156329http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156330http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156331http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156324http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156325http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2156326

rdjeff,
you are ahead of me on the dynaflite super decathlon. i had some bad & missing parts in my kit which was replaced by dynaflite 4/7/16. they informed me that some of my parts were no longer available & that the kit has been disccontinued. well the plane flys good but the plans & instruction book leave a lot to be desired. i am starting on my 2nd wing half. have tail feathers done. 2nd half will go much faster since i have figured out the confusion of the instruction book. good luck with your build & flying. frankie trainermaster 80 but now i am 87 . flying my sig 4 star 120 super tiger 2500. a real hoot to fly keep em flyin sorry for your loss of your telemaster bummer

rd jeff. where did you get the ball links & carbon rod connectors from. what brand. nothing like that here in st. louis. i like your idea would like to copy. have you flown your decath yet. i am slow due to my wife passing recently. please respond thanks trainermaster 80 frankie

Hi Frankie,

The carbon rods and fittings came from Bruce Tharpe Engineering, and the ball links are standard Dubro parts. I think Central Hobbies also sells the rods, but I don't recall for sure. I ran into some trouble with the paint I was using for the starbursts, and wound up putting the project on hold for a while. I plan on finishing it up in the next month or so.

rd jeff, thanks for the rod info all i need now is a better tail wheel than the one supplied with the decathlon. i am going to cut my stars from ultra cote. they will apply with low heat via my covering iron. agian thanks for the info. frankie

Believe it or not, I've finally finished building my Decathlon! Actually, I need to do little more sanding and a paint touch-up on the struts before I can declare it 100% complete. I inadvertently threw away the charger for my camera, but ordered a replacement, so should have some pictures very soon.

The Super Tigre 3250 is installed with a Snuf-Vibe mount, OS D7 carb, Bisson Pitts muffler, and a J-Zinger 22 x 8 wood prop, and a custom cut Tru-Turn spinner.

I found a DuBro smoke system valve in my stash of parts, so decided to install that as well. I printed an image of a Decathlon instrument panel, covered it with clear packing tape, glued it to a piece of thick paper, then glued that into place, and viola, it looks real! A 1/4 scale pilot figure was also installed on a small platform that rests just above the smoke tank.

The servos are Futaba 3305 metal gear high torque units on the ailerons, rudder, and elevator. I'm operating both elevator halves on one servo, and it is installed in the standard rear hatch, along with the rudder servo. I used a Futaba 3004 on the throttle, and a 3003 on the smoke valve.

It's all covered with Yellow Solartex, and the sunbursts and stars are done in Nelson Hobby paint. I really had some struggles getting that bit done! The paint kept bleeding under the masking tape, so I spent a lot of time removing excess paint with Q-Tips and acetone. I finally got acceptable results by painting Nelson clear on the masking edges before applying the color coats. I wound up using pinstripe tape to cover all the edges, and that took a while. It looks good from a few feet away, so I'm happy. The paint design I used is the opposite of a full scale plane I found an image of online, where the base was blue, and the stripes and stars were done in yellow. It looks pretty cool!

I did some balance tests as construction went along, so I'm confident I can balance correctly with the battery up front under the fuel tank. All-up weight at this point is 14 pounds, 14.3 ounces. I was shooting for 15 pounds or less, so I'd call it a success!

RDJeff, that sounds exciting! Looking forward to seeing some pictures! :) How did you keep the weight down? Some of these Decathlon end up in the 18lbs range.

My computer is giving me fits , so here's the best I can do.http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2177366http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2177365

Rd jeff,
been monotoring your post. . Look forward to your flite report & final weight, you did a good job on it. Like your choice of colors,
i am finally getting back to working on my dynaflite decath. Just finishing up the second wing half. Made a few errors i have to clean up then i will start the fuse. I hope the plans & instructon book do a better job on the fuse than what they did on the wings.
The former construction info is confusing as to what you build them from on the plan or what. Any way i'll wrastle with it.
Hope your maiden flite goes well.. Frankie trainermaster 80

Great looking build......I've always wanted to build one of these. Man, you should really put a "good" prop on that bird (Xoar/Falcon/Vess) and get rid of the paint stirrer!!!

BTW, have yall seen the price increase @ Tower on this kit? I remember the days when it was $169-$179.