Rings work very well in model engines from around the .30 size and upwards but are limited to around the 20,000 rev mark because then the ring can't quite follow piston movement so they start to flutter in the ring groove which wears the groove and the seal gets lost. There's a class of control line speed that's been running for a very long time and the engines were limited to 2.5cc (.15) but rings weren't successful in those small engines and especially at the revs they were running so the only type of piston used was lapped cast iron. These were (and still are) very good except they're quite heavy compared to an alloy piston with rings. Back in about the early 60's Super tigre .15's were one of the world's best speed engines but the pistons were starting to give problems with consistent runs as they developed them further and further. So Super Tigre experimented with ABC which gave an instant fix and allowed their engines to keep setting world speed records. Other manufacturers caught on and virtually all speed engines were then ABC. It wasn't long before ABC made its way into normal consumer type sport engines and now it's about the only type most modellers know of.

ABC isn't the ultimate though because an even better arrangement is AAC where the liner is aluminium and chrome plated. Even better than AAC is AAO where the alloy liner has a kind of anodising which is much harder than even chrome but so far only the Russians can do this properly.