Sterling PT Ringmaster by Estes

Exactly what I would do George

The plans exist, the parts count is low, and common dimension balsa

Build a scratch one, paint like the box, fly, have fun Later retire plane to display with original ESTES unopened kit... Add a NIB ESTES Black Widow to the display

Great grand kids can sell it in a few decades for a lot more than $15CAD

Fred, IMO, yes and no. Yes, retain the kit in its origin, show a suitable Cox tank engine for display. No, passing on to grandkids won't net much inheritance gain. I've been watching the engine and kit sales on E-Bay of late baby boomer collectors. These are resale items from estate auctions. What they go for is less than one would expect, and at estate auctions even less.

If one has a historic kit, they are better off selling it outright or building it and enjoying it. One can't take these items to the grave.

I ended up with one of the "Beginners Ringmaster" Sterling kits, same thing basically.   The wing wood was warped badly, and the fuselage wood and die cutting were so poor, I had to remake them.  The plane flew rather OK, but only after I ditched the landing gear. It stalls and loses energy badly if you try to make it turn quickly, but it will loop if you are gentle on the entry, and let it get fairly high over the top.

If I built another one, I would apply some light tissue to the wings, with the grain running chordwise.  I think it would end up lighter, as it took a fair amount of dope to try to seal the wing.  Chordwise  because the wing is prone to splitting.

Here is a thread on mine:
https://www.coxengineforum.com/t5230-sterling-beginner-s-ringmaster

Well, I will add this. That kit was my second build, however my first plane, sucessfully flown. The first was finished after this one. I did however trace out the parts and have made many of them when I was very active earlier on. Now I just fly here and there. I had bothe Babe Bees, and Black Widow on mine. With my limited novice abilities, I will say that it flew very well. Straight and true for me anyways. My plans are out there somewhere online, just cannot find them on my PC after it crashed bad last year. The only thing hindering a scratch build of the exact kit you have is the leadout guide, and plastic engine mount. The rest is things laying around the shop. Lastly, should you build the kit, or scratch one out, the thing I always did was to add a 1/8" spruce spar in the middle of the wing between halves and or on the LE. Adds a lot of strength for those "D'oh" moments.

Yeah I think I'll just leave it in the box for now, but would like to build that version some day though. I have to finish my beam mount baby ringmaster first. I do have one of those profile engine mounts already so I'll save it for that.
Nice model you have there kevbo! Thanks again for your input guys.

Canso07.

If you're not in a big rush, I'll do a little searching and find the copies I traced out online. Ill then get back to you.

No rush bud...that would be very kind you. I know I've seen some plans online for this version with the sheet wing and profile engine mount but can't find any now.

Thanks Canso07.

Here's a link to a .pdf of the plans for the Beginner's Ringmaster, same thing as the PT Ringmaster. They are the Pat King plans, but this page is where the Brotherhood of the Ring directs you, so I guess Pat is letting anyone build from them for free. They aren't the ones I used for my Beginner's Ringmaster. These are much nicer. The copy I used was just a pencil drawing someone made of their kit wood.

http://www.flying-aces.net/BeginnersRingmaster.pdf


I also used a 1/8" square stick of Spruce along the leading edge of my wing. Hasn't suffered any damage or hangar rash in almost four years. Using these should build you a nice little plane. You can use the firewall mount like on these plans. I used a piece of 1/2" balsa triangle stock on each side behind the firewall on mine rather than just the 1/4" gussets. If I were building another, I'd probably do the same or just use a Brodak plastic 1/2A engine mount.

Hope this helps,

The Sympathetic Mark

Wow these are nice plans batjac just what I'm looking for.

Canso07.

I've spoken to Pat King who drew those plans on Mark's link and he says there's no problems with copyright. Anyone's free to print them out or take them to a print shop & have them copied, free of any guilt

Ok. A little search brought them up for me. I had posted them on another site a while ago, and here they are. Check out post #30. If I cannot link to nother website, please let me know and I will fix it appropriately. Thank you.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?865367-Ringmaster-Jr-and-Baby-Plans/page2#post12766748

Those are also fantastic NEW222... Now I want to build the .19 size ringmaster lol

Canso07.

Canso07 wrote:Those are also fantastic NEW222... Now I want to build the .19 size ringmaster lol

Canso07.

Any other Ringmasters you want to build? lol. Actually, I was suppposed to be building a .19 Ringmaster last winter but that never happened. I have a few 1/2a planes to liquidate before building anything else. Just never can find the time to fly. But on a good note, I still can find time for a bench run here and there.

Sometimes that's all we need is just to here them run

Canso07.

NEW222 wrote:Ok. A little search brought them up for me. I had posted them on another site a while ago, and here they are. Check out post #30. If I cannot link to nother website, please let me know and I will fix it appropriately. Thank you.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?865367-Ringmaster-Jr-and-Baby-Plans/page2#post12766748

These are the drawings I built my beginner's Ringmaster from. But I used a different set for my Baby Ringmaster. I'm not sure where I found those.

The Forgetful Mark