Got the new Hyperion 4mm Xl adapter that Will DeMauro recommended, it fits perfect with the Great Planes 1 3/4" electric spinner and APC 9x6 prop. It gives enough space from the backplate and is all the way into the collet shaft. Also got the Thunder power 5S   1350mah pack. It is 1 1/4oz lighter than the 4S  2200 I was originally planning, it is a bit shorter than the 2200 pack and fits the battery pocket better than the 2200 (shear luck, but as they say better to be lucky than good any day). It gives an inch or so to move the battery fore or aft to trim the CG. Next need to smoke test the system on the 5S. Have already done a test run on 4S so got the motor rotation correct and all the wire joints worked fine.

Best,    DennisT

OK today was first flight day. The heat seemed to get the warp under control. I used the RC Timer CF 10x5 pusher set at 11K. This prop gives a ground load of 16 amps which should give something less the 14 in the air. Ok, the rain has gone and its in the 60's temperature wise.

Setup, switch on, spin-up and off we go. Smooth take-off but lap time was slow at 5.5 balance pretty closed. Controls seemed very good not touchy and very controllable.

Next will work on getting the lap time up by going to an APC 9x5 prop with a little more blade area and the 9" diameter to keep the load down.

Best,    DennisT

After a few short test flight with the lighter battery and motor the ship I feel the ship is a tad tail heavy. I hate to add weight so I started looking to see where I could remove weight from the tail and move the battery forward. I was able to reduce the tail horn weight a bit (it is a very large 1/4 scale RC horn that gave lots of height to slow the controls) next reduce the tail skid hardware a bit. This helped but I needed more. I thought about a different motor that would be low kV and weight about 1/4 oz more as one option. Then looked at the battery location. I had originally thought I was going to use a 4S  2200mah pack with a 5 1/2oz motor. This battery is about 3 1/4" long. The battery box was set up for this. When I switched to the lighter motor (3oz) and 5S  1350mah pack I saved a total of 3oz but this shifted that CG back a bit. It was close but still needs to move forward about 3/8 to 3/4". Looking at the available room I could see a chance to hang part of the battery over the leading edge and still secure it solidly it I added a plate to add a forward strap. Doing this now gives me enough movement to fine tune the CG.

Best,    DennisT

Good news - Bad news. The good news - the new wedge flattened the wings so should be good to go. Bad news is the 5S  1350mah isn't big enough. I did a test flight for 2 and 1/2 min. figuring that this would give a current draw down for half a flight (OTS). Well it drew 725 mah which is about 150mah to much, but the motor and battery were only warm to the touch. So I'm going to have to go to the larger 4S   2200mah thunder power pack. I have looked at 1800mah packs but they are the same weight as the Thunder Power ProLite 2200mah packs that I already have.

Best,     DennisT

The 6MM$ Ringmaster rebuild is moving along. One thing I found while going through the salvaged parts was that the elevator had a limited amount of what would have been down elevator caused by its leading edge shape against the stab trailing edge. The edges were both square in a few spots. This just stop the elevator from going to full down and could have contributed to the poor outside loop size that lead to the crash. This has been corrected.

Next step will be to finish the lighting holes in the core of the fuse. By removing the extra tail weight the balance should be better with the smaller BadAss 2320 motor and also allow the battery to be positioned a little further back in the battery box.

Best,    DennisT

The $6 million dollar Ringmaster is making some forward progress. I finished laminating the 1/16" cross grain balsa to the 3/8" fuse core (with holes) using the finishing resin. The first side I did the brush and scrap but really didn't get much off. On the second side I just brushed it on smooth but thin and add the cross grain wood. Both sides seemed to be on very solid but I had one piece on the first side that didn't adhere well so I needed to apply a bit of resin to get it down solid. Now that is has cured the fuse is 1.6 oz. It is very very stiff. Next will add the 1/32" birch plywood doubles and install the motor mount.

Best,    DennisT

This thread has been very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Making slow progress on the Rebuild S1 Electrified Ringmaster. All main parts in base paint. I used a product that is a water-based acrylic - Liquitex Professional Spray Paint. This is fairly light flat finish that is very much like auto basecoat with no strong odor or need for breathing pack, just a simple mask. It needs a clear top coat, for electric I have used Krylon UV Gloss Clear Coat used for protecting art work.

Best,    DennisT

Finally, got out to do some additional test trim flights. Increased the prop pitch to 6.5" (APCE P easy to heat pitch) same 9600 rpm. Lap time improved to 4.97 sec. Got the pitch up to 6.75" and the lap time down to 4.84 sec. This felt pretty good on the lines (60' C to C). I will next extend the flight time to 2 1/2 minutes to start checking the rest of the trim and battery load. Did one climb it felt really good. Seems that with the sharp stab leading edge and tape hinge line it turned very crisp. I might need a bit more tip weight but will check this as I fly it more.

