Acro Wot Foam-e chat

[Gavin Mack]

Foamy acro wot seems to have arrived at inwoods & kings Lynn models today,

RCMF to flown one

**LINK**

[Rusty C]

Sweet!

Will have to do a little review of this little bird when she turns up, No doubt the weather will be horrific though.

Rusty

[Zebra3]

Got mine yesterday from Colin Bliss Models in Essex..... Flew it today, very windy conditions, a bit of a hand full, but did not seem to diaplay any bad traits (flown on max recommende throws). Build quality seem better than the WOT 4 foame - only thing is the positioning of the ESC, had to do a bit of a mod to make enough space to get the lipo in.

[IanR]

Hello Chubbylove

(I felt such a prat writing that. You'll have to change your name, you know)

Which lipo which manufacturer did you have trouble with, please?

Ian

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Both wooden and foam versions are now in the review database.

[Zebra3]

Hello IanR,

using the standard Overlander 3s 2200mah lipo. The problem was the esc was not in the correct position. I made a call to Ripmax (who were extremely helpful). Basically I had to cut the cable ties from the motor mount - disconnect the motor - and reroute the motor wires, this enable the esc to be placed in a position that allowed the battery to slide in. It is quite tight in that small hatch. Now that I have done that all is good.

Under carriage seems more sturdy than the wot4 foame....

C of G was tricky to establish as 1mm either way seems to make either nose heavy or tail heavy. But I am not normally a plane flyer - helis for me but this plane looks awesome.

Paul.

[ken anderson.]

hello paul------ 1mm either way ...i wouldn't be too worried if it came out nose heavy.......it would make it docile on the elevator ....... tail heavy would make the acrowot a bit more responsive to the elevator....but 1mm either way wont make much difference.......and slightly nose heavy is what i would prefer......for the initial flight's...

ken anderson ne..1.... c of g dept.

[IanR]

Hello Zebra3

Thank goodness you've changed your name!

Thanks for the info. I should have asked earlier - how does it fly compared to the Wot 4 Foam E? Personally, I'm not overly keen on the Wot 4 foamy as it seems a bit "floaty" to me.

Ian

[Zebra3]

Hello Ken,

thanks for the info..... I would say it is more nose heavy - flys great.

Hello Ian,

nickname goes back a looooong way... well did 7 packs today... and I loved it... My mate said it looked very fast

For me I had to use the elevator on the minimum recommended setting, as I found the larger movement very hard to control - a lot of pitching up and down, which made taking of and landing very difficult.

Aileron setting used on the higher recommended setting - nice rate of roll, loveley tight on the edge turns, great "wing overs".

Flew well inverted with little elevator needed. My attempts at a knife edge were a little untidy - .

Loved it - loved it - loved it..... Get about 5 mins from a standard 2200 overlander 3s lipo - which took the pack down to around 18%, a bit lower than I normaly go, but most of the flight the throttle was wide open - (A) coz it was windy and needed to keep the speed up, (B) coz it was fast and I needed to keep the speed up!

I had the old wot 4 foamy. This is a lot better build quality. You have to "fly" this a lot more. Not as stable, but as this is also foam - in a strong wind (proper strong not just a bit of a breeze) it still had a bit of a foamy feel- but it is way more positive. But I loved it - so much so that I flew in preference to my heli.

I bought this as I want to get a big Hurricane/Spitfire low wing plane and wanted to get some experience. But love this - so easy to fly. I cant wait for the IC version to arrive. But having spoken to Ripmax, that could be some time yet.

Top marks.... Cant wait for next good day to go flying.

Paul.

[Zebra3]

[IanR]

Hello Paul

Sounds good - very good.

Ian

[Sparks]

I received my Acro Wot today .

First mod is that I've drilled and tapped the u/c mounting bolt holes M5 and used M5 nylon screws to retain the undercarriage - I did this on my Foamy Wot 4 and it prevented the u/c support plate being ripped out on 'less than perfect' landings (the bolts break instead).

Zebra3 - could you be kind enough to describe, or post a pic, of the mods you did to get the ESC in? As supplied, the ESC certainly get in the way battery.

The general quality of the kit certainly looks an improvement on the Foam Wot 4. For instance, the moving surfaces now have small hinges in addition to the strip foam hinge and the main wing tips have plastic reinforcing tabs at the corner.

Richard

[Rusty C]

Grrr wheres mine got lost not fair.... dummy out the pram

Would love to see a flight vid or review up soon as I wait !!

Rusty

[Zebra3]

Hello Sparks,

I have tried to upload some photos - but dont seem able to.

