GallopingGhostler

Couldn't agree with you any more there, Donny. The most friendly I remember was the safety officer at North Little Rock model airplane club back in 1982. They flew at the petroleum storage yard west of Little Rock. He was very friendly and welcoming, good ombudsman. A lot of time, just one person in a club can make a difference by welcoming new modellers into the club.

Joe, haven't built one of those but seems a wonderful thing to do.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

It's a very attitude that makes a prospective member want to join and come back. I think a lot of clubs ignore visitors and miss out a lot of possibilities.

donnyman

Yesterday I made a decision to step outside my usual box and attended a IPMS show,Thats the Inernational Plastic Modelers Society. instead of the scale R/C show at BOMBER FIELD, Monaville TX. I was initially disappointed as I am not into the plastic stuff but as I walked around the quaity of the models seemed to get more and more impressive.

None of the models were too large to be held in one hand but all had a level of detail and finish that was to make one proud. I spent several hours just looking and conversing with others, overall a very pleasant and informative day. well worth the $5 entry fee.

I met a gentleman that used to be a south Vietnamese army captain that showed me his Scale models of a quality not often seen. He demonstrated to me a H-34 helicopter with functioning twin rotors that was less than a foot long. He is known to paint pictures on a grain of rice using a strand of his hair for his paint brush. he perfected this skill while being held prisioner in a communist jail after the fall of vietnam, I intend to vist his home soon and will take some pictures if I understood him correctly he has some ten thousand items.

Joe Fisher

My Feedback: (4)

There are some really amazing people. Some times it is fun to try some thing different.
Yesterday we drove over to Newton Kansas about two hours away. They had an aerobatic contest. There were about 12 airplanes 2 were gliders. That was the first time for me to actually see gliders do acrobatics. It was kind of hard for me to watch the box was in the sun, I kind of felt sorry for the judges.
We went to a hobby shop. I was looking for some brass tubing for bushings to fit the wheels with 5/32" holes down to 3/32" landing gear wire for the Charger. At first he told me they didn't carry that kind of stuff, They only sell ARF's and there is no call for real modeling stuff. So I looked around and found a switch with the built in battery volt indicator. So we talked a bit and he went and brought some of his own stash of tubing and I found a peace I can use. So that worked out good.
I hope to put the top and bottom on Yellow Bird fuselage today then I can shape the nose and it will be ready to cover.

Joe Fisher

My Feedback: (4)

Worked on Yellow Bird III fuselage today it is nearly ready to cover.

BrightGarden

Yup, I built a couple of those Gyroc's and thank you for remembering the name. I could shoot these off in my rather constrained back yard and usually avoid getting it stuck in the many surrounding trees.

GallopingGhostler

My Gyroc was finished in orange and green, even had the rocket body barber poled with those colors. All was fine with the smaller motors. I decided to put a C6-7 motor in it, was so powerful it blew the flaps right off. That was the end of my Gyroc after many successful flights.

Carlos Murphy

My Feedback: (72)

Yes, Moki 210 in a Hangar-9 Edge 540 on 5%, (big 2-strokes don't like allot of nitro) never had to use a starter on it, pulled it through till it poped and then flipped it backwards one time, great engines.

ETpilot

Donnyman, painting on a grain of rice brings back some memories. Many years ago I provided security for an art display. An artist from South America, IIRC, had a display of painted rice grains and pin heads. The art work had a high dollar value and due to size required very close security. The display was of about ten items and each had a microscope over the item for viewing. It was amazing. I still remember two rice paintings. One was of the Last Supper. The other was 2 Spanish galleons in a canon ball battle on the high seas. Simply unbelievable.

You are in for a treat when you see this art work.

donnyman

The last supper?...on a grain of rice? ...maybe I need to get on the ball and go see this guys stuff. I hope to get some pictures.

donnyman

Joe Fisher

Your mentioning of Newton KS woke up my memories of Jim Bede, that was his headquarters for a while. I went there to pick up parts for the BD-7 I had under construction. While there I saw a B-25 that appeared to be in the process of disassembly and I was hoping to purchase the parts from it to get a B-25 in the TEX. pan handle back in the air. Needless to say after the BEDE debacle momma put the Kabosh on that project.

Nice going with the yellow bird.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

My son and his family lived in Newton for a while, they have since moved to MT Hope KS. I got a kick out of the fact "I got caught by the train" is an automatic excused tardy in all the Newton schools! I hope you got the chance to see that old grain merchant's house they have turned into a museum, its beautiful!

Mike

GallopingGhostler

I got family in Kansas City, MO, occasionally make a trek up there. After living off/on the last 21 years in the desert, so used to seeing brown, it's so green there it hurts your eyes. Until recent, they get far more rain than us. Here, one time I told my supervisor as to why I was 5 or 10 minutes late, "I got caught up in the Clovis rush hour traffic". (Clovis is a small town of 38,000.) That was enough for a good laugh and got me off the hook.

At least Kansas City has a hobby shop, Hobby Town USA. I bought fuel and accessories.

KC Air

Hello From Kansas City... There is also Hobby Haven on Metcalf at 105th. I like it better than HT, but ymmv.

GallopingGhostler

I might have been there once. Have a friend on the Kansas side of KC take me to a hobby store near his house about a year ago, might have been that one. They had a better assortment of supplies for aircraft. Might trek there next time I'm in town.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Since we are talking about Kansas has anyone here visited Don's in Salina KS? As many times I have been thru Salina I never made it to check out his place.

