Sounds great Mike... I have my Saito .56 mounted sideways and had to use a remote glow on it too.. Either that or cut out part of the firewall to get the right angle on the plug with the igniter..
I have a couple of Mag .91's laying around... This is real tempting.. I could have the .56 setup for those "lazy" days and the .91 for the fun days

What are you doing, buying another one. [X(]For the price, that's understandable. It does really rock with a .91 on it. Takes off in less than 12 feet and accelerates vertical, what more can I say. Most aerobatics done at half throttle (which is with a power curve!). Stick an .82 or .91 Saito on one and don't look back!!! I was using a MAS wood 14X6 paint stirrer on mine. Can't imagine what it would do with a real prop, like an APC 14X6 or 15X6 on it. My .91 Magnum really does prefer the 15X6, but it has been so hot here lately, afraid of overheating. I rebent the landing gear a little to gain some ground clearance and insured a little tow-in on both wheels. I believe the tow-in improved take-off handling greatly. The Sullivan 2.75 wheels I put on are a little stiff also, so have to be gentle on landings, since the gear is so stiff.

Can't wait to hear what you think when you get the bigger engine on yours!!!

Hey Mike
You got me going now... Sounds like a blast to fly... Sounds like the best of both worlds... Throttle back and relax or pour the coals to it an burn up the sky...
Think I am going to order my second one today

You have got to be a SD addict Ironcross!!! I thought I was bad, having a little one and a big one. I am thinking about selling my 1/4 scale at an upcoming swap meet. I haven't even flown it yet and have been building it for over three years, off and on. I will most likely post some pictures of it, once I get the cowl painted. Other than that, it is ready to fly. This little one flies so well, I may not need the hassle of putting the big one together. I really like the Pheonix strut setup. You can fold the struts back against the fuse and velcro them in place, next to the fuselage for transportation, then un-velcro them and fold them forward and snap the clevis's into place after you put the wing on. It is almost easier than a trainer to put together, compared to the bigger one with the two wing halves and all the screws to put the struts on with.

Hope you enjoy yours as much as we will be enjoying ours.

Happy Landings,
Mike Boyd

Yea, I love the Dec's... Something about them, to me they are beautiful... Dec's and Extra's... Go figure.
Yea, I fold mine back and use a peice of string to tie the struts to the fusalage... I got rid of the clevises on
the other end though... To much off and on, I was always bending the pins and stuff (old eyes ) and having to
replace them.. I put some small ball joints on the little brass thingys that are in the wing and the female part
on the struts... Now I can just snap them on and off... Has worked great so far...
I keep thinking of larger planes, but the logistics alone would be a pain for me. 60 - 70 inch wing is right in my
ball park

So would the PSD with an OS 50 SX be a safe and easy way to go? Will it be enough power? Im fairly new to the planes and dont want to have to do a ton of mods to make the COG right or spend a ton of money.

IMHO that would be an excellent combo.. Should drop right in...

I had a .91 Four stroke on my UCD .46 and it was okay, but replaced it with a Magnum .52, which is about the same as your OS .50 for power and I like that much better, since it is lighter and responds faster to throttle up. I would agree with Ironcross, that would be a great engine for the SD.

Dangit! Had a rather hard "landing" with the SD this past weekend. Engine flamed out on takeoff at about 15-20 feet and went into the freshly cut hay field on the other side of our runway. The wing came out pretty good, but the fuse is in bad shape. Pretty much obliterated the landing gear block and wing saddle area. I see that Tower has a replacement fuse for $45, so I might just do that instead of rebuilding. Or... I might try the Hanger 9 Cub. I've been researching it, the GP Fabric Cub, and the Goldberg variants. I'm a SuperCub pilot in real-life, so a Cub has a lot of appeal for me.

I think you may be disappointed in the model cubs after the SD. I have had both the H-9 and the GP arfs. I liked the later better, more scale looking and the .91 4S flew it well. The fuse is built much stronger on the GP than the H9 and they are the same price.

What I like about the SD is that it isn't true scale, with the strip ailerons all the way to the fuse. With the cubs you have the barn door ailerons out on the wing tips, so you don't get any effect from prop wash.

I am CD'ing a Cub fly-in this weekend (6/17-18/06) in Kingsbury, Texas, just outside San Antonio, exit 620, IH10, two miles North, on FM1104 ath the Olde Kingbury Areodrome.

If your in the area come on out with your Cub, Decathalon or any scale or semi scale high wing strut supported model. Camping is available with no hook ups. My cell is (210) 744-7779 if you need more info.