Basicaly -

1 - cut the 2 cable ties that hold the black motor wires to the engine mount

2 - disconnect the 3 motor wire and feed the wires up the outer left side of the enging mount (holding acro upsidedown with prop towards you)

3 - where there is a small piece of wood running across the bulkhead area I trimmed the foam back here about 10mm on each side (gives the wires somewhere to sit)

4 - reconnect the motor wires

5 - place the speedo with the lable side up to the rear of the small piece of wood - cross ways - I have not taped this in

6 - ensure thr rx wire is run correctly

7 - now the battery will fit over the esc and into it correct position

8 - when connecting the lipo to the esc they need to be ucked out of the way to get the foam cover in

so far I have had no trouble with cable or connectors rubbing on the motor - but you will need to keep a watch out.

I am sure ripmax said they were going to put some photos of the mod on thier web site - I spoke to a bloke called john in customer services, I cant praise this man enough, he took the time to listen - go away and look - then phone me back. I have heard bad things about ripmax customer services but this man was very very helpful.....

If anyone can advise on how to upload photos I will give it another go.....

Rusty C - if you want one Colin Bliss Models in Essex has them....

Cheers, Paul.

 

Edited By Zebra3 on 14/06/2012 16:47:22

Edited By Zebra3 on 14/06/2012 16:47:54

[Sparks]

Thanks for the reply Paul, from your description it looks like we have come up with the same solution.

See pictures below:-

In the second photo you can see I have bored a 10mm dia hole thru' the foam to pass ESC/Motor wires through and retain them.

The ESC is held in place with a couple dabs of UHU por glue.

I chose to fit a Black Mantis ESC as it already had an X60 connector fitted, which is my prefered connector. It is the same physical size as the supplied HobbyWing ESC so the mod would suit that one as well.

For info, max power at WOT is 334W with an elderly 3S 2300mAh Loon Max Lipo

Just need some fine weather to maiden it now!

Cheers, Richard

[JayCee]

Hoping to get to the Wings & Wheels show next weekend and pick one up there, get those reviews in guys love to know what you think.

JC

[David Ashby - Moderator]

I've just tweaked the thread title as most of the recent discussion centres around the foam-e version.

New thread started here for the ARTF (wooden) version.

[Victors]

Paul

Got an Acro wot foam e today. Generally pleased with the build quality but for 30 minutes build time read an hour and a half after you have made things fit properly.

Had the same problem as others with the ESC and cannot understand how Ripmax can put someting into production that basically does not fit. Thanks for your posted info.

Not flown it yet due to the weather

Bob

[Victors]

Paul and Richard

Done the ESC mod today as you described. A bit fiddly but very rewarding and results in a very neat solution with room to load and unload the LiPo. Thanks to you both.

Richard, I had thought of using 5mm Nylon screws as you suggest for the undercarriage as I use these on my Wot 4s but cannot get captive nuts in. Did you just tap holes in the airframe ?

regards

Bob

[Sparks]

Hi Bob

Yes, I drilled/tapped the M5 threads directly into the plastic u/c mount. Not sure how much meat there is around the holes but it has worked on the Wot4e (over 230 flights) and now the Acro.

Tapping drill size is 4.2mm (rule of thumb, tap drill size is thread size (5mm) - pitch (0.8mm))

To avoid the drill 'snatching' I opened up the holes gradually, starting with a 3mm drill, then 3.5mm etc. If you haven't got a 4.2mm drill bit, you would probably get away with 4mm as its plastic.

Cheers, Richard

[Simon Chambers]

Got my Acro Wot Foam-e yesterday. Not built it yet - it joins the build queue. However I've had a good look over it.

Bad Points:-

• Moulding quality isn't great - for example, there is an air bubble trapped in the aileron moulding.
• The canopy has been glued on wonky.
• The elevator control horn anchor point used a tiny amount of glue - the plastic came off with a light tug. Something that I reckon others should double check.
• I'm also very concerned with the design of the nose and the motor. On the Wot4 Foam-e, if you bent the mount, you could remove it and rebend/replace it. However the AcroWot has the metal mount moulded in, and looks an impossibility to remove/replace without cutting off the nose.
• Also it has the cheapy black no-named servos in too.
• As discussed above, what were Ripmax/ST Models thinking with the ESC installation? As the motor is moulded in, reconnecting the 3 motor connectors looks a nightmare.
• Motor looks identical to Wot4 - Is it going to be powerful enough? Not measured yet, so can't be sure. Not checked the prop diameter yet either. I assume its bigger than the Wot4. Still the same bendy black prop as the Wot4 though. I'll probably change this for a proper APC job.
• Undercarriage looks the same as the Wot4, so will be interesting to see its durability.

