Vintage Ringmaster

From other threads, there are some sharp CL historians out there. Please help me pin down the date of a Ringmaster kit I just bought. I suspect it is mid to late 70s. Here is what I know:

Purchased at AHC in 1983 for $17.78 (sticker is still on the shrinkwrap).

On the front of the box, left to right, we have the plane with white wings and stab / elev, checkered maroon accent on the left wing, bright blue fuselage, and a maroon accent on the wing, stab, elev roots. The wheels are large diameter and very skinny. In the middle of the box is a bulleted blurb that starts with "clear plastic canopy". The dominant feature of the front is a solid red oval that says "Ringmaster" in reverse white type, and further blurbs also in reverse white. On the far right is a black and white picture of clean cut 60s looking David Nelson type flying with his left hand (!) and his handle is horizontal!

I know in 1960 Ringmasters had balsa canopies, so this one is obviously much newer than that. I haven't opened the box yet, so if there are additional clues inside, let me know.

I opened the box. No plans, just an instruction sheet folded up like a set of plans. The instruction sheet shows only a balsa canopy, but the clear canopy was indeed included. The instruction sheet shows cloth hinges, but what was supplied was a strip of poly. There is a separate little 3 x 4 instruction sheet touting the advantages of poly hinges, and that they got stronger with age. The blurb says:

"The use of polypropelene as a hinge is now wide spread commercially & industrially because this miraculous plastic actually gets stronger with each bend . . ." They suggest straight pins clipped off to hold the new hinges in place.

Do I need to make a balsa canopy to be OTS legal?

Larry F

Currell --

Nope. It is the solid leading edge with the plywood "stronger than balsa" joiner. The kit ID is clearly S-1, not S-1A.

So I assume it is pre 1979?

Larry F.

Do you know if I have to revert to the balsa canopy to be OTS legal? I decided to call it a '78, but assume it is unchanged and still OTS legal, right?

Kiwi

I'd go with the solid, myself.

Or, figure out a way to make either interchangeable. It could be done. I know this is an off-the-wall suggestion, but you could do this, if you can't make up your mind, or if you liked the clear, but were forced to compete in OTS with solid.

Thanks! Never thought about the wing plug being the canopy! Was Sterling smart enough to do that? I don't remember, and this kit is not die-cut that way.

Anyway, I am going balsa canopy (using the fuse plug). A Ringmaster with a clear canopy is like wearing brown shoes with a tuxedo. That is kind of a backwards analogy, but you know what I mean. It doesn't fit, somehow.

You can probably shave several ounces off the finished weight by cutting another fuselage from better wood, the one I have is like a piece of oak and I am pretty sure this was typical.. Some people also hollow out the leading edge. The trick to a good flying Ring is to build it light.

Actually, in in my very humble opinion, using a clear canopy on a OTS Ringmaster is a bit beyond the spirit of the rules.

Goodness gracious alive, how hard can it be just to put the balsa one on and be done with it?

Or, once again, figure out a way to pop one on, and pop the other off at will.

Larry is right, using the clear canopy is reproducing a later than 1952 airplane, whether it is legalistically legal or not. This is sort of a special case. I've done painted canopies on OTS airplanes that had clear canopies, but there were no later versions that had painted canopies instead of clear. I wouldn't put a bubble canopy on the pre-1952 Veco Papoose, although later versions had a bubble canopy.

It takes a pretty stuffy fella to complain about a plastic canopy v. wood.

See Ya