Sport New Year's Resolution Decathlon

[Krazy Kanuk]

My New Years resolution was to repair the damage to my 28% 107 inch Decathlon that I damaged last summer.

I was doing "Touch & Go's" and on my last approach the side wind caught the far wing and pushed the inboard wheel into the ground quite hard.

It ripped the gear out and cracked the rudder and elevator as it tumbled upside down.

So I ripped the covering off, made the repairs to the fuselage (quite easy) and used bamboo rods to pin the rudder and elevator where the trailing edge had cracked.

I then covered the plane in Solartex. I was fortunate in that I was able to remove all of the windows to make the covering easier and the job looks as if it was done this way originally.

I then painted it using Tremco Gloss Yellow and their Hammertone Charcoal Black.

In subsequent posts I'll list the changes I did to improve this great flying Plane.

 

[Krazy Kanuk]

Here are more pictures of the colour scheme I chose.

Unfortunately the yellow colour doesn't come out well when the pictures are taken from inside using a flash.

 

[Krazy Kanuk]

To make it "Noise Friendly" I'm using a Custom made muffler made for me by Lance at Bisson Mufflers. I made a blue foam block to get the "EXACT" fit and he made the extra baffled muffler to the blue foam dimensions. It has a low purring sound.

 

[Krazy Kanuk]

This plane has a EME 60 with Auto Start. It's a blast to nonchalantly stand behind your stabs and have the engine suddenly start up. Wakes up those who are not in the "know".

The pilot is mounted on a sub floor that is held in place with small super strong magnets. It's a breeze to remove the pilot to get at the batteries.

For fun I added a Towing - Banner Hook that uses a small servo mounted behind the pilot for the release mechanism.

 

[BalsaDust]

Looks good. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Krazy Kanuk]

Lastly I upgraded the landing gear to one from SDS Hobbies. It's an inch taller and 2 1/2 inches wider so that it will do my touch and goes a little easier. I also increased the wheel size by an inch for the rough strips that we sometimes fly off of.

 

[Krazy Kanuk]

I was asked what the muffler looks like.

There was not much room width wise but more than ample for the length.

The front corner was angled to fit the cowl.

I also forgot to mention that I installed lights in the wing and a landing light in the cowl.

 

[Bartman]

I love Super Decathlons. that is all.

 

[BalsaDust]

I love Super Decathlons. that is all.

You are not the only one. I wish there was a good kit of one out there. I know there are a couple of kits but their specs show them building really heavy.

 

[Krazy Kanuk]

I was asked how do I attach the aerilons and flaps. "Was I using Y connectors".

I run each servo on its own separate channel.

This plane uses a lot of channels. Here is the list

1:- Throttle
2:- Right Aerilon
3:- Left Aerilon
4:- Right Flap
5:- Left Flap
6:- Right Elevator
7:- Left Elevator
8:- Rudder
9:- Engine Choke
10:- Engine Cut Off
11:- Auto Start for the Engine
12:- Banner Release
13:- Gyro Rate Control Input
14:- Lights

To help me on in my wiring, I colour code each lead with a unique coloured wire tie. Red= Right Aerilon, Dark Blue=Choke, Black=Rudder, Lime Green= Ignition and so on----