GallopingGhostler

Salina is a nice small town, you can tell when you are half way through it, half is on your left, half is on your right. Same as you, I've passed through, but never bothered to stop by. Have wanted to the next time, but don't frequent there as much.

By the way, On October 2 through 4 with make up dates October 10 - 11 for stormy weather, there was a worldwide Sterling Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon. Flights could be from any Ringmaster or variant of a Ringmaster (same wing and tail outlines as the S-1, except for the Sterling Ringmaster Flash, which is acceptable although it has a different tail). This was a total number of flights count.

I took John Crawley's results he posted and reformatted the data by county and state, sorted by the greatest number of flights to the least. I think you will be amazed that 661 pilots participated and 3,450 flights were achieved. Attached are the results.

donnyman

I was fascinated by the idea that one particular model brought so many people together in common cause, a plane of rather simple design and function, which may explain it's popularity. I feel sure Sterling model Co. is tickled that one of it's bird's enjoyed 60+ years of longevity. they made several others, all good flyers, I was partial to the p-51profile and even intend to build another I,ve had several. I will be bold enough to say if one is familiar with controline models they know the ringmaster. WHY?

Joe Fisher

My Feedback: (4)

I think the shape of the Ring Master tail has a simple uncommon elegance.

GallopingGhostler

Donnyman, several make the 38-in span P-51 Profile kit these days with modern laser cut wood including Brodak and Pat King. Regarding Ringmaster popularity, kit was reasonably cheap and a good flier. Although it does not quite fit the mold of modern stunt aircraft, even with its thinner wing section, if built sufficiently light combined with the right pilot and power will fly the complete AMA stunt pattern.

It does and there are many variants out there from .010 to .60 power. I've attached a few photos of my Ringmasters, a 18-in span AC Gilbert .074 Thunderhead powered Ringmaster GBZ, 30-in span OS Max .15FP-S powered Ringmaster Junior and 42-in span Testors McCoy .35 Red Head Ringmaster S-1.

donnyman

G. Ghostler

The various sizes and modifications are all based on the one design, the ringmaster. You are right about the cost, and yes the shape of the STAB. ease of contruction, good flying ability etc, but so were the others, the shoestring was one that I made several copies of also but it didn;t stick like the Ringmaster. Gotta get mine in the air! One thing, I don't recall the Ringmaster having any problems handling manuvers, but then mine all had 35's in them.

GallopingGhostler

Donny, to the CL purist, for ultimate perfection in stunting particularly square circles and square Figure-8's, a thicker wing section provides better lift. Some have modified the Ringmaster with such, but of course it would disqualify the Ringmaster for Vintage CL since it does not have OEM appearance.

Personally, I'm a sport flier and a relative novice to CL, the Ringmaster is all the plane I need. The CG Shoestring is still popular with today's CL fliers, you will occasionally see one in the circle. Brodak makes a replica. The Clown, Sig S-Ray, Smoothie, Top Flite Flite Streak are popular too.

Some have a disdain for the late 1950's, 1960's Testors McCoy .35 Red Head. It uses a softer iron piston. Without sufficient oil run rich, fit will erode the piston quickly or so I am told. So far I am running 25% oil with 10% Castor by adding 12 to 16 oz Castor to a jug of 15% nitro RC fuel. Haven't experienced the run problems others describe yet. Over time we'll see, but I like the lesser vibration and easier tuning over the traditional Fox .35 engine.

donnyman

George

you have done it again!
what you said brought together a lot of loose info I had bouncing around my head. (thicker wing) I hadn't paid much attention to such info but kinda had it bouncing around my brain and you just cleared it up....THANKS!

As to the McCoys wearing out, all I owned did exactly that but by the time it got to be a nuisance I had switched to the fox engine with plenty of castor oil and no more problems I have the fox 35 from the late fifties mounted in my Nobler now. I do remember running the McCoys in full lean state for max rpm. which I know now was exactly wrong. I was in my teens and didn't know beans though you couldn't have told me at the time. I loaned my McCoy to a friend it was mounted to a very well used p-40 stunt I think was a Berkley kit........never saw it again!

GallopingGhostler

You're welcome, Donny. That's why the T/F Flite Streak and Sig Sky-ray have a slight edge over the Ringmaster is due to their thicker wing section.

I am told by some of the old timers that there were quality control issues with the McCoy's under Testor's leadership, but because they were cheap they'd buy a couple and mix and match parts for best fit. Had one mention that he'd run high nitro fuel with a smaller prop lean to cause it to run very hot. That tempered the piston for umpteen more flights. Don't know who to believe these days.

The Foxes are fairly bullet proof, but alas, the corp. no longer manufacture Foxes, they finally gave up the ghost, now history unforch.

But others have found you can substitute a modern Scheurle .20 to .25 and they produce the same amount of power of the old .35 cross scavenged engines, just run smaller props at higher RPM. Some of those are able to do a decent 4 stroke to 2 stroke run in stunts.

The now venerable K&B Sportsters have a CL cult following. Fliers consider them the 4 cycle equivalent to true 4 cycle engines. They run larger diameter props with ease, the .20 is a good substitute for a Fox .35.

Attached is a 3 year history summary by nation and state/province for the worldwide Ringmast Fly-A-Thon. It has been gaining traction over the past several years.

donnyman

George

Are you telling me I could pull my trusty old fox out of my nobler, put in a new K@B 25 and get the same performance?
That would be great. and might even permit the use of a muffler.