Ringmaster_A-Thon results.....

[Scott Richlen]

Ummm, well yesterday my Super Ringmaster didn't quite make the required take-off, 5 laps, and landing required to be counted in the World-wide International Ringmaster-A-Thon Day tally.

It took off alright.

And it "landed", if you have a very, very liberal definition of  the meaning of the word "landed".

Unfortunately, it had only flown about a quarter of a lap when the nose fell off.  And then it "landed" just like every other airplane that has suddenly become very tail heavy.

It seems that after years of saber-dancing with the number of crashes closely approximating the number of flights, it was too fuel-soaked to stay together anymore.  At least that is what the NATSB would probably tell you.

But the wing is in great shape!  So, does anyone have a tracing of the fuselage side they can send me so I can cut out a new one?

[Scott Richlen]

Even worse, after crashing my Super Ringmaster, I proceeded to crash Joe's!  I'm a bad boy!!   

[Naomi Macklem]

We had a good turnout yesterday in Dresden Ontario with 7 flyers on 2 circles and completed 112 flights.  Today the weather was not as good, and we only had 3 flyers but completed another 28 flights for a total of 140 flights for our group.

[Brett Buck]

Even worse, after crashing my Super Ringmaster, I proceeded to crash Joe's!  I'm a bad boy!!   

     If I ever need a test pilot, then, uh, don't expect a call...

     Brett

[Scott Richlen]

If I ever need a test pilot, then, uh, don't expect a call...

What?  I was sorta expecting to get a chance to fly one of your planes next time I'm out visiting in Cawliforn-I-A.

You know, give it the ol' acid test, see how it does and stuff.  I'm sure they fly better than these Ringmasters.  No?   

[Brett Buck]

What?  I was sorta expecting to get a chance to fly one of your planes next time I'm out visiting in Cawliforn-I-A.

You know, give it the ol' acid test, see how it does and stuff.  I'm sure they fly better than these Ringmasters.  No?   

  About the same.

   Brett

[John Rist]

North Alabama Control-Line Association (NACA)

It was the best ever North Alabama’s Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon.  We logged 76 flights on October 3, 2020 and we logged 52 flights on October 4, 2020 for a total of 128 flights.

Total number of pilots was 10.  Eight veterans and two very young future pilots.  The NACA club members that flew were John Cameron, Jim Howell, Bill Johnson, Ty Marcucci, John Rist, and Ronnie Thompson. Down from Nashville, Tennessee was Mike Londke and his son Sam.  The two future pilots were a couple of young ball players that were playing baseball on a nearby ball field.  Mac Stookey age 9 and his brother Gudd age 6.  Mike Londke took the two under his wing and put in some great instructional flights.  The boys loved it!

Most of the airplanes that flew were S1 Ringmaster.  Ty had his Super Ringmaster, I was flying my electric 576 Ringmaster. It was setup with a RC throttle.  I had a sack full of old batteries all charged up and ready to go.  We would load in a battery put up 5 lap flights till the battery gave up.  We were getting 6 to 9 flights per battery.  This helped push up the flight count.

However, there were plenty of regular flights.  Some of the pilots were flying the stunt pattern.  Others with an overfilled tank flew forever. Mike and his son are big into combat.  They would fly two up with some really hot S1 Ringmasters.  No streamers but plenty of mock kills.  All that were watching were on the edge of their seats.  Ty Marcucci and Jim Howell decided to try some two up flying.  At the end of  Jim’s engine run, Jim wound up with his backside on the ground and his S1 Ring broken.  To quote Ty: “Twice we had two up at a time. First time was Mike Londke and Sam (they came down from Nashville just for this), then Jim Howell and I tried it.  After the aftermath, we decided we were just too old for this.”

The weather was great.  60 to 70 degrees F and virtually no wind.  What a great weekend of flying.  Everybody went home with a smile on their faces.

Attached are some photos:

A group shot of Saturday’s pilots, some spectators, and a collection of Ringmasters.

Ty and Jim flying two up.

Jim’s broken Ringmaster.

Mike in the instructor position with Gudd .  Sam launched the Ringmaster.

Yours Truly
John Rist

[Dennis Leonhardi]

Scott, send me the wing!  I'll trace that and maybe ... get it back to you some time?

In the interest of helping a fellow modeler, a suggestion: maybe you have a friend who could store your airplanes?  You know, like for release to capable pilots only?  You could watch from the outside?

OK, OK, don't ya just hate days like that!?!

 

Ummm, well yesterday my Super Ringmaster didn't quite make the required take-off, 5 laps, and landing required to be counted in the World-wide International Ringmaster-A-Thon Day tally.

It took off alright.

And it "landed", if you have a very, very liberal definition of  the meaning of the word "landed".

