Anyone with experience of the Acro Wot Foam E?

[paul devereux]

It's a good price at the moment- about £210 at a couple of stores. I can't find information on if the wing is easy to detach and fit like the foam Wot 4?  (that just needs the ailerons plugged into the Rx and one screw to attach the wing).

If the wing isn't easy to detach/ attach at the field it will be too bulky for me to transport, otherwise it seems a natural progression from the Wot 4 Foam-E.

I can't find any info online about this. Thanks in advance.

[GrumpyGnome]

Very easy to assemble/disassemble. Flies nicely. Down side is the battery hatch is underneath so a little inconvenient. I also moved the esc on mine (per youtube) but that may have changed now.....

[paul devereux]

6 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:

Very easy to assemble/disassemble. Flies nicely. Down side is the battery hatch is underneath so a little inconvenient. I also moved the esc on mine (per youtube) but that may have changed now.....

Is it just one screw like the Wot 4 foam e?

[Caveman]

You could read the manual, here: http://www.ripmax.com/Instructions/a-cf030.pdf

 

GDB

[Colin Carpenter]

Yes just one screw ! 

[David Davis 2]

I found that it flew well but stalled suddenly on landing approach if you slowed it down too much. So did one of my club colleagues.

[Bruce Collinson]

watched one yesterday, very capable plane, tempted myself.

BTC

[Colin Carpenter]

Its weakness is that the wooden plate motor mount compresses the foam into which it is sandwiched. Then you get motor wobble. Got about 350 flights , with mount repair, before one one flight the foam gave way and 💥💥😱. Loved it though! Colin

[paul devereux]

2 hours ago, Caveman said:

You could read the manual, here: http://www.ripmax.com/Instructions/a-cf030.pdf

 

GDB

That's what I was looking for and couldn't find. Thanks. I guessed it would be the same method.

[paul devereux]

1 hour ago, Colin Carpenter said:

Its weakness is that the wooden plate motor mount compresses the foam into which it is sandwiched. Then you get motor wobble. Got about 350 flights , with mount repair, before one one flight the foam gave way and 💥💥😱. Loved it though! Colin

I've found with my wot 4 foam-e that the both the motor and the U/c had become slightly loose. I have fixed the u/c with epoxy reinforcement, I've have left the motor for now with a very slight vibration- I check every few flights it hasn't got worse,it just makes a slight hum at full throttle (which I rarely use). I suppose I'd ideally like something similar out of balsa/ply as it would last longer, but I haven't found anything yet. The acro wot attracts me because of the price drop from over £250.

[paul devereux]

2 hours ago, David Davis 2 said:

I found that it flew well but stalled suddenly on landing approach if you slowed it down too much. So did one of my club colleagues.

It is supposed to be just about stall proof and capable of being a first model.

[David Holland 2]

My favourite model, I take it every time I go flying. I'm on my third Acrowot Foam E, the first two got to about 700 flights before dumb thumbs bought things to a sudden end. The stall is very benign and you really have to provoke it to achieve one. It can handle a surprising strength of wind for a foamy and can do far more aerobatics than I am capable off. Lovely, lovely aeroplane, buy one, you'll love it.

 

David

[GrumpyGnome]

IIRC, It'll stall well enough to promote a spin, but it's very benign and not generally stally.

 

Can't say I'd think it'd be a good first model, second maybe, but only for fast learners.

[David Davis 2]

15 hours ago, paul devereux said:

It is supposed to be just about stall proof and capable of being a first model.

 

I must be a crap pilot then. Ditto my clubmate.

 

I'm pleased that you're in such a good financial position that you can regard £210 as "a good price" for what is after all, a fairly small electric foamy.

 

[paul devereux]

33 minutes ago, David Davis 2 said:

 

I must be a crap pilot then. Ditto my clubmate.

 

I'm pleased that you're in such a good financial position that you can regard £210 as "a good price" for what is after all, a fairly small electric foamy.

 

Oh, please don't take that as a slur! And as for finances, I watch every penny! (That's why I was concerned about @totobuying so much stuff when he has yet to learn to fly). I said it was a "good price" because prices have shot up so much in the last 2 years- I bought my wot 4 foam-e for £145+postage 18 months ago, now it is generally about £225, only a couple of places are as low as £185. The acro wot was about £180, now it is about £250. So £208 is a good price. If you know of a comparable plane cheaper, please let me know today, as I am going to get the wot for foam-e while stocks last at £208.

