Loaded these easily to the post. But trying to load to the gallery was giving me fits with sizing, Anyway hope to get some in flight pics this weekend. The pics in the driveway have the OS 46 installed. The first pic is just prior to first takeoff. I have ordered a new cowl to cut out for the 55AX rather than patch the old one that was cut out for the 46.

Wierd, looks like they changed over to the phoenix Decathlon. The old seagull one had some differences.

Yeah, I much prefer the white numbers on yours. May order some and change them out.

Bill,

Great looking Plane !

What radio did you decide on ?

Bob

Haven't yet, as you can see in the pics I'm still using the old JR FM (36). It works really good! but I need to convert to 2.4.

I like to use numbers from Hobby Lobby. They got different font sheets to choose from and I can customize the letters. I did it on my extra, f-16, and my fake mustang. I used my kid's initials as the squadron group on the mustang.

I recently finished the Seagull 120 Decathlon. Zenoah G-20 for power

That beauty needs a pilot in it! TIP: Elmo crashed mine the first time out.

BEAUTIFUL!! Are you writing a review for the build? And to think I went into the LHS with every intention of buying a Funtana! I am so glad the Decathlon caught my eye! I am super pleased with this plane!

Yes, the review has been completed and turned in but it hasn't gone live yet. But here's the video (How's that for a teaser? )

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8TcHDyVGck[/youtube]

NICE!! Guess I should've bought the 120!! Thanks for sharing the video.

Hey Minnflyer, that old RCKen did a great job of flying
All kidding aside, great job.

Mike,

You and Ken have all the nice toys.

Bill,

Yea, go 2.4 and don't look back.

Bob

We all have our cross to bear

Hello Minn, Nice job on the Decathalon! While I'm not a huge Decathalon fan I am a small gas engine fan. I had the oportunity to fly a freinds H9 Hellcat with a G-20ei and saw a guy last week fly a Seagull Edge 540 with a G-20ei and am impressed with those little engines. They seem to put out like a 120 size glow engine which is about what a 26cc gasser should be doing. I would love to have your opinion on the G-20ei as far as what size glow you would concider it best replaces. I currently fly a Sig Rascal 110 with an OS 1.60fx and a H9 FuntanaX 100 with an OS 1.20ax and would love to convert them both to gas so I'm not going through a bottle of Nitro a week[:@] My only fear is the potential performance loss. You should see everyones jaw drop when they see a Giant Rascal slip into a high alpha knife edge, fly the whole pattern that way then turn into a hover mid feild, pause and change direction and knife edge it back around. I'm afraid the G-20ei would lose that capability.

I don't want to hijack the thread, so I'll PM you

Can't see enough Decathlons, I have one too.

Could somebody please measure the width of the cowl for me? I'd like to know if my 7 1/2 inch wide Saito 130 twin will fit inside. Thanks.

Which bounce are you counting as the landing? LOL J/K looks nice, may have to look into one, have an OS 160 and smoke system without a home.

All of them, I don't get to fly very often, so I make the most out of each flight

What kind of name is CowboyLifesaver anyway? Does that have anything to do with Brokeback Mountain???

Hey Minn,
I have a question to you and the other guys here that have a Decathlon. I have heard that these can be a handful to fly and or they have some ground handling issues. Is there any truth to that??
Derrick

I have no ground issues, nor bad flying habits with mine. I started out with 13 X 6 APC prop with the OS 55AX. It seems to want to roll left once taking off. I switched the a 12.25 X 3.75 APC prop and the rolling went away. I think the 13 X 6 was way too much prop for the 55 AX. I have the CG set at 95mm From TLE. Glides right in for landing, no bouncing, like some other have experinenced. The ground handling is no more than other tail dragers, just throttle up slow, before applying full power. GREAT flying aircraft. Looks super in the air. Oh and I'm using flaperons for take off and landing.

They have the same issue on the ground as they do in the air. People don't respect them.

There is nothing "wrong" with the design, but the pilot must always be aware that they are not flying a sport plane. Now granted, some manufacturer's Decathlons are easier to handle than others, but in general, a Decathlon was designed to be a highly aerobatic airplane capable of flying in airshows to "Wow" the crowd - Not a private plane for flying to the next town for breakfast.

Where the problem starts is that it LOOKS like a little private sport plane - Fly it like one, and it will bite you.

I'll tell you the story of my 40-size Decathlon... I loved this plane. I really enjoyed flying it and never had a lick of problems with it. My brother came to visit and I let him fly it. He took off with less than full power and the plane immediately went into a torque roll to the left and crashed (only minor damage). I was standing next to him and immediately after the crash he showed me that he was holding full right aileron the whole time.

I told him, "It doesn't matter, you took off before you had sufficient flying speed"

Now, our dad happend to be standing there too, and he disagreed. "That plane had plenty of speed to tke off"

"Yes", I said, "It had enough speed to take off, but not enough speed to FLY"

Well, in the summer, I'm far too busy doing reviews to do any repairs, so I gave the plane to my dad. He repaired it and called me one day to meet him at the field to watch him fly it (He wanted to prove to me that it would fly as gently as a Cub). When I got there, he was picking up the pieces.

A few weeks later, he had it repaired again. I met him at the field and he was flying it. He floated it in for a landing (which, in itself is ok) and he said, "Look, just like a Cub". I said, "It's NOT a Cub!" and as soon as his wheels touched, he zipped up the throttle and promptly torque rolled it into the ground.

This is the "problem" with Decathlons. They LOOK like a Cub, but they have a short tail moment, so they need to have some air flowing over that tail to keep it from snapping on you.

It's not a problem with the design, it is designed to be snappy so it will do snappy aerobatics.

If you want something you can fly without thinking about it, don't get a Decathlon. On the other hand, if you keep in mind that you need to keep your speed up a little, the Decathlon is one of the most fun planes you can ever own!

Oh no MINN....Has everything to do with my former job. Being a rodeo clown/ bullfighter. Saving lives of guys dumb enough to strap themselves onto a bull. Can't say I blame you for trying to get the most out of flying time. It's freezing time here now, not much flying going on.

Like this:

I have a Great Planes Super Decathlon, and the original builder put a tuned pipe inside the fuse. It's got an old K&B .61, with a perry pump, perry carb, and the tuned pipe. The guys at the field swear I'm gonna tear the wings off of it one day....and I just might It can be a handfull at times.