jackandmusa

I am intrigued by the Goldberg Decathlon. The ads look great. Having flown a real one, I'd certainly be interested in a high quality model. Has anyone built this ARF.? How is the quality? How does it fly? Any suggestions for making it better?

Thanks, Jack

seanychen

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Goldberg is known for great design and high quality. Not many vendors have both these 2 qualities at the same time. I heard Goldberg distributor is a pain to deal with for hobby shops; but as for us end customers, product is what matters. I myself am considering this new Decathlon as well, because I am looking for a home for my Goldberg float.

jpa2002

My Feedback: (115)

I had one and crashed it. That had to be one of the worst days of my life (well not really) I loved that plane! It flew so smooth, was a baby on landing, would take off vertically, would hover, the list goes on and on. Mine was equipped with a Saito 91, and I am currently getting the engine repaired, as I have a feeling that antoher Goldberg Decathlon ARF will be on its way soon.

You can see pics in my gallery before the crash. Beautiful well built plane, and it draws attention at the field!

Jon

Planedreamer

I picked one up shortly after they came out. Of course, since then, Goldberg is now owned by Lanier and I don't know what they've changed. I put in a Saito 100 and it does have power to spare. It balanced perfectly with this engine.

The wing struts are a pain to install everytime you want to fly. I typically fly without them since they aren't structural. The tail wires too are more for looks than anything else.

My only complaint is that the aluminum for the main gear seems a bit weak (won't take too many hard landings). I wound up replacing mine with gear from TnT.

If you haven't picked this plane up yet, my recommendation is go for it. At Blue Max R/C, we even have been recommending this as a second plane.

Bozwth

My Feedback: (3)

I can vouch for the Decathlon as well. Its a really good ARF. There is not really a lot you can do to it to make it better, it comes with good quality accessories and hardware. The cowl and wheel pants are excellent. The only thing that I did different was to use 4-40 rods/clevises and fabricate new flying wires for the tail out of cable. It flies great and is really good looking both in the air and on the flight-line. It has a pretty good scale look to it for an ARF. There is a lot of pin striping on the wing and tail. I haven't had a problem with it pealing off yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it became a problem later on. I'm sure there are ways to keep that under control if it starts to happen.

My gear seems to be a little stiff as opposed to week. Planedreamer, what style did you get for yours? Carbon Fiber? If I changed mine, it would be to get a little more flex out of them.

There are other threads out there already about this airplane, do a search. I have other pics of mine in my gallery as well.

Bozwth

mikerc

My Feedback: (11)

jpa2002, Do you know how yours crashed? I had one and I was doing a tail slide with it and lost the radio. I loved that airplane. I am now putting together a 1/4 scale Giant Scale Planes Super Decathlon. I have a ZDZ 40 on the nose. Should be a great flyer. 9 foot wingspan.
The Goldberg is a great plane though, you will enjoy it. I have a couple of pictures on my web site under My hanger. www.ros********.com. Good luck

Pic of the GSP Decathlon

jpa2002

My Feedback: (115)

Awesome looking Decathlon!

Well, it was pilot error, whether I want to admit it or not. My depth perception was off, and I was flying about 100 yards away from me and about 30 feet off of the ground at almost full throttle, when SMACK! Yep, I flew it right into a tree. The thing was that it was at the top of the tree in the small limbs, but it just ripped the wing off and sent the fuselage shooting off like a rocket. It hit on one side and bent the landing gear and broke one of the horizontal stabilizers and tore the firewall where the engine mounts. To be honest, I thought I would pick up toothpicks, but I left with only 4-5 pieces, and most of those were wing. The plane is tough and I really loved it, but I ended up giving it to a friend that is rebuilding it.

Oh, even though it hit on one side on the wheelpant, it didn't even hurt them.

It was a sad day!

Jon

mikerc

My Feedback: (11)

Mine went straight into the ground about 3/4 throttle. The wings and the tail were the only thing that survived. Here it is in the back of my van.

jpa2002

My Feedback: (115)

Whew! That was a bad crash!

Well, I just uploaded pics of mine after the crash into my gallery, and here is one also.

Jon

mikerc

My Feedback: (11)

It is a shame when you stick that much money and time into a plane that looks so nice. I always said I would get another. Now I have twice the money in the 1/4 scale. I hope it lasts a long time. I like the yellow better than the red though.
Yours looks repairable, hope your buddy get her flying again.

WacoOne

My Feedback: (3)

I too crashed my first one. Aileron servo mount came loose from the hatch cover. Builders error. It would be repairable with a new cowl, windshield and wheelpants. But I bought another one which I'm now flying. The O.S. .91FS w/pump survived the crash and is flying the new one as perfect as the old one. This is a great looking and flying plane. I wouldn't want to be without one.

