Made it half a lap!

After a seven plus year layoff, I made it about half a lap with my "trusty" Ringmaster.

Smooth take off, followed by a climb I couldn't stop

I managed to belly-flop it out of the dreaded figure 9, but still...

Came out with minimal damage. Bent needle valve. (Stock Fox .35), wiggly landing gear and a busted prop. Beats complete destruction

3 key mistakes that I made:

1. No engine offset. Thought rudder offset was enough.
2. Slight binding of controls. Thought it wasn't bad enough to worry about. WRONG.
3. Possibly tail heavy.

My best guess is that the 1&2 combined for the problem. I never got true line tension and if the binding occured with a bit of up, that explains the climb and inability to stop it. (no line tension).

I have added some engine offset and have completed "open plane surgery" to fix the binding.

My last issue is balance. As of this instant, the CG (balance point) is at 2 inches behind the leading edge. Am I way too tail heavy here?

I'm fairly certain that this didn't contribute to the soft crash, but I can't help but wonder...

Welp, I'll try again tomorrow...

Yes you are tail-heavy, which is why your airplane died. Move your CG forward to the back of the leading edge spar and try again. If needs be move it back 1/8 in at a time until it suits you. Binding is bad, and you probably don't need engine offset, but it won't hurt.

Is the Fox .35 lighter than an OS .35 MAX FP????

I had the OS on there "back in the day". Can's hurt I suppose. I'll meet you half way and lob off some of the lead in the tail

The Fox is lighter than the OS.

Follow Jim's advice and move that CG way up there. It will also slow the turns down until you get back in the swing of things. You can save that lead and use it later.

Hang in there. I came back last year after a 37 year layoff. If I can do it - anyone can

Enjoy,

I'll get there somehow.

Offset in.
CG reset.
Binding resolved.

Have fuel, will try again

Tom, my first flight was about 3 years ago, with a Skyray I built from plans, powered by an old McCoy 35. On my first flight, I lost my orientation, and ended up flying it slowly into the ground, i.e. it was shallow, like a landing, and you could see the trail where the prop first began making contact, it was quite long. Eventually the prop made SOLID contact, stopped the engine and flipped the plane. Minimal damage - I was lucky. That Skyray was ALSO very tail-heavy... I hadn't yet learned the finer points of balancing a plane. Keep at it... you'll get there, and sooner than you think!