CHILDHOOD MEMORIES PROMPT
GIANT SCALE BUILD
Photos provided by Ray Hostetler | rayshelitech@gmail.com
RAY HOSTETLER (Simi Valley, California) prefaced his “Viewfinder” submission with, “This model won Best of Show at the 2020 Toledo Show: R/C Model Expo. Uh, wait a minute. There wasn’t a 2020 show because of COVID! Although the plan was to show the completed model at Toledo, I was one year too late.” The following is the background to his story.
After flying model helicopters for nearly 40 years, Ray decided that he wanted to do a precision Scale airplane. “I have always followed Dave Platt closely and have many of his building DVDs. Growing up, my father, Wendell Hostetler (of Hostetler’s Plans), built a Sig Citabria and we flew it often. Dad put
floats on it and we flew it off of water, as well as wet grass! What a great-flying airplane. Dad was a prolific designer of Giant Scale airplanes, and I followed along with him that ‘bigger is better.’”
With those childhood memories, Ray decided in the fall of 2012 to build a 33% Super Decathlon. The question was what paint scheme to choose. After landing his company’s full-scale Falcon 2000 at the Cape Fear Regional Jetport, just west of Southport, North Carolina, he saw a beautiful red and white Decathlon take off. Inquiring at the fixed-base operation (FBO), he was informed that the owner was Dr. Joe Goodman, who would be returning in a half hour. The FBO manager introduced Ray to Joe, who allowed him to take more than 300 photos of the airplane on the spot. Back home in Simi Valley, Ray made several visits to the Santa Paula Airport to measure and draw plans for a 33% (127-inch wingspan) Scale model.
Construction began on March 25, 2013, with completion on March 25, 2020—seven years to the day. Ray stated that the project was untouched for many weeks because of his full-time job as a corporate jet pilot. “But simply knowing the project was waiting for me in the garage gave me satisfaction,” he wrote. “It did not help that I was doing a precision Scale model. It is well-known in the full-scale homebuilding world that ‘perfection is the enemy of completion.’”
The Decathlon is powered with a D&B 83cc twin engine and weighs 51 pounds. The covering is uncertificed light fabric, and the paint is Klass Kote. The radio is a Spektrum DX9 with an AR12310T receiver.
The first flight was at Stoltzfus Airfield in Kidron, Ohio, on July 5, 2020. Subsequent flights were on July 8 at the Wayne County RC Club in Smithville, Ohio. On July 11, Ray drove to Wilmington, North Carolina, to fly the airplane for Joe. The photos were taken after that flight.
Sadly, Joe passed away suddenly in the fall of 2023. “I’m so glad Joe got to see his baby Decathlon fly,” Ray wrote.
Because of his heavy flying schedule for work, Ray stated that he has not flown the Decathlon as much as he would like. “I have a second sport-scale Decathlon that is in the covering stages. It is the same as this Decathlon but without the rib-stitching and full cabin detail. It will be powered with an electric motor, and I am anxious to see it fly.
“Retirement is not that far away, and I’m looking forward to more ‘play’ time with my models!”