Good Points:-

• Mine has a SkyWalker ESC, which is supposedly rebranded HobbyWing. Enclosed setup sheet is indentical to Hobbywing, but just with a different name on top.
• Control surfaces have plastic inserts moulded in - this should prevent the control surfaces coming away. This is good as some of my control surfaces foam joins have already started to break off.
• Tail wheel looks an improved design than the Wot4 - however said that, I never had a problem with it on my Wot4.
• Wing servo's are mounted better with a shorter control arm - hopefully they are easier to replace than the wot4's - which is good considering the cheap servos used.

Overall I think its reasonable. Still not a great quality vs price ratio - at £130 it's starting to get a bit expensive and getting to around Multiplex prices (with a non-Multiplex powertrain). Infact I reckon the two Wot4 Foam-E's I've had were better quality. Hopefully it'll make up for its lack of build quality with its flying quality. My aim is to really practise knife edges and get that under my belt - hopefully this airframe is up to the job and is robust enough to withstand a couple of badly planned manovers.

I'll probably fly with the stock servos for a while and then upgrade them to a better unit (even if its a towerpoo sg90). The wot4 were ok, but I found them a bit sluggish.

I do kinda wish I got a ST MX2 or even a Weston Capiche (even if this is a lot crunchier and more expensive). I reckon they may have been better buys overall.

Si.

[Victors]

Richard

Thanks for the info. I think I will do the mod before the inevitable heavy landing causes damage.

Simon

The mod that the guys above have detailed for the ESC really is a must in order to have a workable arrangement. Disconnecting the motor leads is a bit fiddly but I used 2 pairs of long nosed pliers which made the job easier. After drilling a hole thro the bulkhead,( I used a 10mm drill by hand), feed the esc leads thro the hole first then connect the motor leads. It is only a matter then of positioning all the leads out of the way to allow the LiPo to be inserted and removed without restriction.

Regarding the ST MX2, I had one about three months ago and was initially not very happy with the moulding finish. On its first flight the motor cut after about 1 minute so I had to land in the long grass. This caused the uc to detach and created a crack in the fuselage where the wing passes through. On inspection the ESC had burnt out and to remove it entailed cutting the nose off the plane. I think both the Wot 4 and Acro Wot foam Es are better buys.

Regards

Bob

[Sparks]

Hi Bob, glad the ESC mod has worked for you.

Forgot to mention that I cut the 10mm hole with a piece of 10mm tubing, suitably shapened at the end. I think that gives a cleaner hole than using a twist drill.

Managed to maiden the Acro Wot yesterday. First impressions - I like it! The rolls are very axial (compared to the Wot4e) and it will knife edge from one end of the flying field to the other with ease.

The supplied 11x8 prop was badly out of balance, so I fitted an APC 11x7 at the flying field as a temporary measure and it still had sufficient power for impressive vertical.climbs.

It comes into land at a fair rate of knots, so I definitely recommend the u/c mod.

The air exit hole behind the wing on the fus underside looked a bit mean, so I opened it up to provide better ventilation. (seem to remember reading somewhere that the air exit hole should be 2.5 x the inlet to allow for air expansion!)

Cheers, Richard

Oh - the repositioned ESC remains nice and cool after 7 mins of hooliganism

[Delta Foxtrot]

I have copied a posting in another thread that I started, not realising this one was around. Just thought people here might like to know about this.

Hi,

I took delivery of the new Acro Wot Foam e last week, tonight was the first opportunity to test fly it.

I had two 5 minute flights at moderate throttle setting aimed at trimming the aircraft and flying gentle circuits. The aircraft flew well and I started to feel like I had made a good purchase. On the third flight I was making a gentle descending turn when at around 100 ft I lost all control of the model, no response!

I retrieved the model from a cornfield where it nosed in and split split the nose open. There was a strong smell coming from the ESC which was still hot to the touch after a 4 or 5 min walk back to the benches.

The model came with a 40 amp ESC and I measured 300 w / 30 amps at full throttle before flying it, so on paper the ESC should have had some margin, but in flight it failed without prolonged running at anywhere near full throttle.

I plan to contact Kings Lynn models to try and get this rectified, but I am dubious about accepting a replacement model given, the saga of the WOT 4 foam e ESC problems.

I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has had a similar problem with this model.

dave f

[Paul Marsh]

I didn't see any FTR Acro Wot e's last weekend. Also, I thought the FTR versions would have the Futaba 6008GS S-FHSS rx, but Ripmax have brought their own S-FHSS rx out, which is compatable and compliant with Futaba's system. A 6ch rx (I bought one) is only £20.