25% Bill Hempel Xtreme Decathlon

[D-Man]

Greetings,

For those interested here's a place to put your build notes and tips for the Bill Hempel 25% Xtreme Decathlon.



Mine's getting:

DLE55 w/Bisson Pitts Muffler

Xoar 23X8 Carbon Prop

4titude 16oz tanks (fuel and smoke)

Harris Smoke Pump

XQ-4120 servos all around (first time using these)

Spektrum Navigation

2s Lipo batteries



My XD showed up & two things jumped out at me as I unpacked the kit.

1. Bill had placed 4 different shipping warning labels on five of the six sides of the box. Thus insuring FedEx would take care not to damage the contents... that's 20 "treat me nice" warning stickers and it worked!!

2. Once all the parts were dry fitted I realized just how large the XD is!! The XD is huge for a 35-50cc plane!!



Kit looks great Bill.. THANKS!!

Now on to the build...



Cheers,

D-Man

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[D-Man]

Build update...



Took some time to really think out how to mount the tanks, Batteries and RX.... decided to buy and modify the 4titude 16oz tank tray. Had to cut sides of the tray and lower the front where the tanks are held by the caps. Then after screwing the tray to the fuselage floor this allows for the tanks to simply slide in. The rear strap holds the tanks in the tray. Batteries behind the tanks and RX mounted below. Over all this makes for a pretty clean and maintainable fuel/smoke tank system.



Also painted the Landing gear and spinner, had to trim the sides of the Harris Smoke Pump to get it to fit inside the cowl and as stated before, mounted the throttle servo just behind the firewall. Took some pics so y'all can see how the business end was configured.



Other findings: My struts needed no twisting or mods they installed with little fuss. The XQ-4120 servos went in without cutting or taking a file to the servo openings. And she fired up for the first time after a some fussing with the DLE55 that had been sitting for a few months (Thanks SupaTim & Valley View RC for your help).



Just have the tail flying wires, cowl mount, front windshield and wheel pants to install and she should be ready to maiden this weekend!! WooHoo!!



Will do my best to take pics and vids of the event!



Cheers,

D-Man

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[wecoyote]

Subscribed!

Looks really nice. What's the wing span?

 

[D-Man]

wecoyote;16826 wrote: Subscribed!

Looks really nice. What's the wing span?

This is a 92.5" clipped wing & flap version of the Hempel 25% 100" Super Decathlon.



Cheers,

D-Man

 

[D-Man]

Greetings all,

Here's a quick vid of the final check out before the maiden later today..

Got her dialed in and ready!







Cheers,

D-Man

 

[wecoyote]

Sweet!

Report back here after the maiden and let us know how it went.

 

[HurtinAlbertan]

Nice, good luck on the maiden.

 

[D-Man]

Ok so here is my maiden trip to the field with the XD today.



From the beginning the Flying Gremlins were against me on this day.

First... I Forgot the wing tube... went home to get it as my flying friend watched my gear... 20 min round trip, no big deal.



First flight was good... only gas no smoke as I got her dialed in.... she flies great and very little trim needed. However Knife edge will take some getting use to or perhaps some mixing. But then I dumbthumbed the landing with full flaps... it ballooned up and ended with a nose over on the tail (My Bad) top of rudder damaged slightly. Field repaired the tail and went for flight #2.



Flight #2 was a better (only gas no smoke) unlimited vertical and good roll rate... great flight until the door came off... had to walk out into the stickers to find it... Turns out the frame broke at the hinges on the door side. Took plane apart to Med CA the door back together (you might want to reinforce the door frame with CA prior to first flight. Then when putting the wings back on I noticed the door had but a 4" gash in the underside of the right wing. Patched it with some Blendurm for a field repair... and put the wings back on..



Flight #3 was going to be on video with smoke.. but this flight was a NO-GO as just after engine start, the XQ Power throttle servo died! GRRRRRR!!! Took the plane apart to deduce it was indeed the servo and not a servo connection.



Very tired as I can't remember a day when I worked so hard at the field.



Bottom line... the 25% Hempel XD flies great.... it was just my flying to working ratio today was very low .:upset:



Cheers,

D-Man

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[Bartman]

Glad it went mostly well D-Man. I had the 107" Pilot Super D for a while and it was a hoot to fly but same stuff you're talking about including needing some finger skills to keep it knife edge but it's fun when you get it figured out!



The Pilot one also had different habits when landing with flaps and the first time I tried it I nosed it over and busted the prop.



Fun airplanes though that definitely teach skills!



fwiw, real Super D's don't have flaps!

Bart

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[BalsaDust]

Looks awesome and I would love to have a Super Decathlon one day.