RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

This thread hasn't seen much activity lately so I thought I'd resurrect it for a bit. I helped a friend build and maiden one of the Pilot 122" Decathlons and really liked it. Unfortunately that plane is way too big for my truck and my wallet! Was all set to get one of the new Bill Hempel 25% Decathlons when I started seeing some of the problems they were having with it. Plus, it was going to be almost $200 more than this one, and doesn't come with any hardware. Even though some of the hardware that comes with the RC Guys will need replacement, I'm hoping some of it can be used. So, I put in my order this morning. Dan at RC Guys said it would ship out this afternoon. That's pretty fast service!

I've read through this entire thread and saw where a lot of people are having trouble with the covering. One solution I haven't seen anyone try yet would be to use doculam to cover over the trim pieces. It is extremely light and clear and should be able to keep anything from peeling up. I will be using it on mine if I see any problems.

Right now, I'm planning on using a PTE-36 for power and Power HD 1501s for all surfaces. It will be a little while before I get it flying becasue I have to save up for the engine and servos...

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

My plane looks good and flies great. But they used the cheapest covering found on the planet to use...still very dissatisfied with it. You can see the wood grain thru the covering and if you try to remove it , it will make a mess. Has prevented me from buying a second or third plane from them. I would, however, reconsider if they sold an ARC option for all their models...but they don't. Oh well. :eek:

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Good luck Joe. I re-seal my stars every now and then. Has not been a big problem.
Please keep us posted on the fix you propose.
I think this is a sturdy, well flying bird.
The 36 will be plenty of power. I use a Saito 180 4-stroke.
I'll be taking mine to Joe Nall for the 3rd time this May.
Peace
Scott

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

I'm still flying mine. I love it. I just recently cleared out all my glow stuff and moved to the giant stuff (100cc sized) But I refuse to sell off my Decathlon. Yes like many ARF's they have there flaws but they are minor in my mind. The stars and strips on mine have been replaced with vinal graphics. You can just simply peel off the old ones and bring it into a vinal shop and get the to cut you some out and the blue pinstrips. For me they did it in about 5 min and charged me $20. I've never had an issue with them since.

I think the RC Guys Decathlon is the best looking Decathlon IMO.


Ijust tried to upload some pics but RCUdoesn't seem to be working smoothly tonight

Cheers

Brad

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

I talked with Dan today when I ordred and he said they had corrected the problem, but time will tell. I have a bunch of covering that I could even make my own trim if necessary. Actually had really good luck with the Hobby City stuff. I've used it on my last four planes and it's worked out great. The covering stays tight and doesn't wrinkle in the sun like Monokote and Ultra does. And you can't beat the price!

Got a tracking # but it hasn't been updated in UPS yet so I don't know when it will get here but I will definitely post my impressions as soon as it comes. This is going to be my stress relief plane. Been flying 3D profiles for the last 5 or 6 years and need something to relax with every once in a while. There's just something about seeing a Decathlon and a Cub coming in that gets to me. I've wanted one ever since I was a kid when I used to watch the mayor of a nearby town fly his Decathlon at the local airshows. His was blue with the starburst scheme and was just beautiful, but I really like the red!

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Here's a link to my photo album of my Decathlon on RC Canada   http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/album.php?albumid=209

Check out the deflection on the ailerons in the knife edge pictures.....LOL I only have to use about 15% rudder to hold a level knife edge.

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

WooHoo! Got the update from UPS and my Decathlon will be here Friday! Now to start gathering up all the stuff I need to get it flying. This will probably take a while...

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Bradleyban,
I also have the RC Guys Super Decathlon but, I have not decided which engine to install. I orginally planned for the DLE 30 and still think it will be a good choice. What engine do you have on yours and do you have any thoughts on the best engine choice? Thanks

Howard

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Got the Decathlon in Friday. It was well packed so United Plane Smashers wasn't able to damage it! The plane looks great. I tookan iron and started going over all the seams to seal everything doen. vut can tell the blue will not last very long. No matter how much heat I used, it simply wouldn't stay stuck. Almost like the forgot to put adhesive on the back side. Since I had a bunch of blue covering that perfectly matched the color, I decided to strip the trim off one wing and redo it. It was a little bit of a job, but it came out OK. However on the other wing I tried something different. I cut strips of Doculam about 3/16-1/4" wide and overlayed the edges of the blue stars and the ends of the stripes. When ironed down it is virtually invisible and stays stuck! I don't think those stars will ever come off. On the tail with the smaller stars, I just cut out some circles and put them over the stars. Everwhere the stripes ended I covered with a strip of Doculam. I think I'll be good to go now.

As for the hardware, there isn't much of it I'm going to use. The pushrods are a joke and are way to small for a plane this size. Those will get replaced with CF rods and 4-40 ends and h/w. The horns will also be replaced with the Dubro stuff. Wheels are very heavy, but I will probably use them initially. Hinges will be replaced with genuine Robarts.

One other thing that didn't look right was the jury strut holes in the struts. They are nowhere close to the same distance from the tips. I'd say there is a good 4-5" offset. Might have to redrill one side. Maybe I'm just looking at it wrong, but it sure doesn't seem right.