Best,   DennisT

I have used a number of different arming devices and now my arming block is simply a bullet connector in the ground wire I pass through the side of the airplane. The socket side I lightly CA glue in to a close fit hole which has a block on the side.

I really like that.  I make plugs from Deans which is a pain.  I drill holes in the ends of the connectors and solder a piece of 12g wire.   Looks real nice covered with heat shrink.  However, bullets are so easy to work with.  As to the slimers I just sit back and watch them mess with their engines.  Some will never change and that is fine.  Some I am convinced that the reason they fly *IS* to mess with the engine.  It's a hobby, let them do what they love.  Just wish they would mop up their pipe puddles. I really don't cry much when my competition has an overrun.

Ken 

Success!! I got out to check the battery draw down on the E-Ringmaster, 2min 30sec flight about half and OTS flight time. It hit the 575 amps total draw down that gives 15% left that I need with the Thunder Power 5S - 1350 mah pack. The APCE-P 8 1/2" x 6.75"(resized 9x6) at 9600 rpm fixed rpm setting in Castle 35A ESC. This pulls the S1 at 4.75 sec lap time on 60" 0.012" lines, it fells really good on the lines. Next will go to full flights and start trimming for the OTS pattern.

Best,    DennisT

Jerry,
My current all up ready to fly weight is 34oz. This was a Sterling S1 Ringmaster kit, i had to replace the original fuse with a new one designed for electric and saved almost 3oz. The other thing that saves weight is the Thunder Power 5S - 1350mah battery, it is 5.54 oz. It also allowed me to move the pack from a wing pocket to the nose in the traditional tank location on the fuse. This helped get the CG to about 1/3/4" back from the leading edge.

Two other things I did on this rebuild are to shape the stab leading edge to a sharp 1/16" radius and second TAPE THE HINGE LINE. The most improvement comes from taping the hinge line on a Ringmaster.

Best,   DennisT

Jerry,
Very nice job, neat equipment installation. On mine I originally had the battery in a pocket under the outboard wing with a TP 4S - 2200 (6.9 oz.). The smaller TP 5S - 1350 mah pack (at 5.43 oz.) works because of the BadAss 2320 -820Kv motor and the cut down APCE P prop sized at 8 1/2" diameter and pitched up to 6 3/4", set at 9600 rpm, allows for a full 5 min flight with 15% left in the tank.

Prop diameter and rpm are the two biggest factors to amp draw. With the lighter battery it needed to be moved forward to keep the CG in range. Other big amp savings was switching to 0.012" lines from 0.015" that I had been using. Might try some Specta lines which could be 0,010" diameter. I need to get more information on how to make-up the terminations, could give a little extra margin or allow a full 9" diameter prop or more with the same pack.

Best,   DennisT

Success!!! Did a full 5 min flight (good for OTS) today in my E Ringmaster with the BadAss 2320 - 820Kv at 9600 fixed rpm; Thunder Power 5S 1350 mah pack; 60' C to C, 0.012" stainless steel braided lines, lap time 4.7 sec; 8 1/2" diameter by 6.7" pitch APCE P prop (9 x 6 cut and re-pitched). This combination in a Ringmaster saves almost 4 oz over most of the E power packages currently used in Ringmaster size ships to my knowledge. 

Happy New Year,       DennisT

Good results! 

You can get pretty close to that power package weight with a 4s setup if you use a 1550mah battery and something like a Park 480 or Cobra 2808 or Arrowind 2810 (or a 3530 Motor by the can OD measurement method.)   Timer/Battery/ESC/Motor weight should come in around 10oz all together. 

Finally, we got some flyable weather. The ship is 33oz with a BadAss 2320  820kV motor on a Thunder Power 5S - 1350mah ProLite pack. ESC is a Castle Creation 35A Talon, timer ZTron. I run an APCE P - 8 1/2x6 3/4 prop (cut down and pitched up APCE P 9x6) at 9650 rpm, on 60' FINS 40G 45LB Test (C to C) Spectra lines, 4.75 sec lap time. This setup save about 1 3/4oz over the commonly use 1800 - 2200 packs.

The FINS 40G Spectra lines are very low drag and saved 4% battery capacity compared to 0.012" stainless steel cable that would be used with this size/wt shipI took the S1 Electric Ringmaster out and tested the FINS 40G, 45LB Test (0.009" diameter) Spectra lines. The objective was to see if using thinner, lighter Spectra lines would reduce drag and use less mah from the pack giving a little more head room in the TP 5S - 1350mah pack. Short answer is we have a winner!!

