Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
 

The Acro-odear Wot

BY BRIAN WISEMAN

I am flying again when the weather allows. With Christmas festivities etc I have not got there too often but I do get some flying in. I have been flying the Acro Wot. This is the Foam version. A very light and smooth plane. I have the ratings on the low side at present. When I get some more practice I will click the switch and see what it will do.

I have had a problem, partly my fault and partly a design fault. I guess to keep the look of the plane right the battery goes in a narrow hole under the nose of the aircraft. This is close to the motor and has the speed controller in the way.(Just like the WOT4 FoamE – Ed) When I read about it in the RCM&E the reviewer said that he had to cut away quite a lot of the inside to move the ESC over to get the battery in.

I did that but things were still tight. The problem is that when you put in the

battery the wires are very close to the motor and that caused the trouble. I took off and the engine slowly died. I landed it as soon as I could. Went to pick it up and smelt heat. The motor was too hot to touch. One of the battery leads had touched the motor and worn through so the metal touched the motor. This apparently accounted for the heat.

The motor was useless. On enquiry I was told that it is three phase and one phase will have fused or gone. I might as well have been told it in Chinese I have no idea what it meant. I needed a new Motor. This Motor has no markings nor

Manufacturer’s name. I get all my stuff rom SMC Worthing they are very good.

They said they had no spare motors, and, on enquiry nor did the importers. I tried several places but without a rating of some sort it was no good.

I was then given a phone number for a chap in London. He went to no end of trouble. He looked at a model in the shop I gave him the size and weight of the Motor he found one with similar fittings and ended up sending me a Hacker. It was of course expensive but I was pleased to get it. It is heavier than the original but it is just right and I did have to put weight in the front anyway.

How they put in the original speed controller and the motor I can only guess. It looks as though they put the motor on its mounting outside the plane, then wrapped the wires around the outside of the mounting relying on the stiffness of the wire to keep them away from the spinning motor. They then slid the lot in and glued it in. I had to cut them out, slide in the new motor and direct the wires out into the bulge on the side of the plane which I had to hollow out. The ESC went in there, and the wires came in further away from the Motor. It is still a tight squeeze.

I have cleverly put a piece of coke bottle over the motor so if a wire does stray it will not touch it (Fingers crossed). The Hacker uses an 11 x 5.5 prop and goes well.

For Christmas I have had a Foam Spitfire with retracting undercarriage. You purists will say that it does not look a bit like a Spitfire. And there you are soooo wrong. It does look a bit like a Spitfire, just a little bit but a bit anyway. So there.

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