Acro Wot build advice

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Neil Collett]

Thanks Nigel will hold off until the tray is done.

Percy I am going to cover before attaching the tailplane. I have gone down the route of Sullivan snakes, and will try to if possible to finish installing after covering, will have to cut some square holes in the bottom to give access. I have enough to make a closed loop with Sullivan snakes, is it worth doing this?

Tail plane slot cut and test fit:

[Nigel R]

"The areas around where the tailplane is, and at the base of the fin are notoriously fiddly......."

Liberate a (clean) butter knife while you're covering. It reaches bits the iron cannot. Somewhat obviously, you need to lay it on the iron for 30 seconds to heat it up first...

"I have gone down the route of Sullivan snakes, and will try to if possible to finish installing after covering, will have to cut some square holes in the bottom to give access."

Make life easy for yourself - get the snake outers in place before you close up the fuselage underside. Unless it's too late, in which case you'll be opening it up anyway.

Snakes will need supporting, I'd say on this size model, by the servo, where they exit the fuselage and two intermediate places as well. It's a bit difficult to add those supports if the fuselage is finished up.

" I have enough to make a closed loop with Sullivan snakes, is it worth doing this?"

In a word, no. In more words, not even slightly. Just use the snakes in the usual push/pull way.

[Neil Collett]

No haven't glued the bottom panel yet, was thinking I might be able to create the supports and guide through once the covering was on, but will get in place and glue into position next.

Cheers

[Neil Collett]

No haven't glued the bottom panel yet, was thinking I might be able to create the supports and guide through once the covering was on, but will get in place and glue into position next.

Cheers

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Nigel R]

As an aside to the above, snake inners make a really good guide for closed loop cables.

Just my opinion, but, I've never been too fussed about the slight trim change, certainly not on 'the average sport model' anyway. You might find it needs one click of trim either way on particularly hot or cold days.

The best (again, my opinion) setup is a forked pushrod for elevator and closed loop on rudder. It is more effort to set up compared to sing a pair of snakes.

[Neil Collett]

OK, so I have run into a small problem. I ended up glueing a dowel along the entire length of the elevator, I also glued in the metal u piece, the dowel was an after thought when reading the update bulletins and realised I may need to add strength here .

I have already cut the hinge slots in the dowel. Pic:

But now the metal pin now overhangs at the far end, which gets in the way of the rudder.

I'm guessing there are 3 options to go for, First cut a notch out of the rudder, my favourable so far. Second shorten the front of the tail fin and move forward 3mm, or third cut the metal rod out, as i would of thought the dowel would be strong enough. Any thoughts?

Edited By Neil Collett on 25/04/2018 17:24:33

[ken anderson.]

leave as is and notch the rudder...........anything for an easy life..I've seen more modified wots over the years so..a notch will make no difference to anyone...

ken Anderson...ne..1...easy life dept.

[Neil Collett]

Thanks Ken, An easy life it is then.

Edited By Neil Collett on 25/04/2018 17:47:11

[Neil Collett]

HI All,

I'm having difficulty deciding which Electric motor I should buy, I spoken to the guys at 4-maxx and they recommended the PO-5055-595 but at £61 plus postage its expensive compared to the Turnigy G60 500KV, which at £43 including postage seems good value, although a number of reviews have commented on the magnets coming loose.

Does anyone have any good recommendations or should I be spending the extra at 4-maxx.

Wasn't sure if I can add links to the websites here, so thought best to leave them out.

Cheers

[Andy Blackburn]

Well...

£43 on a motor that loses it's magnets doesn't sound like very good value to me...

So personally, I'd take a deep breath and spend the extra at 4-maxx.

 

Edited By Andy Blackburn on 27/04/2018 21:03:47

[Chris Walby]

You pay your money and take your chance, there will always be people say buy cheap and have never had an issue. Personally I prefer being able to discuss with George details around the set up, what they recommend and buy from them.

This does not stop me buying from other companies for "low investment" models, I just think its very poor form to spend time talking to someone who is running a business and then buy from somewhere else.

[Neil Collett]

Hi Chris,

Yes I do agree that if a company helps with setup, to go and buy from elsewhere is pretty low. I've already bought most my gear from 4-Maxx, but I was made redundant a couple of months ago (hopefully will be back in work soon), and need to save where possible. I've just purchased the motor from 4-MAXX, so looking forward to that arriving, as need to see where it's going to mount, so I know how much room I have to cut away for the battery to slide in.

Cheers

Edited By Neil Collett on 28/04/2018 08:16:43

[Jonathan M]

Go with the 4-Max motor. The cost difference as a proportion of the whole model and all its installed gubbins (let alone the time you'll have invested in making it!) is frankly nominal.

Not sure I entirely agree with Chris' point, however. I understand the sentiment and loyalty to a known, local one-man-band business, but in market terms it is up to the retailer to present their wares and convince the buyer that their product is the right one for them, and this will frequently involve spending time talking to prospective customers. If the motor was completely identical but cheaper elsewhere, then it would simply be competitive market forces that would lose 4-Max the sale - but this isn't the case here as the alternative is of different manufacture and (apparently) of poorer quality.

As it happened I chatted to George at 4-Max just yesterday re a motor for another model. In my case, I am entertaining the possibility of fitting an electric power-train to recently purchased kit and intended by me for IC, and needed to ask some basic technical questions about the power/duration of his listed recommended setup for this model. If I decide to stick with my original plan and fit IC (probably) then my enquiry would turn out to have been a "waste" of George's time, but at least I'll have made it from the point of view of having been fully informed.

