Don B.H.

Hello all!

I was telling a friend about my old Shoe string stunter
and he said he had a kit, ( new in the box Shoestring ) that he would give me.

Well it has been a great build and I think she is looking good.
Every thing on this plane is 25 years or older but new stock. I even pulled the Fox .35 stunt
out of the box I had it stored in. The perfect #10 tank needed repairs as the tube was bent up..

R8893

My Feedback: (20)

Good looking classic model. However, please don't use the Tornado nylon prop; it may have aged to the point where it will fly apart.
Chuck

Don B.H.

I had some FOX parts in bags hanging on the wall down stairs from the 70s so i scaned the FOX head logo reprinted it larger and put it on the wing and reproduced the other artwork too so I could save the original sheet...
Anyone out there have an old or new Shoestring Stunter?

Don B.H.

I have been using the old tornado prop on a lot of my elecrtics like the 35-36 2000 and they have been great...
I have run this engine 3 times now with this prop ( run in ) but when I go to fly her you can bet a MA 10 X 6 will be
on there...

Thanks for the heads up

BtnFlyGuy

I picked up an old Shoestring last week and it should be here tomorrow. I'm anxious to get it stated after seeing yours. Nice job!

Don B.H.

The Friend that gave me the Shoe String Stunter Is an old friend we use to fly C/L up till 25 years ago and then my planes hung in the basement for 25 years.. But they are coming out now all the engines were well oiled and turned right over.....

BtnFlyGuy  Did you get yours yet?

BtnFlyGuy

I was dissapointed that the mailman did not leave me my birthday present of the Shoestring yet so I went to the Brodak site and spent $100 on fuel, props and building supples for two other projects Ihave going; a .15 Sig Akromaster and Top Flite 1/2A Mustang (Both finished, but engines not broken in yet).
I have also found some flying friends here in MA, so it looks like I'm back into the hobby again after 35 years away.

doucette

Looks a heck of a lot nicer than any of the Shoestrings I built as a teenager! Powered it with a Fox 36 Sport (the one with the round venturi and slanted glow plug). Finally worked up the courage to try an outside loop with my first one, made it about halfway before impacting terra firma at a nearly vertical angle and very respectable airspeed. I think there were more parts after the crash than there were in the box when I started building!

Don B.H.

Here is a photo of the Shoe String Stunter I had 25 years ago...
It had the Jonson Stallion 35 and it was the hottest thing around That Ringmaster was no slouch either.

BtnFlyGuy

Well, My Shoestring "project" came in the mail today. What a mess! Most of the ribs had been punched outthough the previous owner was kind enough to leave all the scrap balsa. (duh). though only one was missing and one was broken, The fuselage has the most horrendous circular saw marks and the landing gear is missing as is all the other hardware. The leading edge pieces had been glued together and then had snapped off half way to the tips. In other words, a true basket case. I'm a glutton for punishment though and have already ordered the leading edge stock. We don't have a decent hobby shop here so all the fixin's will come from mail order. This will be a fine project for thoseMassachusetts dreary winter days and may be ready by springthe Fox .29 I have reserved from my collection of engines.

Don B.H.

Just ran the engine 2 more times but no air time yet. I have been flying the dickens out of my Frite Streaks, one has the old Fox 35 stunt and the other has the OS .25 LA.   After the Shoe String build I ordered some .15 size birds and now I hear the .15 may be to large and I have about 16 of these engines.. Oh well........

BtnFlyGuy

*perk*.....15's? I love those little buggers. I have at six of them myself and two planes so far; a Sig Acromaster and a Midwest ME-109 on the building table.
My leading edges came in for the Shoestring today so as soon as the 109 is out of the way, I can get started on it.

Mooney_driver

What size is the leading edge stock and where did you order it? Ihave a Goldberg Buster from the 60's in similar condition. A previous owner started it and then left the carcass in a damp basement or storage shed and many ribs got busted as did other things and the plywood nose triplers are delaminating.

BtnFlyGuy

I got the shaped 1" X 1" by 36" leading edge stock from Espirit Model. http://www.espritmodel.com/balsastoc...ge36915mm.aspx. According to the site they have four left on hand. The price was very reasonable and shipping was very quick. Good luck!

gcb

It is probably too late but if you are using a modern .15 on the Akromaster I would suggest extending the wing by NOT cutting off the tips on the LE and TE. You need to make some parts to do this but the increased wing area can better handle the weight of a .15 and muffler. I have two akros. The older one has a Fox .15X with muffler and the second (with increased wing) has a TT .10 on it. Here's an old pic showing both versions:

George

gcb

Don, which engines do you have?

Most of the old profile planes from the fifties that called for a .19 - .35 can be flown with a modern .15. Bear in mind that the old engines were mostly plain bearings without mufflers so they were also lighter than the same sizes today. This has no meaning if you just want to bore holes in the sky or go round-n-round...but if you want to stunt, weight becomes important.

An older airplane calling for .09 - .19 on the other hand would work well with a modern .10 or maximum .15.

George

BtnFlyGuy

Yup, too late to do anything about the Akro, but I like it so much I think I'll do another and extend the wings. This is mine as it is. No muffler and disregard the tape holding the tank in place; that was for the photo.

Don B.H.

That is on SWEET looking Akro...  Is that a Fox on there?

BtnFlyGuy

It's a standard FOX .15, new from the box.I have another new one and two used, plus an OS .15. I went on a buying spree when I decided to get back into U/C.
Plenty of engines (1/2a to .40) and a couple of planes for winter projects!Last week I actually went a few turns with a borrowed Ringmaster, so I'm re-hooked.

paw080

Perfect engine choice Btn... I don't have pics of my Ackromasters(1.0cc and 2.49cc); but I do have pics of my last

version Ringmaster Jr powered by a PAW.049 SBR diesel, it weighs 7.125 ozs:

Tony

BtnFlyGuy

Nice work! I love that low-angle shot!

paw080

Hi BtnFlyGuy, I know I really should have posted these pics in the Brodak P-40

thread, but I just figured out how to post pics on this forum. I too, built and flew

a CG Shoestring back in the early 1960s. I first powered it with a Super Tigre G20

.15 diesel because a USAF flying friend said to try the G20; he won a few club

stunt events with his. Diesel fuel got scarce for me; so I replaced the ST G20

with a Fox Stunt .35. Interestingly enough, the G20 .15 weighed almost the same as the

Fox .35. It flew better with the Fox .35, especially in more turbulent air.

Tony

Don B.H.

Well I got the Shoe String Stunter air born but the engine is still not run in right as I said old new stock. When the engine perked up and I pulled up she did loop tight.. Video of First and Second flights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PPHmzOpBys&feature=plcp

BtnFlyGuy

Nice job on the plane. Keep working with that engine; it only gets better with age. (As do we all...tuff to get started at first, but once we're broken in do quite well!)

mikeainia

My Feedback: (1)

The Tornado props were not nylon, they were polyester. They did not get brittle from losing moisture, as the nylon top-flites did and boiling them didn't help (or hurt) them. We have many of the old Yellow and the newest batch of white ones still flying every day at our club field and we've never had any issues with them - other than they are not the greatest prop in the world. In speed limit combat, if someone is too fast we just change the prop to a matching Tornado white and it is an immediate 10 mph reduction in speed.