( need a second plane- I'm about to crash my wot 4! I learnt to fly on it, now I'm trying to learn to fly inverted and to do consecutive rolls- my choice is to fly high up, where orientation is more of a problem, or lower, where the ground is a problem! Last flight I had a brush with sudden death, lol, pulling up a few feet off the ground!)

My choice is between another wot 4 foam-e, or an acro wot foam-e, both are about £50 more than my present plane but I'm thinking I might get more value out of the acro wot.

With regard to flying skills- I read as much reviews as I can on YouTube- I try to read 'between the lines' as well as what they say (sponsorship and the "enthusiasm factor" makes reviewers give more positive reviews than some planes deserve). But from what I can gather, you don't need to consider keeping your speed up on landing, at least not as much as some planes when they specifically say you need to.

My own flying skills are close to zero- I'm happy to admit that- every flight that ends with intact prop and undercarriage is a success as far as i'm concerned!

And genuinely- if you can suggest a second plane that is better value than the £208 acro wot foam-e, I'm all ears! It was only a month ago I learnt to programme my radio- with advice and help from this forum. I'm a beginner.

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by paul devereux

[Masher]

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[David Davis 2]

2 hours ago, paul devereux said:

Oh, please don't take that as a slur! And as for finances, I watch every penny! (That's why I was concerned about @totobuying so much stuff when he has yet to learn to fly). I said it was a "good price" because prices have shot up so much in the last 2 years- I bought my wot 4 foam-e for £145+postage 18 months ago, now it is generally about £225, only a couple of places are as low as £185. The acro wot was about £180, now it is about £250. So £208 is a good price. If you know of a comparable plane cheaper, please let me know today, as I am going to get the wot for foam-e while stocks last at £208.

( need a second plane- I'm about to crash my wot 4! I learnt to fly on it, now I'm trying to learn to fly inverted and to do consecutive rolls- my choice is to fly high up, where orientation is more of a problem, or lower, where the ground is a problem! Last flight I had a brush with sudden death, lol, pulling up a few feet off the ground!)

My choice is between another wot 4 foam-e, or an acro wot foam-e, both are about £50 more than my present plane but I'm thinking I might get more value out of the acro wot.

With regard to flying skills- I read as much reviews as I can on YouTube- I try to read 'between the lines' as well as what they say (sponsorship and the "enthusiasm factor" makes reviewers give more positive reviews than some planes deserve). But from what I can gather, you don't need to consider keeping your speed up on landing, at least not as much as some planes when they specifically say you need to.

My own flying skills are close to zero- I'm happy to admit that- every flight that ends with intact prop and undercarriage is a success as far as i'm concerned!

And genuinely- if you can suggest a second plane that is better value than the £208 acro wot foam-e, I'm all ears! It was only a month ago I learnt to programme my radio- with advice and help from this forum. I'm a beginner.

 

 

I'm Old School Paul.

 

If I were going to spend £200 on a model I'd buy a kit or short-kit and build it but I appreciate that you may not have the time or inclination to build a model off the plan. You're quite right, when you say that prices have shot up. IIRC I paid less than £100 for my Acro WOT Foam-E. It did not last long in my clumsy hands!

 

Finally, I don't believe anyone who says that ARTFs are cheaper than building a model from a kit or plan. I built a DB Sport & Scale Skyrider for £160 in a carefully costed excercise last year. https://forums.modelflying.co.uk/index.php?/topic/50509-the-cost-of-building-recording-the-financial-cost-of-building-a-db-sport-scale-skyrider-a-surprise-for-miss-blue-eyes/page/4/&tab=comments#comment-938468 This was £30 cheaper than an ARTF WOT 4 and fully £100 cheaper than a Travel Air.

[Cuban8]

1 hour ago, David Davis 2 said:

 

I'm Old School Paul.

 

If I were going to spend £200 on a model I'd buy a kit or short-kit and build it but I appreciate that you may not have the time or inclination to build a model off the plan. You're quite right, when you say that prices have shot up. IIRC I paid less than £100 for my Acro WOT Foam-E. It did not last long in my clumsy hands!

 

Finally, I don't believe anyone who says that ARTFs are cheaper than building a model from a kit or plan. I built a DB Sport & Scale Skyrider for £160 in a carefully costed excercise last year. https://forums.modelflying.co.uk/index.php?/topic/50509-the-cost-of-building-recording-the-financial-cost-of-building-a-db-sport-scale-skyrider-a-surprise-for-miss-blue-eyes/page/4/&tab=comments#comment-938468 This was £30 cheaper than an ARTF WOT 4 and fully £100 cheaper than a Travel Air.