Bill

jpa2002

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Do you have any parts that you want to get rid of? My friend would probably be interested.

Jon

Bozwth

My Feedback: (3)

WacoOne,

What exactly happened to your wing servo? Was it something you did wrong or did the servo mount just break away from the hatch cover. I'm a little suspect of that design. Those little blocks that you mount the servo to are just epoxied to the hatch cover on one end only. If thats the case, I think I'm gonna remount mine directly into the hatch cover vertically like most other airplanes that I've seen are done.

From the way you guys make it sound, these things are hard to keep in the sky! I sure don't want to lose mine.

Bozwth

Planedreamer

Hey Bozwth, I went with TnT's aluminum gear, seems to be standing up real well for me.

I also failed to mention that I modified the elevator to use 2 servos rather than the "Y" rod that Goldberg supplies. Had a heck of a time trying to get the "Y" just right that both halves moved the same amount. Because of this, I also installed an extra tray that for a mini-servo for the throttle.

One guy in my flying club just put one together and added running lights and on-board glo. His plane weighs about 1 1/2 pounds more than mine. Cool looking but way too heavy! He calls it a flying brick.

Bozwth

My Feedback: (3)

PlaneDreamer,

Is that gear pretty much the same style just thicker aluminum? I got my "Y" rod to work by using 4-40 rod instead of the smaller stuff supplied. It doesn't flex and works great. I tried a mini servo for the throttle, a HS-81. The nylon gears in it stripped out just from the vibration the second time I ran the engine on the ground. I wrote Hitec and they told me that a HS-225 would be the smallest servo that they would recommend for that application. I just ended up putting a standard servo in. Mine seems to be pretty heavy as well, 10.25 lbs. I have no Idea why. Maybe the YS is a little heavier than most engines. What does yours weigh in at?

I Also used blind nuts to secure the cowl to the fuse, I forgot to mention that.

Bozwth

mikerc

My Feedback: (11)

The GB Decathlon is a great plane. I just had radio problems. Not a structural proplem. Enjoy it. You will love it more everyday. I have a little .40 size Citabria from Lanier. It is the best plane for Knife edge. This is a great design. Have fun.

mikerc

My Feedback: (11)

Knife edge Lanier Citabria

mikerc

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Here she is on landing.

Planedreamer

It is a thicker gear. I ordered mine at 1/8" but might have been able to squeeze in 3/16" if I had wanted to try. The Saito 100 engine is lighter than the YS-91 that Goldberg originally recommended. I balanced the plane with both engines before deciding and it was a perfect, no weight added, balance with the Saito.

To be honest, I don't know exactly what the plane weighs in at. Never checked. I'd probably say around 10 pounds.

WacoOne

My Feedback: (3)

Bozwth:
The mounting block broke loose from the hatch cover. It looked like I didn't have enough epoxy on that one. Anyway, I added screws through the hatch cover into the mounting blocks on the new one. I would recommend doing that on any installation like that.
I also didn't like the "Y" setup on the elevator, but it seems to work ok. I considered using two servos as Planedreamer did but was afraid of upsetting the cg. The pane balances perfectly with the O.S. 91FS.

Bill

jpa2002

My Feedback: (115)

Well, I just bought me another one. I love the Decathlon's.

Jon

jpa2002

My Feedback: (115)

My first Decathlon had a one piece wing, and the new one has a two piece wing. What does everybody else have on theirs? One or Two piece wing.

Jon

Planedreamer

Goldberg designed their Decathlon to have two wings halves. The proto-type was brought to our club meeting and that was a great selling point for me.

WacoOne

My Feedback: (3)

Both of my Decathlons have had 2-piece wings, but I keep them joined on the aluminum tube because a 1-piece is easier to transport on the wing rack in my van.

Bill

nick.wright

My Feedback: (16)

I'm trying to finish mine up now. I dremeled out the servo try and installed a custom servo try with dual elevator servos. I also plan on running my Saito 1.20 inverted but the muffler hits the firewall. I don't want to chop up the firewall and I can't seem to find a 90 degree elbow for the muffler to make it clear. I've noticed a company selling aftermarket mufflers with an adjustable elbow but I don't want to spend $60+ for it. Does anyone know where I might be able to pick up a 90 degree elbow from?? The local hardware store here doesn't carry anything that thread size. I have had a bad problem with the pin stripping coming off (must the the South Ga heat). I've taken some of the original striping off and will replace it later. Now, even the stars are coming off.

Have you guys expoxied the wing tube to one wing half???? I have had a club member tell me to do so, but the instructions doesn't say anything about it. What do ya'll think?????