Update on ARC Ringmaster

[Mike Griffin]

I have been longer starting to build than I anticipated but have finally gotten all my materials and am in the process of building for sold orders now. I am currently out of town for Easter and will return in about a week to finish up the construction. I will have pictures posted as the work progresses but for the meantime I thought I would post what materials are going into the planes.

I did decide to use laser cut ribs because they are all perfect and a great time saver for me. The solid leading edges have become almost impossible to obtain so I am using a formed built up leading edge. This is strong and a lot lighter than the old solid leading edges. The bellcranks and pushrods and leadouts come from Tom Morris. The bellcrank is installed in the wing with the leadouts attached and is suspended between two plywood platforms. The center bottom sheeting is glued in place and the top sheeting will be cut and taped in place so you can install the premade pushrod when you receive the plane. The pushrod was also made by Tom Morris and is a simple 4-40 rod with a Z bend that inserts into the pushrod and a 90 degree bend that will insert into the control horn on the elevator. I will supply a wheel collar to secure this but you have the option to do what you want. I had to do this for shipping purposes. The fuselage will be finish sanded and ready for the wing to be inserted and glued in by the recipient. The elevator and stab will be pre-hinged and I either use full span dacron exposed hinges or the concealed full length cloth hinges as the pictures will show when I get them posted. The control horn for the elevator is the original wood horn and the hole is bushed. The rudder will be loose. I tried to use all contest balsa where I could and most of it is Bud Nosen. In the carton will be wheels, wheel collars, landing gear straps and the prebent landing gear wire. Basically here is what the recipient will have to do to finish the plane: Cover the wing in whatever material they want, insert the wing in the fuselage glue it in level and straight and use whatever fillets he or she chooses. Glue the pre-hinged stab and elevator to the fuselage and then glue on the
rudder. Drill the motor mounts for whatever engine you choose (I recommend a .25) and install a tank, pre-bent landing gear and the wheels. Not necessarily in that order. I would drill the motor mounts for the engine before I did anything.

That is about all I can think of for right now. I have an email set up for orders and that is RingmasterARC@gmail.com. Please e mail me for qustions or comments. I have not posted in the classifieds yet which I will but will glad to give you prices by e mail. I will post prices in the classifieds when I get to it. I am not mass producing these planes and I build everyone by hand just as if I were building them for my self so I really cannot give you a definite time on delivery at this point. I will do my best as work progresses on your plane to give you an idea of when it will ship.

Thanks

MIke