Ontario Adhesives/Dynaflite Decathlon Build
 

Hello to everyone

I am Tom Batiuk and I won the opportunity to do an online build using Ontario Adhesives products. First off I would like to say thanks to Chris for offering the chance to take on this exciting opportunity. I was really impressed when I opened up the box and found the following:


2 bottles of Super Phatic
2 epoxy wing joiner kits
1 bottle of cover grip
1 bottle of Foam 2 Foam adhesive
1 bottle of RC modelers glue
1 bottle of Roket Max thick CA
1 bottle of Roket rapid medium CA
1 bottle of Roket hot super thin CA
1 bottle of Roket odourless for foam
1 bottle of Roket blaster accelerator
1 container of model lite filler
1 pack of pin point syringes
1 pack of micro tips for CA.

As you can see Chris pulled out all the stops by sending so much stuff. In a telephone conversation with him I asked as to why he did this. He simply stated to try it out and give an honest review. What a stand up fellow!!! Here is a few picks of what I received from Chris at Ontario Adhesives:

Dynaflight Decathlon
 

Hello again

For this build I have chosen to do the 89" Dynaflite Decathlon. This is my first Giant scale build so all of your help and insight will be great. I have been thinking of going gas with this one with an Evolution 26GT for power. I have seen the Dynaflite kit builds fly at fun flys in the past and I can hardly wait to maiden this one next year.

For a color scheme on this one I have decided to stay traditional by going with the yellow, white and black color scheme. I am going to cover this model with 21st century fabric as this will add a scale touch and this stuff is super easy to work with. The rest so far is to be determined as we go along. If anyone has done this model out there and can offer some building tips I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks and have a safe day! Cheers,

Tom 8)

ontarioadhesives would probably do a lot better if your web site actually worked... I have never been able to get the page to load properly.

website down for a few days
 

Hello to everyone

Right now Chris is in the process of redesigning his site. I spoke with him the other day and he told me it should be back up and new& improved early next week. cheers,

Tom 8)

The EVo 26 GT gasser is a really nice engine. I tested one for Fly RC a few years ago and it is still flying in my buddies H9 1/4 scale Taylorcraft, which it hauls around pretty well.

One thing I like to try when using a new adhesive (or some type I am not familiar with) is do some test lay ups (basically just gluing scraps of balsa, or balsa/ply or Ply/ply together in various methods and then breaking them to see if the bond fails or the material fails. Just a suggestion, especially if this is your first large scael model where you may encounter some areas you havent had to deal with in a smaller model.

Looking forward to your build!

AJC

I agree, you should know the character of your new glue.
Have FUN :D

glue test
 

Good thing you got lots of glue.

I agree, it's a good idea to test it first. And IMO that Dynaflite Super Dud is a great choice for that. That's about all I found it to be good for.

Got one 4 years ago direct from Tower. Worst P.O. garbage I've ever had nest to a Sterling kit.

Nothing fit- except the parts you make yourself. Crappy quality of materials. Missing kit parts. No hardware. ABS parts total trash. Parts did not match plans. Plans fudged where thickness of wood called out is thinner than that shown on plans. And on. And on. And on.

It was a total disaster. Very frustrating. I've been attacking it over the past 4 years whenever I feel masochistic and now have it to the covering stage. Maybe next spring (year 5) it'll finally see the air.

Oh, here's a very important budling tip. You might want to read the instructions entirely through before beginning assembly. Some of the sequences are better done in a different order than suggested. For instance, they have you glue in a flimsy lite ply landing gear doubler to the floor AFTER you assemble the belly below it. That way you cannot get in to clamp it properly for a great bond. Of course, you could easily have done that, as I did, prior to installing the belly pan.

There are other areas that require forethought too, lest you build something unworkable or build yourself into a corner.

Why not keep your glue for a worthy project??

Helpful Comments
 

Hi There

Thanks to all that have replied so far. I really don't know what happened with your kit D0335. I have read through all the instructions and poored over the plans and the kit other than the ABS parts you mentioned seemed to be in great shape. I plan on replacing the cheap ABS parts with some quality fiberglass specialties stuff anyway. I usually only use the ABS stuff for laying things out when I can. Perhaps Dynaflite has changed things up since you got your kit.

As to the Glues. The CA's are just what I expected compared to the other CA's that I have tried. One worthy note though is the fact that they don't seem to stick to the bottle that they are packaged in. I have found this especially helpful when trying to remove the cap at a later date. This is great because I have used loctite CA and Devcon CA for years and you never get the whole bottle consumed before you can't get the cap off anymore. I still have to play with the Super Phatic yet but will keep you posted when I do. Please keep all the tips coming! I am starting to build the AC now and will post some pics and progress very soon. thanks to all! Cheers,

Tom 8)

Tail Feathers started
 

Hello Everyone

I started to build the tail feathers for my decathlon the other night. I have to say that you get quite the box of wood when you do a Giant scale build. I usually start by taking inventory of what I have in the box and mark each piece with the size and dimension for easier identification in the building process later on. The plans and instructions in this kit are pretty self explanatory and I had no problems laying things out for the horizontal stabilizer.

I decided to take everyones advice and practice with the Super Phatic before I actually put anything together in the build. I am glad that I did because it has some properties that I wasn't expecting in this type of glue. The most notable is the fact that it really wicks itself into any joints that you have. I glued a couple of sticks together and let them sit for 24 hours. I then tried to break them apart. The wood broke before the joint let go. I know that I am going to like this stuff. The other notables are the fact that it doesn't have a nasty smell to it. I found it to clean up with water too! I have loaded some pics of the progress so far as well as a few of the hangar that we have in my friend Leo's basement. Here you go.

More pictures
 

Here is some more pics...