Dynaflite Decathlon
 

Getting ready to put together a Dynaflite Decathlon. Planning G38 for power. Any pros, cons, building tips, pitfalls, mods and or etc would be appreciated.

Dynaflite Decathlon
 

Bob,

Good choice all around. Have fun building!

A couple of comments --

Be thoughtful of the weight at all times, particularly in the rear. Mine has a Quadra 42 in the nose and it still took dead weight on the firewall to achieve balance (Grrrr!).

I redesigned the struts to be functional. There is an aluminum strap across the belly behind the gear, then 1/16 x 3/4" aluminum flat bar out to the end (leading strut only, kit provided wood strut in the rear). #8 bolts at the ends. The flat bar is surrounded by balsa for shape and light glass/epoxy for stability. I also added the jury strut support out of respect for scale.

I didn't like the kit's tailwheel design so converted to a plastic Klett scale-like design. That has worked out well.

If I were to do it again and was very energetic toward having a scale bird, I would completely redesign the wing joint and attachment to the fuselage. Rather than butting the wing halves together, I would butt them to the fuselage sides. This would require a simple and light shear guide at the root and good functional struts. It would be lighter and allow for a proper through the roof sky-light as on the full scale machine.

Be ready for some real balsa carving. How therapeutic!

Good luck.

Bedford