Happy Fathers Day to one and all on Sunday,

Mike Boyd
AMA 7197

Had to add a post note after Father's Day weekend. I let six different pilots fly the little SD yesterday. Several are ordering theirs this week. I will move the CG back about 5 to 10 mm's by taking off the heavy GP aluminum spinner and install a Nylon/Aluminum GP spinner. Almost all the pilots that flew it at our Cub fly were doing great stall turns and all the basic pattern stuff with little problem. I do have aileron differential and aileron/rudder mixes in for better knife edge performance. The aileron differential really straightens the rolls out. We almost had it hovering, but since it is a little nose heavy, it was falling off after several seconds.

I may go to a hotter prop, since the MAS 14X6 is so ineffecient. I let you all know about changes as I get more air time with this little marvel.

I know a cub won't be an aerobat, but there just something cool and interesting about watching a pilot fly a cub around in a scale like manner. I think it displays more skill than most and I'm into that. I've got a few fun-fly planes for when I want my aerobatic fix. I'm really close to picking up a cub. My LHS is getting the H9 in at the end of the week. I want to compare it to the GP with fabric before I purchase.

The wind might change direction tomorrow and I might order a fuse for the SD. Who knows...

FUBAR03 - The Magnum .52 doesn't have a power rating listed in Tower. The power of the OS.50 is 1.8hp and 13.7 oz weight. An excellent choice in power. For the record, I fly the Seagull version of the Decathlon with an OS .46AX At 1.65hp and 13.2 oz. and it pulls the Hell out of the plane!

Hmmm very interesting.. I crashed and burned my seagull SD a few days ago and was about to get a replacement from phoenix....Been reading some good stuff about it and might give it a shot...
I did notice my saegull wasvery underpowered IMO with a fa-65 saito, but do you all think a TW .75 would be an overkill? It has 2.2 hp which is more than twice the power of the saito, but it weighs a lot more too.....Would i have to add a cinder block dead weight in the tail?

And whats the final verdict in the CG location?

I ended up with mine at about 97mm from the leading edge. Thinking about moving it back to 100, but flies great where it's at now.

> It started with the Aironca <

As a matter of historical trivia Aeronca is a contraction of AERONautical Corporation of America.

Been almost a year since anyone posted! I just read through the whole thread...

Who still flys their SD?

CG still at 90mm as a starting point?

Anyone measured the actual weight, is this really a 7 lb plane?

Would love to hear anything about this arf, I've got SD fever!!!

As you may have read from the entire post, the finished product will come out around 7 pounds, a .50 two stroke would be an excellent choice for an engine, but a new BB .46 would be adequate. You could lighten the plane up using mini, high torque servos and a Lithium battery pack. A magnum .52, OS .50SX would be good choices in the 2S category. The Saito .91 would be my choice for a 4 stroke.

I am still waiting on a friend to cut out some foam floats for me to set up on mine. I installed a Magnum .91 4S on mine, as you may have noted in our thread. That is a very heavy engine, so I ended up with battery and servos in the tail, the CG is now 97mm and the plane flies great. With floats, the plane is going to be over 8 pounds, so we will have to see how the higher wing loading effects it flight characteristics.

Once I get the floats on, I will try to remember to post some pictures. Sure hope I get them soon, it has rained so much in Central Texas lately, that our main favorite field has been under water most of the time, so floats would be nice, so we could fly off our flooded runway.

Good luck with your SD,
Mike Boyd

I am waiting to test fly my SD again after repositioning one of the wing tips that was damaged in the box during shipping. I have a ASP Super 52 on the front and the plane is a Rocket at full throttle with just an 11-6 prop on the front.

Flying mine since Dec '06 with an OS55AX now. Came out 6lb 5oz and flies decent.

Fastsky, try an APC 12.25 X 3.75 or 12X4 with that engine. You will be amazed at the difference. You will gain downline breaking, slower landings, and quicker takeoffs, without being a rocket ship.

Happy landings,
Mike Boyd

Thankx for the info Mike! I don't need quicker take offs but I could use downline breaking and slower landings.

On mine, I have switched from a Mag 52 4 stroke to an SK 50 2 stroke. I am still experimenting with props. So far, a 12X6 (ASP and MAS) work good, the Zinger 12X4 is surprisingly poor (great prop for a Twist or other thick airfoil). Next on my list are a couple of 11X6 props, just to see what happens. Your ASP 52 will probably turn more rpm than my SK, and the 12X4 may work for you.

Ain't it fun?

I think I may try a 12-6. I just tried one of those on my Midstar with an OS 46FX and the results were quite good. The performance is smooth and the prop is surprizing quiet. I took the plane straight up and only I stopped it when it started to look like a small dot, not used to that! [8D]

Does the manual say to epoxy the wing halves together, or can it be flown with just the tube and wing bolts if one wants to didassemble the wings? Anyone done this?
Thanks'
Ugo