Unfortunately, it had only flown about a quarter of a lap when the nose fell off.  And then it "landed" just like every other airplane that has suddenly become very tail heavy.

It seems that after years of saber-dancing with the number of crashes closely approximating the number of flights, it was too fuel-soaked to stay together anymore.  At least that is what the NATSB would probably tell you.

But the wing is in great shape!  So, does anyone have a tracing of the fuselage side they can send me so I can cut out a new one?

[Scott Richlen]

maybe you have a friend who could store your airplanes?  You know, like for release to capable pilots only?  You could watch from the outside?

Oooooh!  The knives are out!   

If it will make everyone feel better, my little pilot-guy survived the crash and claims he wants to be piloting my rebuilt saber-dancer (if someone will send me a tracing of the side of the fuselage....hint hint...)

[john e. holliday]

Well guys/gals you are going to have to take my word for this weekend.  Couldn't get the family of quad riders to sign an affidavit for my flights Saturday.  The people driving down the road Sunday just waved and kept driving.  Never seen a policeman either day.  Saturday was first flight with Estes Ringmaster with the Plastic wing tips,  then the RSM Original Ringmaster was next followed by my Super Ringmaster.  Was late getting started as it looked rain and temps were in 50F degree range  Only 4 flights.  @ of them on the Super Ring.

Sunday after Church and dinner was back at the field and put flight up on original S-! Ringmaster that was given me years ago.   Second flight was the Canard Ringmaster which now needs another rebuild on the booms as I lost my balance and that LA 25 was really talking and the Canard was really sensitive on controls.  Final flight was Ringmaster Imperial which is a dream to fly.  Would have got the Ringmaster Twin up but the LA's would not co-operate.  So only three flights.

I did not push my self and flying off a stooge with bad knees does help either.  Oh the weather was beautiful today and just enough breeze you knew where it was.  So only 7 flights from the old DOC.  Oh three more variants did not make it out of the van.

[Brent Williams]

7 Ringmaster flights here.  It was a great evening.  My 77 yo Dad had not flown a Ringmaster in 25-30 years, so it was extra special assisting him with his flight.  He got quite dizzy but I had my arm around him.  Special moment for me.

1 - Roger Kramar
1 - Curtis Williams
1 - James Williams
4 - Brent Williams

[Don Jenkins]

Jut curious, how many Ring Masters died this week end? More often than not, they comeback after quick repairs.  In Huntsville, we only lost one this year. Two close calls. Three props. Damn things love to bounce, but many smooth landings did  happen..

It was a fly-a-thon not a crash-a-thon, right?  The Carolina Gang got in 40 flights thanks to Will Davis and Max Flowe obtaining 5 Ringmasters and organizing the event at our field.  We even got three in the air on the same circle, that's quite a feat considering no telling when the last time those engines ran, some have been idle for many years! It was a great time and all 5 planes survived!

Don

[Brent Williams]

Remember to post your 2020 results on the official website!

https://ringmasterflyathon.com/

[Scott Richlen]

In addition to my previous pictures, Joe C. has sent me our club results as follows.

We had members flying both days as some of the guys in NVCL couldn't make it to the Saturday flying so they came out Sunday.  In total we had 6 flyers put up 42 flights using 5 different Ringmasters.  Mark S. put up the most flights with 16, followed by Paul G. with 11, Tony C. with 5, me with 4, and Jon T and Joe C each had 3.

I am proud to say that NVCL has participated in the Worldwide Ringmaster-A-Thon every year from its very beginning

Here are the various types of Ringmaster we flew: Super Ringmaster, Ringmaster Junior, Ringmaster 1/2A Bipe, 1/2A Ringmaster 95' s, S-1 Ringmaster.

In my further defense, please note that I had 4 complete (normal landing) flights.  So with only 2 crashes I am batting well over 500.  I could be playing for the Dodgers!

Here are three of the Ringmasters that flew successfully (that I didn't fly):

[Mark Gerber]

Arvada Associated Modelers field west of Denver.  Ringmasters by Jerry Higgins, Matt Curtiss, Jack Pitcher, Pete Steinmeyer, John Penney and myself.  Keith Trostle also put up a flight on Jerry's.  Jerry is flying in this shot while Jack is cleaning his.  John's Ringmaster in the foreground is period correct with the Sterling box paint scheme, 1954 K&B 35 greenhead, Veco spinner and wheels.  Chris and Linda Brainard had to sit it out at home due to a potential Covid-19 virus exposure at Linda's workplace.

A good time was had by all.

Mark Gerber

[Robert Zambelli]

We had a great time doing the Fly-A-Thon!

Our event was hosted by Al Tyler at his private airport. Although we only had four pilots, we managed to keep a Ringmaster in the air for most of ten hours. We were hoping to have more in attendance as we have a great flying site with plenty of room for four circles. Maybe next year.

