Ringmaster Jr Kit S5

i don't really remember, i did like the red/white/blue factory paint scheme of the ringmaster? Lol, i never flew farther then some 50' from me...

Looking Good Chancey , No hurry do your thing and have Fun . Heck i got builds 2+ years old not finished

Another little update. Two nights ago, I installed the bellcrank and did a mock up of the plane with the elevator in place so I can make a control rod. Then last night, I sheeted the center section of the wing as planned. So what I now have left is to trim the center sheeting flush with the wing ribs, do the final sanding, then assembling and finishing. The tail surfaces in the pictures is just pinned into position for the photos. I cannot remember if I mentioned it before, but the fuselage and tail will definately be doped the sprayed with rattle can paint. But the wing... Oh the wing... That is still up in the air (no pun intended) on its covering. As a trainer, I am hesitant to put a bunch of time into a doped finish, and I cannot justify buying a roll of $kote just for it as I have a BIG roll of doculam sitting here. So I am honestly really thinking of doing doculam with painted finish to go along with the rest of the plane. Just cover, scuff, then shoot! So that's it for now. Until the weather gets nices so I can work outside to do my sanding and doping. This weekend looks nice, but I have some major car issues to diagnose, find, and hopefully fix first. So here are a couple of pictures.

What’s going on with the car? Lot of dudes on here that are car guys including myself.

Oh, not much. 2001 Chrysler Sebring power windows not working. The drivers rear wenot a few years ago so it was unplugged. Then a little while ago, they all stopped working. Tried the 30a circuit breaker, even jumped it with a wire and no go. Dad bought a used switch from a wrecker and that did not work. So as of now, I am thinking broken wire in the door between the a pillar and door. Supposed to be nicer here this weekend, 28 - 30 Fahrenheit, so will disassemble the door. I would prefer to bring the wiring harness through the door and out the inside to work on the wiring in a nice more open area rather than cut the boot to play with it in a tight area, Thanks for asking, it is greatly appreciated.

Well, fixed the car today. 2 completely severed wires, and 4 partially severed. Did as I said by disassembling and bringing the harness back through the door where it was easier to solder and shrink wrap the broken wires. But at least I now have power windows on 3 of the 4 doors. The rear drivers door gave the ghost a few years ago. This is just my summer beater and all around spare vehicle so it will stay that way....

So, here it is framed all up. Tail feathers are all glued in place with epoxy fillets. Wing is the only thing not glued in as I am waiting to go the hobby shop to get a piece of 3/32 music wire for the landing gear. All I have here is 1/16", and I bent one up, but it remains very weak still. So this kind of rained on my parade. However, I just may install the wing in place and carefully mark it where it goes. If I do that, I will probably just cover it in doculam minus the center section where the glue will be. I can also dope the fuselage as well. Then when I get back from vacation, I can do a final assembly and paint it. Also to note, while working on teh horizontal stab and elevator, my new hinging method seemed to be binding badly and was no longer smooth. I did not know what happened. So, while not taking the time to look things over, I rushed and cut the hinges I installed and wondered why it suddenly binded up. Immediately after cutting them, I looked at the horizontal stab and saw it was badly warped. Icould not figure it out. I was just about ready to cut out another out of a spare piece of balsa I dug up then realized the problem. The drywall spackle I was using had made my tail wet and warped it. The next day it was as straight as straight could be again after drying. So, it was not my hinges afterall. But since I cut them, I did my favorite thing. I sewed them together right across. Nice, tight, and very free! So with all this as it sits, it is at 5.6 oz as seen in the picture. Until next update, thanks for reading.

Looking good Chancey, real good.

Covering these airframes is always a question.

You put all this work into what becomes a beautiful structure then you have to cover it. But, for my next built-up plane I'm going to consider some sort or transparent film, either natural or in a color. I always liked transparent blue with some trim.

Love the yellow plane in the background above Chancey, the one with the stars with black and white beams coming from them. Very effective.

Bob

Thank you. If my work looked better, I would probably just cover it in clear and leave it. Just to match my Baby Ringmaster. The only problem is that I had already put some compound on the tail and sanded it so it is white in a couple spots. Thanks for the idea. As for the yellow plane in the background. It is my Sig Twister I bought a couple years ago. Just gotta run the engine up on the stand then install it. Still dont think I'm ready for a big flapped bird yet. But bought it anyways. I will get a picture of it up later for you.