Other than that, everything looks good. Haven't made a firm decision on an engine yet. I have a few in mind, including the DLE-30, JC-30, and a PTE-36R. Also still researching servos. I initially was going to go with the PowerHD 1501s, but they are really a little overkill, and are heavy. I got a couple for the ailerons on my 30cc 3D plane and they don't seem to hold very well, either.

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

JoeBob

The jury struts lined up perfectly on mine. Don't drill extra holes just yet guarenteed you won't have to

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Here's a pic of the struts. Are those holes in the same place on yours?

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Yep that deffinatly doesn't look right. E-mail that pic to dan and see what he says. He probly end up sending you a new set

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Good idea. I just sent hime the pic and will see what he says. IT's not really a big deal though. If I can get the right measurement I'll just redrill them myself.

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Hey Joe,

What problems are we having with my Decathlons? I have not seen anything........ nor have I heard anything...

Bill Hempel

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

joebob,

Glad you resurrected this thread! I have always wanted a larger Decathlon too. Even toyed with the idea of the small one by Pilot, but the price just killed that. Then I thought how about the new AW Bravata, and am actually still considering that. Have been watching this thread a long time and will watch with interest your posts to help me decide what I shall do about this desire I have for a larger, high wing, pretty, and fairly aerobatic plane. Keep posting your thoughts as you progress! Thanks. Jon

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Wow, Jon, you sound like you are going through exactly the same thought process I did. Love the looks of the Bravata, but at $700 it was out of my price range. The BH Decathlon looked good, but there really isn't any info out there yet on it, and it was $150 more than the RC Guys delivered. This thread helped me decide on the RC Guys one. Even though there are problems, I still feel it's a good deal, and everyone really likes how it flies.

Thought I had another problem. I looked everywhere and couldn't find any aileron hatch covers in the box. E-mailed Dan and he offered to ship me some out ASAP. But I got home yesterday and started unwrapping the strut covers and lo and behold, there they were!

Putting the struts together, though, I did notice that the holes in the fuse brackets will not line up with the ones in the stuts, so those will have to be redrilled. Have to redrill the ones for the jury struts anyway, so what's two more? ;)

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

My bad, BIll. I think I may have got it confused with the aileron servo placement on the L-4. Sorry about that. I was doing so much reading I got my planes crossed up!

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

No problem Joe,

The RCGuys Decathlon is a great airplane, I am sure. It certainly has been on the market a lot longer than mine. :)

Good luck!

Bill Hempel

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

The BH Decathlon sure is a great looking bird, and I'm sure it is top quality, just like all your stuff. For me it simply came down to economics. I couldn't afford the Cadillac so I had to go for the Chevy!

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Been slowly working on the Decathlon getting the little things done. The tail is glued on and servos are installed. My servos didn't fit the pre-glued aileron hatch plates very well.The blocks were a little too narrow, and the arm was not centering in the slot at all. I didn't want to make the sot any bigger because it loos bad, so I decided to make new hatches. I thought they were 1/16" ply, but they are just a tad thicker. I took a piece of 1./16 and laminated some 1/32" onto it and it was just about perfect.

I also replaced all the hinges with genuine Robarts. The ones on the ailerons seemed really weak at the hinge. I bent one over to check and it popped in half. THe elevator and rudder ones didn't seem too bad, but I feel better with the Robarts. Will hopefully get them all glued in this weekend.

The elevator servos really stick out the side of the fuse and look bad. I figure I'm going to probably be tailheavy anyway, so I was wondering if anyone has mounted them in the fuse. If so, what did you use for pushrods?

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

With any luck, I may be able to maiden the Decathlon this Saturday. My engine (JC30) should be here by Wednesday or Thursday, and the rest of the little things to finish it from Tower will arrive tomorrow. All of the servos are mounted and the pushrods are installed. The only things left are to mount the engine, tank, and throttle servo, glue in the windows, install the tail flying wires, and go over everything to make sure I didn't miss something. It's going to be tight, but I'm giving it my best show to get it all done.

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

Best of luck joebob
Hope she's straight and true.
Scott

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

I have the L4.. What is wrong with the servo placement?? I have not assembled it yet... Brian

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

There is a thread on the plane over on the giants site that talks about it. I don't know if it has been fixed or not. Apparently the placement of the servo interferes with the struts somewhat. I don't remember, but it might just be if you want to fold the struts up for storage. The guy that identified the problem simply moved the horn location in the aileron over and flipped the servo around. Definitely not a huge deal. The only reason I mentioned it was that I had been doing so much reading and really didn't remember which planes had which problems.

I certainly didn't mean to imply that there are major problems with the BH planes. As far as I know, they're top notch. I think the quality probably is a cut above the RC Guys. They're really in a different class.

RE: RC Guys Super Decathlon coming
 

My apologies Inever seen this comment Howard

Im using a Saito FG-36 in mine. Ithink the DLE-30 is the same if not a little bit more power than the FG-36. Can't go wrong with that motor!