Trouble is, what value do you place on your time and inclination to spend possibly dozens of hours building a model? Is building an enjoyable means to an end, or an inconvenience that's stopping all the flying fun? Maybe a bit of both for some of us?

From your own costing experiment, building saves a few tens of pounds for smallish models, maybe a bit more depending on the subject - is that saving actually worth it?

Only the individual's mindset or pecuniary circumstances will answer that one.

On a more general approach to recent price rises of household goods, grocery shopping, services, insurance  and so on - obviously, we're all spending more. I accept that, but I don't just fork out without considering what I'm being asked to stump up. Certain things I've stopped buying, not because I don't have the means to afford them, but because I feel the retailer is taking the 'you know what' and I believe is simply making an unwarranted increase.

Sounds silly, but I just won't pay £8.10 for a certain jar of coffee which only a short while ago I'd pay a few pennies under £7 ...........many others would appear to agree, because in the shop the other day, not one single jar had been sold and the product was still neatly lined up by the dozen on the Supermarket's shelf. Other quality brands were available at the old price and they were selling as normal (cheap own-brand coffee is just not worth the money BTW).

Anyway the point of this rambling is that we as consumers do hold a considerable degree of power to influence the retailers and in many cases can bring them to heel, if we only took a little trouble to think before flashing the debit card.

Whether it's jars of coffee, rip-off petrol prices or our modelling items - if you just say "I'm not paying that price" nothing will get the retailers' attention more that a warehouse full of unsold stock.

[GrumpyGnome]

Having had a Riot and an Acrowot, I don't think they are comparable.  I guess the Ruckus is more like the AW - I have a 'crunchie' Ruckus that flies great, but never seen or flown a foam one.

[David Davis 2]

28 minutes ago, Cuban8 said:

Trouble is, what value do you place on your time and inclination to spend possibly dozens of hours building a model? Is building an enjoyable means to an end, or an inconvenience that's stopping all the flying fun? Maybe a bit of both for some of us?

From your own costing experiment, building saves a few tens of pounds for smallish models, maybe a bit more depending on the subject - is that saving actually worth it?

Only the individual's mindset or pecuniary circumstances will answer that one.

On a more general approach to recent price rises of household goods, grocery shopping, services, insurance  and so on - obviously, we're all spending more. I accept that, but I don't just fork out without considering what I'm being asked to stump up. Certain things I've stopped buying, not because I don't have the means to afford them, but because I feel the retailer is taking the 'you know what' and I believe is simply making an unwarranted increase.

Sounds silly, but I just won't pay £8.10 for a certain jar of coffee which only a short while ago I'd pay a few pennies under £7 ...........many others would appear to agree, because in the shop the other day, not one single jar had been sold and the product was still neatly lined up by the dozen on the Supermarket's shelf. Other quality brands were available at the old price and they were selling as normal (cheap own-brand coffee is just not worth the money BTW).

Anyway the point of this rambling is that we as consumers do hold a considerable degree of power to influence the retailers and in many cases can bring them to heel, if we only took a little trouble to think before flashing the debit card.

Whether it's jars of coffee, rip-off petrol prices or our modelling items - if you just say "I'm not paying that price" nothing will get the retailers' attention more that a warehouse full of unsold stock.

 

I know what you mean Paul and I'll admit that I get a great deal of satisfaction from building, from creating something unique, even if it's just another WOT 4 in my own choice of colours, and watching it fly. Furthermore, I've always got at least one model in flying condition, currently I have eight, so the building side of things does not interfere with my flying.

 

I've owned some electric ARTF foamies, specifically the Acrowot, the WOT 4 and a Cessna-like trainer called a We Can Fly which i used to teach elderly beginners how to fly. I've enjoyed flying all of them but get more satisfaction from flying my own creations. After many landings in the hands of clumsy beginners, I gave the We Can Fly to one of my trainees. It is currently fitted with a thick plywood bulkhead with the motor out in the breeze but it continues to fly well!

 

I lost four friends and relatives to the Grim Reaper in three months last year and another friend died in March.  I'm seventy-five and in good health, arthritic knees apart, but I've decided to "get my affairs in order!" As far as aeromodelling is concerned, I am saving my money to build that 1/4 scale Fokker triplane I'd always promised myself before it's too late!

 

Your situation is doubtless different to mine Paul. Each to his own. Different strokes for different folks and a chacun son gout, and similar clichés. 😉

[paul devereux]

Someone just got a bargain: £66 for a new, unbuilt Wot 4 Foam E. I messaged the seller, he would accept courier but buyer would have to arrange. Should have agreed to ship, it would not have been a problem since it was unbuilt and boxed :Ripmax Acro Wot4 Mk2 Foam-E RC Aircraft - White  5028967317448 | eBay

[paul devereux]

5 hours ago, David Davis 2 said:

 

I'm Old School Paul.