PS - Neil, just seen that our posts crossed.

Edited By Jonathan M on 28/04/2018 08:28:53

[Neil Collett]

Ok, so haven't had much time to do more on the Acro, but a quick update.

All hinging now completed, just need to bevel the edges.

Quick test fit

No servo tray included in the kit, so had to make one up. Also Battery box is starting to come together, and front hatch now cut for battery access.  I doubled up in the firewall which should hopefully be strong enough.

Hopefully can get more done now.

Edited By Neil Collett on 09/05/2018 08:03:51

[Neil Collett]

Ok got some more done.

Installed the Sullivan snakes, really like these so far. I have stuck on the bottom panel already.

OK so starting the sanding of the top parts.

Before:

After.

Thank goodness for Perma grit tools, made the job easy.

Tailplane all ready to be covered with edges beveled. But next need to start cutting the canopy, not really looking forward to this.

Also got to start thinking of colour scheme.

Cheers

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Redex]

Hi Neil,

Maidened my Acrowot kit build last week, had 3 flights so far and seems to go really well.

I am using the 4-Max PO-5055-595 motor with a 14*7 prop and an 80A ESC and a 5S 4000 30C LiPo with plenty of room for upgrade to 6S if required. I decided to go with a top hatch entry for LiPo, which is held in place with Velcro straps. Great build log by the way.

David Razor Plane and sandpaper does the job too.

[Neil Collett]

Hey Redex,

Would love to see a photo of how you did the top hatch, also of your build if you're up for posting a couple of photos..

I have pretty much the exact same power train setup as you, do you know how many amps you are drawing using that prop?

 

Edited By Neil Collett on 15/05/2018 06:02:40

[Nigel R]

Neil, looking good. I like the Sullivan snakes too, they certainly make life easy. People do say that snakes cause trim changes with temperature, but I haven't noticed much of a problem with these ones.

Redex, what flight times do you get from that setup?

[Bruce Collinson]

Neil,

Wish I'd seen your build blog sooner as I maidened my ARTF Acrowot last Saturday. It has the same setup as George recommended except it uses 5A 4S LiPos (same as my Wot 4) and an ESC at 60A. George has specced and supplied three power trains for me in the last year and I rate him.

Yours ought to be quicker on 5S; mine was very cool all 3 flights, cooler than the Wot 4. Unfortunately the battery hatch came off and the replacement has been heavily modified to prevent repetition. One of my clubmates finished one recently and left the cowl cutout slightly narrow so it overlaps the front edge of the hatch and I wished I'd seen it sooner.

Not sure how much similarity there is between kit and ARTF hatches etc but hope this helps; mine's tail heavy (I dislike plastic clevises) and the cart bolts look weedy, too small to risk nylon and the blind nuts are hidden behind a bulkhead.

I'll look out for updates.

BTC

[Redex]

Neil/Nigel some further info.

The AUW of my Acrowot is 2770 gms, a bit heavy perhaps but my skills are more of 'belt and braces' rather than a 'lightly engineered' model. I fly from a grass strip so have also fitted 3.5inch wheels.

With a newish 5S4000 30C liPo charge to 20.99v on my wattmeter and after a full power static test ,my wattmeter records 19.27v, 61.5A and 1194.9watts. Also tried out of interest a 4S4000 30C and it records 42.5A , 663 watts with the same 14*7 prop.

My TX timer is set to 5 mins for spirited flying and LiPo shows appx 30-35% left so with a bit of conservative throttle management probably get to around 7 mins with a little bit of spare - just depends upon how you like to fly.. Hope this helps.

[Neil Collett]

Hey all,

So a little more done on the Acro.

First making up the filler for the gap between the fuse and wing, I'm using Microballoons and Finishing resin:

Mix up some resin and then add Microballoons until its like peanut butter:

Really easy to apply, light and very easy to sand:

I initially tried using cling film, but found this introduced too many crinkles into the resin, so did again with wax, although no photo of that, but he's the cling film one:

Next onto some covering - the area is cleaned/prepped and vacuumed to within an inch of its life:

First all white on the bottom:

I wanted a very simple design and I am using Monokote Metallic red and Jet white, have to say first time I've used Monokote and very impressed with it so far. First I make a template using Wax paper and pin strip:

Folded the wax paper in half along the centre line and copied the pin strip on the back:

Then I used the other part of the template to ensure the lines match up and cut the Red Monokote, I used Black 3mm pin striping to make everything very clean:

Unfortunately I completely forgot to round the leading edges, so I may be taking off the covering and re-doing. I know its not going to make any difference to the flight characteristics, but I will definitely notice it.

Next onto the wing - I did the edges first in red as this will copy the same design as the tailplane and then covered the bottom all in which:

Then same again with creating a template for the top. really happy with how its come out:

Test fit to see how's it starting to come together:

right I'm off to go and fly something as the weather is looking alright if a little windy..Cheers All

Edited By Neil Collett on 27/05/2018 12:27:09

[Neil Collett]

Hi All,

So last update on the build - thank you all for all the help, has been really appreciated. Last few photos of the build:

Wings completed - really pleased with how the servo seating came out:

Fuse all covered:

Battery box completed:

Cover - it has 2 3mm carbon rods to secure at the top and I have added a canopy lock on the front to stop it coming out mid flight.

Sorry missed a few steps, but here she is done, just need to add some stickers. Hopefully maiden tomorrow.

Cheers again all.