My Swap-Meet Ringmaster ! Smack Down!!!! The Resurrection Begins!!

Don't sell yourself short! Knock it out Kim. World step aside! I got paint and dope to do!

I really hope you can video that thing. It's a beautiful model. The Buster too!

At least get pictures of it all dirty.

Best thing to remove castor from balsa is a product called K2R, it's in a spray can and you can buy it at Ace hardware. Kinda pricey, around 8 bucks a can. Works great though, spray it on the affected areas and then wipe it away after it turns white when it dries out. Two or three applications and the oil is gone, will help with the stinky smell too. Be warned!!!! do it out in the garage, wife was [bleep] when I used it near the house.

Jim Hayes
AMA 988835

Thanks Ron!

Well, I AM gonna stay after it, but I got other spinning plates to tend to that I've neglected for a couple weeks.

I GOT to go visit my shooting bud, Ed, who is laid up in the veterans hospital in St.Louis, and I haven't checked in on my Uncle Wayne for three weeks...so...the HHR is gonna keep the roads warm this weekend! I MIGHT be able to swerve up to the Decatur Swap Meet on my run to see ED (that's quite a swerve...with a 100+ mile radius!)

I figure to hide out on the hill all of next week, and MAYBE have myself two flying machines by that next weekend. My social life may be shutting down, but I AM getting excited at the prospect of getting these two oldsters in the air. !!!

The Ringmaster gets it's final coats of clear. The next time you see it...she'll have some color ! (Hopefully a fair match with the original paint!)

A concession to pavement flying : The Ringmaster gets a tailwheel !

Classy fix.

Being lazy, I probably would have just added a wire skid, but the tailwheel looks a lot better.

There ya go, you just solved my problem for me. I need skids on the re-Bean's booms to protect the control horn. I was pondering the best way to attach them. Sew them on and slather with epoxy.

andrew wrote:Classy fix.

Being lazy, I probably would have just added a wire skid, but the tailwheel looks a lot better.

The wheel sounds better landing on pavement too. I always hated that clackity dragging sound that betrayed the realism of the model and its flight.

Nice tail wheel setup. I might have to think on that.

So on the way back from vacation I stopped by the LHS since it is sorta on the way home from the airport and spent the last of my vacation mad cash on a roll of red ultracote and yellow monokote. I need the monokote to match my jumping bean, and this ammonia activation sounds pretty nifty so I am going to shoot for matching trim as the original dope.

Speaking of dope I only have my jar of TiO2 loaded dope that is now flat white for fuel proofing. I knew I forgot something. (fresh jar of clear dope) The wife and daughter were in the car so I did not have time to hang out and browse.

Phil

pkrankow wrote:...this ammonia activation sounds pretty nifty so I am going to shoot for matching trim as the original dope...

They say... you know, them that know everything... that Windex brand regular is the best for applying Monokote overlays. It should stick on top of any type of shrink type covering. On my latest project I traced the edges of the flame overlays with clear fingernail polish since it had so many pointy edges that could lift up. But on my previous job, the day after the glue had set, I just traced the edges with an acetone wet Q-tip. I don't know if it helped or not but so far, no lifting. And it's been flown and tested pretty well now. They said it would work.

Bump --

Hey, Kim --

How's the Buster and Ringmaster coming along. The weather's still holding on this side of the river, so I'm guessing you should still have some good days to get those badboys into the air.

andrew wrote:Bump --

Hey, Kim --

How's the Buster and Ringmaster coming along. The weather's still holding on this side of the river, so I'm guessing you should still have some good days to get those badboys into the air.

Yo Andrew!

Gonna try to get some more dope on them tomorrow. Buster still needs another dose of clear, but the Super is ready for me to shoot color at him.

Had a busy week, with overtime keeping me here 'till dark on several days...on the bright side, we've moved enough kerosine fill a small lake! I just now got Happydad's dragonfly clunk in the mail, and the Lazy Bee going and the rebuild on Patrick's Skyray started. Tomorrow will be "Shop Day" unless the wind gives us a break and we get to fly !

Yeah, we've had some great days this past week, but things haven't lined up well for me to take advantage of them! So...I've been compensating by buying all manner of stuff from the internet !!!!!

There shall be more photos shortly!

Between my neighbor (Mr.ARF-dressed-as-close-to-scale-as-possible) and a number of the people here, I tried making the wings look original with the yellow burst detail

I can honestly say it is the best job of decorating using film that I have ever done...although only because I never really tried decorating using film before.

I used Ultracote to skin the wings, and yellow Monokote for the detail put down with ammonia spray. I couldn't find Windex so I mixed 1:4 laundry/household sudsy ammonia and water. It seems to be doing the job. I'll iron them down tomorrow, it has blue painters tape keeping them from sliding.

Pictures after I finish ironing.

Phil

All good Phil, always keen to learn
Ways to keep the sticky stuff stuck.

