RE: phoenix decathlon
Since this is still going let me repeat something about my Phoenix Decathlon.
Ease the throttle for takeoff and she's no problem at all.
I've got a bunch of flights on mine now. I was lucky to see a buddy try to fly his just a few days before I maidened mine. He is a jam-and-pray-takeoff kind of guy. He hasn't brought that plane back since the first couple of outings. He's asked me more than once why I think mine is so much better an airplane than his is. His isn't any different than mine, at least from what I've seen. Same ARF. Almost same engine.
Last time out, I did some touch-taxi-and-goes. I was doing touch and goes and another Decathlon owner (former owner since he sold his at a huge loss) came out to badger me about how bad the airplane was. So to shut him up I did what I guess really are land-and-takeoffs. The airplane is like a lot of models. You need to avoid some things they don't do very well.
The airplane needs a gentle touch on the throttle right after landing just like on takeoff. But other than that?????