 

If I were going to spend £200 on a model I'd buy a kit or short-kit and build it but I appreciate that you may not have the time or inclination to build a model off the plan. You're quite right, when you say that prices have shot up. IIRC I paid less than £100 for my Acro WOT Foam-E. It did not last long in my clumsy hands!

 

Finally, I don't believe anyone who says that ARTFs are cheaper than building a model from a kit or plan. I built a DB Sport & Scale Skyrider for £160 in a carefully costed excercise last year. https://forums.modelflying.co.uk/index.php?/topic/50509-the-cost-of-building-recording-the-financial-cost-of-building-a-db-sport-scale-skyrider-a-surprise-for-miss-blue-eyes/page/4/&tab=comments#comment-938468 This was £30 cheaper than an ARTF WOT 4 and fully £100 cheaper than a Travel Air.

I've looked at that thread, and tbh I don't think you have proved your point :

 

Posted November 23, 2022 (edited)

Here it is gentlemen, resplendent in Miss Blue Eyes' chosen colour scheme. Started on 23rd June and finished on 23rd November! If we allow £30 for the glues, pushrods, clevises, hinges and horns, the total cost of the build is £163.04. This is about £30 less than an ARTF WOT 4 and nearly £100 cheaper than a Speedair. Of course, it's taken me six months to build it so that has to be taken into account. 

 

£150+ is a fair amount to spent on any model plane (even if it is a "small foamie" as you put it). With the small foamie you have a model that is proven to fly from the first flight ( I think you had to do a bit of fettling with the wing seating) and the £30 saved would soon be spent by someone like me who would have to buy all the bits and bobs from scratch (things like clevises and horns are sold in job lots at £10 a pop with postage),plus iron or heat gun for film, glues, etc.

One thing that is undeniable is that there is personal satisfaction from building a model from scratch or a kit, but that is a different matter and can't really be costed.

[Cuban8]

7 hours ago, paul devereux said:

Someone just got a bargain: £66 for a new, unbuilt Wot 4 Foam E. I messaged the seller, he would accept courier but buyer would have to arrange. Should have agreed to ship, it would not have been a problem since it was unbuilt and boxed :Ripmax Acro Wot4 Mk2 Foam-E RC Aircraft - White  5028967317448 | eBay

That is very, very cheap indeed - but a lazy seller.

I have a brand new in box Wot 4 Foam E from the estate of my recently deceased friend whom I spoke about on another thread. Oddly, the model is without its motor or cowl but everything else is there and untouched. Not sure what to do with it at the moment.

[Nigel Heather]

On 28/04/2023 at 20:29, Cuban8 said:

That is very, very cheap indeed - but a lazy seller.

I have a brand new in box Wot 4 Foam E from the estate of my recently deceased friend whom I spoke about on another thread. Oddly, the model is without its motor or cowl but everything else is there and untouched. Not sure what to do with it at the moment.

 

I could be interested in your Acro Wot.  I have one already, loved it, but is pretty beat up now.  I have the motor and cowl so that wouldn't be an issue.

 

How much were you looking for?

[Nigel Heather]

 

My experience with the Acrowot Foam-E.

 

Looks very nice, flies very nice (when intact).  Very light so performs nicely on a 3S 2200mAh - I found the battery compartment and hatch pretty good, but it is pretty tight squeeze.

 

The plane does have it's weak points:

 

• The undercarriage mount is weak.  It screws (with metal screws, into a plastic plate which is secured by thin ply doublers inside the fuselage.  A hard (or even medium) landing is likely to break that mount and the ply doublers and when that happens you must come up with a DIY repair because there are no spare parts and even if there were it would be impossible to replace the ply doublers - they must be fitted when the fuselage is in two halves before it leaves the factory
• Motor mount is not very secure - it is a metal plate wedged into the foam fuselage.  Fine to start with but over time, or after impact the plate can start to move throwing the thrust angle out
• The build is very light - good for performance - but it isn't very rugged so not good at surviving mishaps
• The wheels are too small - they look nice but on grass strips that are not bowling green perfect, the small wheels can jam in ruts and holes  in the ground leading to the undercarriage being ripped off

Recommendations - dispense with steel screws on the undercarriage and use nylon ones instead - hopefully they will break before the undercarriage plate gets ripped off.  Fit larger wheels, it spoils the look a little but works better on grass strips.  Not sure what you could do about the motor mount though.