The I did a first test was the 0.012" stainless steel cable lines (my baseline) vs. PowerPro Maxcuatro 40 LB Test, 0.010" diameter lines. For the SS cable lap time was 4.7; PPMax lap time was 4.8 sec. On the PPMax the plane felt very solid and I didn't notice any real difference in the maneuver's, estimated pull was about 7 lbs. At the end of the test the battery voltage on SS Cable was 18.4V the PPMax was 17.6V, just above cutoff.

Yesterday, the test was with the FINS 40G lines, prepared like the PPMax, double surgeons knot (per the posted video Mike Stinson) using the Larks Head to secure the line clip. Pull tested the lines and all was good to go. Switch on - off we go. Ship felt really good and solid, speed felt right, control response was solid, no sponginess or delay, even when I purposely banged a hard corner just to see.  Lap time was 4.69 sec right on top of the lap time for the 0.012" stainless steel braided cable (4.7 sec).  After the flight comes the real data to see if there is any benefit. Pack is TP 5S - 1350mah, end voltage 18.5V, mah put back on recharge 1093. This left 257 mah in the pack 19%. That is ~4% more reserve that with the 0.012" SS cable so by my tests I have achieved my gold of reducing the amp draw and allows good battery life with this setup.

Best,    DennisT

This has been some week for the S1. After getting the new 5S  1600mah HobbyStar battery and finally getting the deans connector clean and reliably connecting it was time to see what props would work since I have more head room. The original set up with the TP 5S  1350mah 25C ProLite worked ok but seemed a little soft particularly in the vertical eight. I checked a few things and decided I might have the controls set up to slow. I compared it to my Stuka and El Diablo and it was considerably slower. I decided to increase the line spacing to the same as I use on the El D. This puts it at 4 1/2" up from 4". I find that particularly in outside maneuvers I go to a comfortable amount of down and that seems to be a little to open for this ship.

On to the prop tests. The motor rpm stays at 9650 to allow low amp draw and still allows the ESC to hold the fixed rpm. Props are all APCE -P. I did a ground test with three props: a cut/repitched 10x5.8 cut to 9 1/2" and pitched up to 7; an 11x5.5 cut to 9 1/8" and pitched up to 7.5 and a 10 x 5.8 pitch up to 7.  The 9 1/2 drew 18.5 amps; the 9 1/8" drew 20 and the 10 drew 17.5 amps. This is were the week got weird.

With the original 1350 pack setup I had an 8 1/2 x 7 prop at a lap time of 4.7. This was a little slow for me and felt soft. At the field the first test was set for a 30 sec flight to get a lap time and do a loop, climb/dive and feel the ship. First up I tried the 9 1/8 x 7.5. This gave a very solid feel and strong climb/dive and loop at 4.5 sec lap time. I then go to change props and put the 9 1/2 x 7 on an as I am tightening the prop nut, boom the shaft sheers. I do not gorilla tighten things so it was a surprise when it popped. Back to the shop to find another adapter. Luckly, I had several 4mm spares so I was back in business.

Next day out to the field again all set with the 9 1/2x7. Switch on and as I am on the take-off roll I get a little downward pitching but took of fine. Flew the test and felt very strong, as good as the 9 1/8" so it seemed like a very good prop. Lap time was 4.57 sec. Then as it timed out and the break hit there was an odd noise and it landed. Going over to the ship I see the motor mount broken and half off the fuse. Ok any landing you can walk away from is good, so back to the shop. This was my own fault for being lazy after the crash of the first ship. The motor mount was cracked and instead of making a new one I put in some glue and pushed it together. Lesson learned. New mount built and installed and out to the field for test of the 10x7. This was a very good strong prop but the loops seemed a little bigger than with the 9 1/2. Lap time was 4.5.

Once I built the new motor mount and got it installed I noticed that the mount bolts seemed like they were not getting tight, looking at the connection the fuse was being squeezed. In an effort to save weight on the new fuse I didn't put any hardwood mounts in the area were the mount bolts through the fuse, just the 1/32" plywood sides and fiberglass. This was not good and I had a bad feeling that it would not be long before the bolts ripped out, so I decide to cut into the fuse and add the hard maple hard points where the bolts hold the mount. This worked out well and in a few hours I was able to epoxy in the hard points and some filler blocks, reshape and seal and be ready for flying today. Did a second test with the 9 1/2" x7 and it felt very good, loop was tighter than the 10" so this looks like the base prop. Next will be a full pattern.