What is Doculam?

ticomareado wrote:What is Doculam?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Doculam-Clearfilm-Covering-Material-0-99-Per-Foot/362350663234?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Db288443dc00b45388018ed64e937cab7%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D15%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D183698811758%26itm%3D362350663234&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Ae7f98a3d-4666-11e9-97b7-74dbd1809af8%7Cparentrq%3A7ca45d151690a9c56472c313ffe723cb%7Ciid%3A1

Here is a picture of the afforementioned Twister.

Doculam is simply document laminating film. Just like using other plastic films, except at a fraction of the price.

Just a little update. I put in 1/2 oz of wingtip weight today into the outboard tip. I also reinforced the LE and TE with some nylon and epoxied in place, just for a little security. Then I put 3 coats of clear Aerogloss dope that I had laying around at approximately 50/50 onto the whole fuselage and tail feathers. I also covered the wing as I mentioned with doculam. It is clear for now, but am now debating painting it and the fuselage, or keeping it original like my Baby Ringmaster. If I keep it clear, I may also look around for scraps of covering and put some graphics on it. If I keep it all natural finish, I will sand the fuselage and apply a few more coats of dope. Anyways, just a little update and also to show you the wing covered with doculam.

Does that Doculam tighten up well with a heat gun?

I cannot honestly answer that. I did not use a heat gun on it. I just ironed it on and used the iron to remove the wrinkles. My iron is set to the max, and have not yet burned through the stuff. I can give it a little test tomorrow if I get a few spare minutes. I do know that the sun does not affect it like other Plastic coverings. As well, this stuff is stronger I feel too.

Geez.. I'm sorry Chancey... I hadn't seen this thread.. or would have certainly been following it. I too have a Jr. Ring S-5 ARF.. and have a Fox Steel-Fin .15 ready to bolt-on. That "would be" my graduation from 1/2-A.......  to bigger models.  



I have Cox Tee Dee.09 engines on-ready-status as well. Your thoughts?

I personally don't have a thought about that, yet. That said as we are both newcomers to the world of things larger than 1/2a. However, from reading, the Cox may have a slight edge over the Fox due to weight, but i have heard all good about the Fox .15 in them. I will know in a few days about balance hopefully, so i may be able to provide more information then.

A Ringmaster Jr. will be nose heavy with a Fox .15 even though the engine is light. It was designed this way. I have yet to see ANY Sterling profiles not build nose heavy. Wood props, plastic tanks can offer good substitution to tail weight. Place a finger right where the front leadout exits on the inboard wingtip and in the same location on the outboard and pick it up. The plane will and should nose down hard. Leave it that way seeing that you never flew a plane of this size. It will fly fine under power. It will not be very responsive immediately to control inputs and that's what you want until you get a few flights on it. Work from there and add tail weight.

Wow. Thanks fro the information Ken. I was already looking at ways to put some hidden weight into the tail, but I will not do so. I know the old phrase 'nose heavy won't fly well, but tail heavy will only fly once....'. But I did not know that much nose heavy is still ok. However, I have not yet finished it so things may not be as nose heavy as I originally thought. I will keep updating as I go along.

One thing I do in the event I need tail weight, I take the 1/4 oz. square lead weights and smash them with a hammer. They become paper thin in which you can use a hinge slotting tool in the underside of the fuse. Slide them in with a touch of epoxy and you can easily bury up to 3/4 of an oz. or more and not have it look unsightly.

Just don't do anything crazy on the first few flights, familiarize yourself with the engine and how it responds to up and down movement. Climb and dive, etc. You can substitute modeling clay on a tail wheel or wire strut until you provide the proper weight.

Between work and holidays and teh weather, I have not gotten too much further. Just after I got back from holidays, I installed the wing with Gorilla Glue wood glue. When that was dry, I prepped and masked the area and late last night I decided to epoxy it in as a final step. I do not have or use microballoons so I just used teh epoxy and wetted my finger into a 'fillet' shape. Now I just got tu sand them and hit the area wit sonme primer then paint the fuselage. The wind is still up in the air as to if I will paint it or not. A club member said to leave it as it was, but I feel my building skills are not worth showing off.