The majority of the flying was done with the silver winged plane but we also made a few flights with all the Ringmaster variants shown.

The philosophy was simple – we put in enough fuel in the planes to run around two minutes, sufficient time for the required number of laps.

It landed, we refueled, a new pilot took over and right back in the air again.

Our crew:  left to right Standing – Jim Stoia and Mike Lindler, kneeling left to right – Bob Zambelli and Wayne Robinson. We took a short break for lunch and flew until nearly dark.

Jim cooked a low-country boil, consisting of shrimp, corn-on-the-Cobb, new potatoes and andouille sausage. A delicious end to a fine day!

We had a great time, managing to put in 112 flights!

Bob Z.

 
 

[Jeff Perkins]

Got two flights in on Saturday before the wind started to blow. S-1 plans built, Fox35. Fun!!!

[GERALD WIMMER]

Report Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon 2020 from Auckland New Zealand

The first day of the Ringmaster-Fly-A-Thon was flown today at Greens Rd Albany Auckland with a good attendance . Steve Hansen got in the first flight of the day and Roscoe Smith had numerous flights with his newly set up Ringmaster with LA25 and commented how well it flew. John Carrodus and John McGregor had some nice flights along with Otto and Max Wimmer who each had a couple of flights with their Enya 35 powered models. Alina Wimmer had her ARF Brodak model with K&B 35 flying well and my own Enya 45 powered model was happy in the beautiful flying conditions of the day. . A thank-you to the North Shore Club for hosting us today.
The second day of Ringmaster-Fly-A-Thon on Sunday was flown at the Massey Primary School in Auckland. A few new faces as Bob Reynolds and Andrew Robinson turned up to encourage everyone. Me and Roscoe used the opportunity to practice our sportsman pattern . Otto was keen to do some combat and started making up streamers but no one was keen to risk their aircraft against him and I kept thinking of the spectacular mid air we had had mid week doing combat at home . Everyone seemed to have fun and most of us went off to a late lunch together at Wendy's. Next year we should prepare something like electric throttled Junior Ringmaster models so we can manage more 5 lap flights and and perhaps involve more spectators in the flying too.
Total flights for Saturday and Sunday was 59 flights

[John Paris]

I was not able to repeat the move from a couple years ago flying in Korea on Saturday and in the US on Sunday due to the world condition but I did get a picture from my friend who flew with his family and have added one from the RC Club that I belong to that also flies a little CL.
John

[Gordon Van Tighem]

Ummm, well yesterday my Super Ringmaster didn't quite make the required take-off, 5 laps, and landing required to be counted in the World-wide International Ringmaster-A-Thon Day tally.

It took off alright.

And it "landed", if you have a very, very liberal definition of  the meaning of the word "landed".

Unfortunately, it had only flown about a quarter of a lap when the nose fell off.  And then it "landed" just like every other airplane that has suddenly become very tail heavy.

It seems that after years of saber-dancing with the number of crashes closely approximating the number of flights, it was too fuel-soaked to stay together anymore.  At least that is what the NATSB would probably tell you.

But the wing is in great shape!  So, does anyone have a tracing of the fuselage side they can send me so I can cut out a new one?

Plan:

https://outerzone.co.uk/images/_thumbs/plans/3501.jpg

[Scott Richlen]

Gord:

Thanks but that's the Ringmaster plan.  I'm looking for a template for making the side of the fuselage of the Super Ringmaster.

[john e. holliday]

Type in controllineplans which should take you to the listing for Barry Baxters Site that is now owned by Bob Mears listed under the sport list.   The side view is no good as the fuselage is an odd shape with formers.  I built mine using his plans.

[Scott Richlen]

Type in controllineplans which should take you to the listing for Barry Baxters Site that is now owned by Bob Mears listed under the sport list.   The side view is no good as the fuselage is an odd shape with formers.  I built mine using his plans.

Thanks Doc!  But one of the guys is graciously making a parts tracing for me, so no plans needed.  The wing is in good shape and I can trace the tail of my old S-1, so it comes down to just rebuilding the fuselage.  A couple tracings of fuselage sides and bulkheads and I'm good to go.  The sooner I get it fixed, the sooner I can start saber-dancing (crashing) again!  I've already set aside the 10# wood....

[john e. holliday]

That's good news.  I never thought of saber dancing the Super Ringmaster as mine flies the pattern better than I do. .

[FLOYD CARTER]

After all the Ringmaster flights are posted and tabulated, what happens next?

[John Rist]

After all the Ringmaster flights are posted and tabulated, what happens next?

Brotherhood of the Ring publishes a report.  When I get my copy I will post it here.

[Scott Richlen]

I guess we do it all over again next year.

but not before we practice flying our level laps....

over and over again