Gary Clark 1 Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 My very first aircraft I had was Ripmax trainer 30 bought by my mum when I was 15 as a birthday gift. I also got the transmitter and servos too which I (very unskilfully) put together. My dad stood on the wing in the garage before it flew and that sparked the build bug in me as I had to repair it.....well I didn't, I was introduced to a man at a local club who could and he then taught me to build and fly and became a life long friend. That wasn't the last time it was rebuilt in its life I'll add Anyway, I recently disposed of the fuselage as it was very badly damaged from a tough life and an engine failure on its last flight but the wing is undamaged and I have kept that. What I should have done is copy the formers and measurements and scratch built a new fuselage but I'm too late for that. Does anyone have one or have a drawing of one I could copy? I now have my own boys and I'd love them to learn on the same plane (and actual same wing) as I did but haste got the better of me. I'd appreciate any help. Silly request but may as well ask! Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Colbourne Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Gary, It looks very similar to the much more common Ripmax Trainer 40, so if you can get one of those from Ebay, Facebook Marketplace or wherever, and scale from it, you wouldn't be far off. Its very similar to a whole host of trainers available 20 years ago, so any of them would give the right proportions, if you just scale to suit the wing you have. Here is the instruction manoual which covers the 30 and 40 size variants: Ripmax 30 & 40 Instruction Manual This advert includes a picture of a Ripmax Trainer Fuselage, which you could scale from: Ripmax Trainer Fuselage (second picture). I rather fancy that Cierva Autogyro kit he's selling! Another one (probably a 40) here: Ripmax Trainer in Yeovil Edited July 31, 2023 by Robin Colbourne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Clark 1 Posted July 31, 2023 Author Share Posted July 31, 2023 Thank you Robin. The 40 is very similar to the 30 but with a few differences. Good idea to copy that and scale it though. The 40 was definitely more popular, probably due to being a bit bigger, but it's just a silly sentimental thing that draws me to the 30. I've been looking through outerzone to try and Find a trainer that matches the span but I also can't the exact dimensions for the 30, why did I just not measure it?!! Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 I might be able to help you Gary. What is the exact wingspan of the 30 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Found it, 51ins. Our club trainer is a Trainer 40. Ripmax never produced plans for these kits. Just assembly manuals. The last time I rebuilt it (from lots of small bits !) I copied the parts and redrew the whole model. We now have 2 trainers. Edited July 31, 2023 by kevin b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Plan reduced to 30 size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Clark 1 Posted July 31, 2023 Author Share Posted July 31, 2023 Kevin that is incredible, thank you. Another time this forum has been invaluable Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Colbourne Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 (edited) Kevin b, that is very kind of you to make your drawing available. I'm sure that represents a good few hours work to produce the original. Gary, I've found this picture of the Ripmax Trainer 30 here: Ripmax Trainer 30 . Do you happen to know if all the models with a predominantly white colour scheme are the 30 size version, and if not, what other colours was the Ripmax Trainer 30 produced in? Yet another Trainer 40 in this ad here, cheap,albeit quite dilapidated! Ripmax Trainer 40 & others in Bridport, £15 Edited August 1, 2023 by Robin Colbourne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 Robin. Not as long as the time I have spent on repairing the original model. 🤣 It is an extremely good basic (and reasonably strong) design. They probably sold thousands of them. Certainly hundreds. Sort of the VW Beetle of the aeromodelling world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 Engine was at front on mine. 😉 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Clark 1 Posted August 1, 2023 Author Share Posted August 1, 2023 Haha probably the same complexity of engine though! I think all the 30s were the white and 40s the blue. I emailed Ripmax to ask the same question and got an excellent reply from Bob. Unfortunately most of the stuff from back then wasn't made digital and he couldn't find any of the original drawings. He did send me some press releases of it though. Good of him to look for me. It's a cracking trainer. I flew mine hundreds of times and taught a fee others to fly on mine too. I always loved the decals on it too. I repaired mine (just worn and a bit beaten up) a fee months before the bad crash and made it look like this gave it a new lease of life but never the same. Didnt help when in crashed in the field it hit a huge pile of soggy cow sh*t that filled on available gap. Garage was stinking for weeks Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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