Re: Help with GP Decathlon - Success!

> > Here is the results of my adjustments to the Great Planes Super > Decathlon. > > After having relatively poor results with stall strips alone, I > decided to rework the wing. I sliced the covering along the underside > of the wing parallel to the leading edge approximately 15 in long and > along the outer edge of the wing. I then carefully peeled back a > triangle of covering to expose the better portion of the outer two > bays. > > I generously sprayed the exposed wood with an ammonia/ water solution, > app. 25% ammonia. Be careful, so much ammonia will take your breath > away, literally! > > After it had soaked for 20 minutes I placed two blue foam supports > app. 1 inch thick under the wingtip trailing edge. Then I clamped the > center of the wing as gently as possible to the table, making sure the > center section of the wing was in complete contact with the table. > Finally I placed weights on the outer wingtip leading edge to bend the > whole wing structure down. I used about t 5 lbs on each wingtip. I let > this stay about 20 hours. > > When the weights were removed I had achieved around 1.5 to 2 degrees > incidence from the root to the tips. I also repositioned the stall > strips to right next to the fuse and reduced them to 6 inches. > > In addition to this I set my dual rate to 70% of normal throw and the > exponential rate to 80% and I linked my aileron to the rudder through > a switch on the transmitter to get better turn control. > > The resulting flight characteristics were dramatically improved. Take > off was more normal with no tendencies to drop a wing. This plane > prefers to keep the heat on. When it slows it kind of wallows thorough > the turns. You must also keep an eye on the nose when making slow > turns. Keep it down. > > My landings were normal and I had no tendencies to tip stall at slower > speeds. It does slow down fast though due to the front surface area. > > I must admit that I did not do any extensive slow speed stall testing > at any height. My last experience with that dead spin has made wary of > pushing this plane to the limit. > > I am running a TT 46 pro that's barely broken inn. It seems to be > plenty of power for this model. The total weight is about 6.5 lbs. > > I am reasonably satisfied with the results. As I get more accustomed > to this plane's quirks I will undoubtedly find out exactly where it > stalls. ;) > > For the time being I intend to handle this plane like the proverbial > Siamese cat, for those of you who have been near one of those... > > There is no doubt in my mind that you should add washout if you're in > the building stage. Some may argue that you will lose some acro > abilities but better to fly many times with less acro than only once > with full spin! > > Thanks for everyone's help. I hope this info will assist anyone > building this model. > > Cheers, > > Roy
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Wayne Bourke
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