Anyone here fly WOT4 Foam-E?

[amancalledrob]

Hello

I've got a replacement coming my way (last one died spectacularly following ill-fated loop the loops through a set of goalposts) and I'm looking at flying weight as I want to mount my GoPro on it.

With the last one I flew a little VGA thumb-sized cam but the GoPro and mount weigh around 200g approx. I usually fly with a Turnigy NanoTech 3000mah 3S Lipo weighing around 313g which is around 60g more than recommended. With the GoPro that puts it around 260g, maybe 300g over the recommended weight.

Can someone with some experience of the WOT4 tell me if it's all going to go horribly wrong?

[vx220]

From absolutely no experience whatsoever, isn't the drag of a GoPro going to give it a hard time?

[amancalledrob]

vx220 said:

From absolutely no experience whatsoever, isn't the drag of a GoPro going to give it a hard time?

It'll probably require a trim adjustment to stop it pitching forward (it'll be mounted between the wheels) but at the low speeds a WOT4 flies at I don't expect any other issues. In fact it could even make it easier to land - my previous one would get within about a foot of the ground and then refuse to descend any further until the speed was right down. They're quite 'floaty' in ground effect

[Sheks]

Hi,
I have a wot 4 foam e and a gopro! In the past i have mounted the gopro between the wheels. It will fly, but as you said it does drag a bit - make sure it doesn't throw your centre of gravity off too much or it will be a real pig to fly, but between the wheels should be about the right place for that. You will need to use more throttle for everything you do and hence it will reduce your flight times. I found that when turning it does have a tendency to drop a wing - so more airspeed is critical otherwise you will spiral to a horrible death (tip stall).

Best of luck
Sheks

[amancalledrob]

Sheks said:

Hi,
I have a wot 4 foam e and a gopro! In the past i have mounted the gopro between the wheels. It will fly, but as you said it does drag a bit - make sure it doesn't throw your centre of gravity off too much or it will be a real pig to fly, but between the wheels should be about the right place for that. You will need to use more throttle for everything you do and hence it will reduce your flight times. I found that when turning it does have a tendency to drop a wing - so more airspeed is critical otherwise you will spiral to a horrible death (tip stall).

Best of luck
Sheks

Brilliant, just the sort of advice I needed - thanks :-)

[amancalledrob]

Thought I'd provide a quick update for anyone interested - my WOT4 arrived and I duct taped the GoPro to it. It did need more throttle but didn't seem to have a problem doing anything. Landings are trickier than I remember.

I flew it over the Leigh flood barrier in Kent yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8zyC65lgRg

Skip to 1:50 for takeoff. Landing was a bit messy, I wanted to land on the concrete but couldn't get it lined up so I sacrificed the landing gear. Repaired yesterday afternoon. Great to be flying again!

[ecsrobin]

That looked like it was going to be a soft landing. Oops at least it's fixed now.

[Sheks]

Nice vid! Glad it worked out ok in the end. Haven't been able to fly here for ages due to the weather. So have been flying lots indoors to keep my eye in

Here's an old vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsKVJ6aw0KE
Sheks

[amancalledrob]

ecsrobin said:

That looked like it was going to be a soft landing. Oops at least it's fixed now.

Haha yeah that's what I thought! Patched up with duct tape (fking love that stuff!) and flew again, then repaired properly with a glue gun when I got home.

Sheks I'll have a look at that link when I get home, thanks

[nigelpugh7]

amancalledrob said:

Thought I'd provide a quick update for anyone interested - my WOT4 arrived and I duct taped the GoPro to it. It did need more throttle but didn't seem to have a problem doing anything. Landings are trickier than I remember.

I flew it over the Leigh flood barrier in Kent yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8zyC65lgRg

Skip to 1:50 for takeoff. Landing was a bit messy, I wanted to land on the concrete but couldn't get it lined up so I sacrificed the landing gear. Repaired yesterday afternoon. Great to be flying again!

Loved the missed approach and go around at 6.x and 7.x, shame you had to come in on the side approach instead of the take off/ intended landing strip.

Great video though,,showed lots of landscape and detal!

[amancalledrob]

Sheks said:

Nice vid! Glad it worked out ok in the end. Haven't been able to fly here for ages due to the weather. So have been flying lots indoors to keep my eye in

Here's an old vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsKVJ6aw0KE
Sheks

Finally got round to watching your video. Great skills! Not my kind of flying but a good watch nonetheless. I imagine it's a lot harder than you make it look, too. Where was that shot?

[Sheks]

Thanks!

We fly at a sports club in Chessington. Flying indoors has really improved my flying as there is no room for error and things happen quickly - its made me a much better pilot.

The indoor flying is during the winter months when outdoor flying is less available due to adverse wind conditions, if you get the chance i would recommend it - gets quite exciting with 6 planes in the air at once!

I do love my WOT4 foam-e - just frustrated by the weather at the moment.

Something worth trying with the gopro is fitting it facing the tail of the plane, gives an interesting perspective and you can see the elevator doing it's stuff too.

Happy landings!

Sheks

[amancalledrob]

Sheks said:

Thanks!

Something worth trying with the gopro is fitting it facing the tail of the plane, gives an interesting perspective and you can see the elevator doing it's stuff too.

Happy landings!

Sheks

I flew my old WOT4 (my first plane, so eventually more glue than foam) with a thumb cam quite a few times, and I did try that angle as well as a few others. On the rear of the plane looking forward over the wing is a favourite, but the gopro's too heavy for that.

I am going to be trying the rear angle again soon though as I have an unused smoke grenade from a paintball match lying around... I can feel a very bad idea taking shape