For those that aren't aware, Ultracote's adhesive doesn't activate using the Windex method like Monokote does. In addition, Ultrakote is a low temp covering. It does have a higher shrink rate that Monokote. The two products tend to have a tug of war match going on. Ironing Monokote over Ultracote is something I would be careful in doing. It will work but Monokote really needs a higher temp to stick down correctly. I would just make sure that the underlying Ultracote doesn't shrink back especially near the wing root where it meets the fuse. The majority of iron on users including myself seem to agree on the fact the Ultracote takes to compound curves easier than the Monokote. I like the fact that Ultracote has many more color choices. Ken

pkrankow wrote:Between my neighbor (Mr.ARF-dressed-as-close-to-scale-as-possible) and a number of the people here, I tried making the wings look original with the yellow burst detail

I can honestly say it is the best job of decorating using film that I have ever done...although only because I never really tried decorating using film before.

I used Ultracote to skin the wings, and yellow Monokote for the detail put down with ammonia spray. I couldn't find Windex so I mixed 1:4 laundry/household sudsy ammonia and water. It seems to be doing the job. I'll iron them down tomorrow, it has blue painters tape keeping them from sliding.

Pictures after I finish ironing.

Phil

Phil, you should NOT use any heat on the overlays. They will form air bubbles underneath, pull, wrinkle and deform and ruin the whole thing. The ammonia should have the glue stuck as tight as it's going to get. Only if you have a stubborn corner that won't stay down, you can touch it quickly with the tip of the iron, but that's all. I was advised to use a q-tip wet with acetone and trace the edges to help stick the glue better. I don't know if it helped but I didn't have any separation on the Flite Streak. I did dot the sharp points with some epoxy after I had flown it a few times. If you thoroughly squeezed the liquid out, you shouldn't need tape, at least on top. It may be a good idea to tack it on the bottom.

On the Bean, I traced the overlays with clear fingernail polish. I had a problem with that. I chose base coat at the beauty supply store. I don't know if that was my mistake, but every time I clean the plane with alcohol it turns white. Acetone takes the white back off... along with the polish, and it slightly mars the sheen of the Monokote.

There are bubbles and puckers all over the place this morning I spent a good bit of time smoothing it last night too... It all peeled off when I pulled the blue tape too.

Yellow Monokote has a color change when the glue activates from heat, it gets a LOT darker (much more than other colors) it goes back when it cools. I used this to my advantage and found that the glue activates at a temperature just a little over the recommended glue temperature for the Ultracote.

I worked carefully and slowly drawing small circles with the iron as I worked the film down. It is not perfectly bubble free, but pretty good.

I might make an iron bootee out of some t-shirt rag.

My daughter cooperating and posing.
https://i.servimg.com/u/f44/17/84/87/39/12060210.jpg


All the damage to the tail section has been sealed with Testors wood and metal cement. I don't have matching paints.

Phil

YEA !!!!!!!!! Looks Great !

We GOT to get these suckers going! I'm doing nose surgery on mine right now. Must get that front-end sealed better or I'll be flying a castor-sponge!

It's not real easy to see, but the F-2 Bulkhead ends just above the fuselage side. The wood in there will get a steady spray of fuel if I don't close it off.



So, I've guillotined that beautiful, shaped cowling, and am gonna isolate the engine compartment just past F-1 by gluing and sealing everything from there back.



I know I should have done this before...but I was in a "Covering and Painting" mood at the time!

The entire compartment is painted in my plane. The fuel tank is sealed in with glue. The only reason for the hatch on mine is to get at the fuel lines and motor mounts.

I will be making sure that the exhaust blows outside the fuselage when I get the motor, hopefully this weekend.

Phil

pkrankow wrote:The entire compartment is painted in my plane. The fuel tank is sealed in with glue. The only reason for the hatch on mine is to get at the fuel lines and motor mounts.

I will be making sure that the exhaust blows outside the fuselage when I get the motor, hopefully this weekend.

Phil

Great !!! Photos...if possible...Please !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice work Phil, can't wait to hear about the shakedown flight. Go get em!

Ringmaster's are so fun to fly. I just ordered the hardware to build a new one over the winter from Brodak's today.

Jim Hayes

Phil, yours looks great. If you want to, you can take a sharp sewing needle and puncture the bubbles and press them out. But after a flight or two I usually quit fretting over the little things, and everyone doesn't see the flaws that I do. You probably already said, but what size is yours? Is there a Ringmaster that would work well with a Tee Dee .09? I have one I need a plane for. If it's as fun to fly as you mention, then it might be what I want.

One thing I would certainly do is to not secure your tank in until you get the height correct. As I've stated many times on here, tanks can be most problematic. The plumbing needs to be inspected and all tanks should be pressure tested. Even when all is good, the engine run can go rich or lean when inverted. This is especially true with a Fox.35 as they like the centerline of the tank to be slightly higher. I make shims of balsa to sit on the beams under the tank. Sometimes I even use playing cards stacked up to get the height correct. Seeing that most tanks were usually epoxied in, this can be impossible to alter tank height. I build all of my planes with removable tanks. If it's not leaking or giving you problems, eventually it will. SO why not build it removable.

Here is a current pic of my Veco Warrior. This is a Brodak tank. The solder used is not quality solder that I use so all joints were taken apart, wire wheeled and resoldered and cleaned. The tubing has also been replaced with K&S copper. On this particular tank so that I could remove it and reinstall it, I opted to put a bushing through the center of the tank. My hatch screw now passes through the center and foam rubber shims hold the tank firmly in place. I can easily and readily remove the tank. This kind of mod would be most beneficial for a design like the one you guys show in your pic. Ken