Hello all,
Since this post got “re-upped” I thought I would give an update for the slightly curious and/or extremely bored reader. To begin, I have been getting in some time flying the Ring Jr. and having a ball! Flying alone in the evening on a never used elementary school ball diamond, no houses close, pretty good grass, and nary a spectator. Beginner heaven almost, although it would be nice to have a little experience around from time to time. Almost got the stooge launch down pat and only “grass out” about one out of five attempts. Maybe they’ll cut the grass this week.
To answer Jake’s question, I believe it is the old style Ringmaster Jr. The guy I got it from had “finished” it, but never flew it. He did include the original Sterling directions. I can’t find any date on them, but they seem old, with a picture of Matt Kania (sp) on the page. The guy said he had built it after he got home from ‘Nam, but I can’t remember what year he said. 1960 something I suppose. Maybe these clues can help you fix a date on it. It did not seem airworthy to me and had little benefit from sandpaper, so I stripped off all the covering, took all the big stuff apart, and started over. This included a new control system, wing planking, hinges, covering all solid surfaces with silk span, new film on the wing, etc. In a sense I am using it as a dual trainer i.e. train to build, train to fly.
All of this work was done gleaning information from the board’s, etc. and I thank all of you for your continued information and support, both directly and indirectly.
The particulars:
The Ring Jr. rebuild ended up at a little under 19 oz. finished weight, empty tank.
Went with ½ oz. tip weight.
2 degrees engine offset with Brodak wedges.
Standard Brodak wedge tank, 2+ ounces.
7/4 Prop (tried several sizes in the 7 and 8 range, thanks Currell!). Sorry, no RPM data, don't have that toy.
Running 15/22 GMA Powermaster fuel, 50/50 castor/synthetic blend.
No Muffler, No Spinner and a lot less tail weight/ “barbell” effect (thanks Leonard!).
Stock LG wire with 2” wheels.
C.G at 15% MGC.
.012 x 52’ lines.
Getting somewhere between 4 and 5 minutes out of 1 ½ ounces of fuel.
Running 2 cycle all the way, at just past the point it breaks from 4 cycle to 2 on the ground. Needle set at about 3 turns out.
Flight characteristics:
Seems to be flying with a slightly higher outboard wing, right side up. (I don’t do inverted yet).
Lots of line tension in every mode, level, wing-overs, loops, (which is all I do, intentionally anyway 
) Really fast!! (for me) Lap times are in the low 4 seconds, with an occasional below 4, if the engine speeds up any. My timing may not be extremely accurate, as I have enough trouble just flying to be to precise holding the stopwatch in the other hand.
Questions:
If I start off and stay in a 4 cycle, the whole flight seems like the plane will fall out of the air. Never breaks into 2 cycle on the wing-overs at this setting. Maybe this is just newbie jitters from wanting more line tension? Take off in rich 2 cycle normally leans out a bit more in flight with no power loss in wing-overs. Great tension (line and otherwise) but things are happening sooo fast, it seems to me. Tried a variety of prop sizes and types from 7x3.5 up to 8x4 and did not see a lot of change. It does seem that 7x4 is running smoothest with the least load on the engine in 2 cycle. Maybe these changes are too subtle for the newbie to notice? Maybe this engine should only be run in 2 cycle? If that is the case, this baby has more that enough power for this plane!
How hot is too hot? Since I am flying alone, I can basically just keep filling up and going. I’ve gotten to know the engine well enough to just start it right back up. The engine is pretty hot (don’t know the temp., not smoking, but you can’t really touch it) at the end of each run, including the first. Should I be resting between flights? Normally it gets a few minutes while I straighten out the lines, reset the stooge, refuel, get a sip of water, get over the dizzy’s, etc.
I am thinking of going to longer lines. I guess that may slow the plane down (resistance on the line) and also increase the lap time. Any suggestions?
I am going to beef up the landing gear wire, the stock wire is not nearly strong enough. I get to reshape it after every “landing”. Also going with larger wheels to help on the grass. I may have to add a little more tail weight after doing that.
Overall, I am having a blast. I truly have no real idea what I’m doing. Am I standing the right way? How is my hand position? Is this thing going too fast or am I just reaction time challenged? I have had some spectacular crashes. With a patch here and a glue there, we are keeping it in the air! My favorite crash maneuver to date is what I call “Lost in Space”. This maneuver is performed by following the suggestion that gradually increasing the top side of an inside loop and then applying "down" will lead to “S’s”, then lazy 8’s and eventually inverted flight. My reality so far is that this leads to flying all over the hemisphere with a hopeful recovery at some point! Hope you can tell I’m having fun! Look out Nats 2002 ……NOT!
Best regards,
Clay