I am planning on getting a .46 Decathlon soon and was looking at both the Phoenix and Seagull models.
Can anyone suggest the better ARF...Phoneix or Seagull Decathlon? I know there is a difference in price and the Seagull requires 6 servos. If anyone has any experience with one or both, it will be helpful. Looking for the one with better quality. Thanks!

There's a HUGE thread here in the ARF forum about the Seagull.

A lot of the Seagulls have incidence problems. It's hard to fix too, because the horizontal stabilizer has positive incidence. The only way to fix that is to hack the fuselage apart in the tail and rebuild the pocket that the stab fits in at 0*.

OR, sand the trailing edge of the wing saddle down untill the wing incidence matches the tail. Yeah--hack the covering off--sand it down. Trial and error. Keep the saddle LEVLE. Re-cover it. At that point--you'd basically have 0* incidence on the wing and stab. Then you'd have to adjust the engine to make it fly right.

I sold mine to a guy who didn't seam to care that it took 1/4" of up trim on the elevators to make it fly straight. The TE of the elevators were up about 3/8" and the LE of the elevators was down about 1/4" in the front. That was okay--untill you put it in a knif-edge. With all that up trim--that sucker was pulling towards the top of the wing harder than a glider lifts straight up in a 25MPH headwind.[:'(]

I'd take your chances on the Pheonix--unless somebody else tell you that it flies like poop too.

If thats the case--I'd just build a Dyna Flite Giant Decathlon and put a G-45 in it. Thats what I'm gonna do.

Check out the Thunder Tiger Decathlon. It is available in both the red and white and yellow and blue colors. Flies great on a .46 size engine.

Sparky

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To me, the TT Super Decathlon is the prettiest of the lot, although I am not a fan of the plastic belly pan and the plastic cowl with indentations showing how to mount the engine upright. A side mounted engine would be the perfect choice for this model.

On the plus side, the TT version does have a fully symmetrical wing and is an excellent aerobatic flying model.

The Seagull is ugly in comparison, to me, but is a well built model. I'm not familiar with the Phoenix version.

I have both the Seagull and the Pheonix... Love them both.. I am on my second Seagull and have not seen the incidence problem mentioned.. Mine were both at 0-0.. The Seagull is a little bigger then the Pheonix especially with the wide fusalage the Seagull has.. The Pheonix seems to handle a little better on the ground then the Seagull although it too is a little tricky.. I like the way they both fly.. The Pheonix fusalage is a much stronger build then the Seagull... They both share parts like the landing gear, wing struts etc...

The determining factor might be what engine you want to use... I have a .72 Saito in the Seagull and it has adaquate power.. It will do average size loops etc but verticle is limited... It will fly around nicely at a little over half throttle... Were I to do another one though I think I would go with a Mag .91 or something.. Just me though, I like them with plenty of reserve power...
My Pheonix has a Saito .56 in it... Like the Seagull it is adequate . Nice easy flyer at a little over half throttle too.. It will do a nice loop but is really pressed to get a lot of altitude for a stall turn etc.. I am thinking seriously of a Saito .72 for this one...

Both are covered with Ultracote and have beautiful fiberglass parts... Both have tailwheels that need to be replaced.. Both have usable hardware which I used... The Pheonix comes with hinges installed and pinned.. Real nice..
For the money it is hard to beat either of these..

As far as the TT goes I looked at them and they are pretty but too much plastic and waaaaay to expensive..

there is two TT decathlons I think. the first generation was plastic, i know because my crashed one is in the garage. some guy was doing a thread on the second generation one, and I think all the cheap plastic was gone.

I personaly like the Goldberg ARF Decathlon, and i like the yellow scheme.

me too! Good choice

matt

That's also my favorite, but he's looking for a 40 size.

I have the Seagull (I reviewed it for RCU Magazine) and I just LOVE it!

I owned the Phoneix Decathalon with a Magnum 52 4c and it was a really good scale type flyer. Definitely a two stick plane. Loves coordinated rudder with the ailerons. Really not even close to being overpowered with the recommended engine size. I loved mine and did some crazy stuff with it and that eventually lead to its demise. Would do some really awsome snap rolls and almost come to a dead stop when entering a snap on a 30-45 degree upline. Looked really cool. Didn't look so cool when it when staight in! Oh geez, I will just have to buy another one soon. Its definitely not a trainer type plane but, if your experienced with tail draggers, you'll most likely find success with it. Exceptional quality for the money. I couldn't begin to kit build such a plane for double the money. If I buy another I think I'll go up to a 65-72 size engine for a touch more ooomph!

Global makes a decathlon... Awsome plane, only comes in yellow though. I had it with a saito 65 which was plenty of power... kinda pricey but i think well worth it...


t

I have the old EZ Decathlon. A little heavy but a blast to fly. It has a 61" wing and a YS .45 for power.

So would you say for the Decathlon, Phoenix and Seagull offer equal quality? Going with one over the other really doesn't make a difference?

It pretty much seems that way epoxy. I think rcpilet had a fluke with the incidence issue. I haven't seen anyone else say they have that problem with the Seagull.

I'm not sure I like the split gear on the Seagull; seems there have been problems with that setup by a few people. I'm thinking of getting the Phoenix model.

That is if Santa doesn't put on under my tree. I don't think he will since I don't have a chimney and I tend to shoot when my door is opened at night.

Merry Christmas

I agree Salty, I was leaning towards Phoenix when I was looking at ARF Decathlons.
Good luck with yours. Merry Christmas.