Everyone,
I have revisited my roots on this one.  My first airplane was a Beginner's Ringmaster that I purchased at a hobby shop that was between school and home.  Took every cent I had back then and used an engine from an old Cox Shrike.  Dad told me I needed to sand more then paint more and sand a little more and paint a little more.  Pretty hard on a 10 year old kid who just wanted to get out there and try to fly.  At some point I got it finished and my dad went out to help me start the engine and launch for me.  I beat the hell out of the ground and pavement with that airplane.  Crashed once during a wedding at the church parking lot/field that we flew at (same place my dad flew when he was younger).  Ambroid, epoxy and toothpicks were my best friends as I went through the learning process.  It all came together one night around dusk (it was a Friday after eating fish at a local fish fry-crazy how you remember these details but cannot remember what you had for breakfast).  I took off and flew, albeit a bit high, but I was flying.  I was taken by the orange glow of the opening of the cylinder I could see on the Cox engine and this is probably what helped me.  We flew until it was fairly dark.  The start of a great hobby/sport that I have enjoyed for nearly 40 years now.

This airplane probably looks a little nicer than the one I did so long ago.  Would have been cool to have had a picture of it, but there are none.  In any case, it was good to share my story.  Hope you like the airplane (no points for originality eh).

John

I like it.   Nothing like returning to basics.

I was able to add some decals to get a little better match to the box art and flew this one last weekend during the Worldwide Ringmaster Fly-a-thon.  Flew fairly steady but glides terrible.  Managed one loop out of it as well and it is still in one piece.

Andre,
Thank you for the nice words on the airplane. The kit contained an original decal sheet which I scanned and shared with Pat King.  He cleaned it up a bit and shot it back to me.  Since I had some decal paper that would work with my printer I tried my luck and that is what is on my airplane.  Good thing I scanned them as I had problems with the original decal when I tried to use it.  For reference I used white decal paper that appeared to be from Hewlett Packard on an inkjet printer.  I sprayed 2 coats of Krylon gloss clear over the paper and applied normally after that.  I did have the printing on one decal crack during application as I was stretching it a bit as I put it in place.  Pulled that one off and replaced with another (I printed multiple of things and different sizes since I wanted to use the whole sheet).  Only change I would make next time around would be to consider using 3 coats of clear over the top.  Topped them off with some old Aerogloss Fuel Proofer applied with a Q-tip.
Regards,
John

I love that story! 

Good to see you at the GSSC this week!

It may not be a new idea to anyone, but ya nevah knows.
To save on decal paper I print the image on plain paper, cut a piece of decal a little larger than the image and carefully tape it down over then run the whole thing back through.
If I need multiples of one, or several different images, I use a graphics program to make up a "gang" image to print, and again cut decal paper to suit.
I haven't made a ton of 'em, but never a problem from the extra thickness.
YP(rinter)MV.