Mitchell Howard Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) Hi - I've learnt to fly this year with a balsa high wing trainer, having gained my A cert a couple of months ago. I've got a couple of balsa models in kit form that need building up. I unashamedly admit to having misjudged the placement of a tree a couple of weeks ago and put the trainer out of action until a repair can be done. As a father of one with a busy work life, it's become apparent that my desire to build decent models out of balsa (ARTF or otherwise) is not compatible with the time and energy I have available, so I'm looking at the world of foam models for the first time. I never thought I'd find myself looking for the shortcut, but needs must, and I want to get out flying with several models with the minimum of building, certainly avoiding the gluing and careful positioning of VTP and HTP. Upon looking through the various hobby shops websites, I've come to see they're a bit more developed than I thought, there's good choice, quality is good and they're not really viewed as second class models, especially to the pure electric crowd (me). I want to just put LiPo and receiver in of my own, then light assembly and go. That seems to be the acronym in between ARTF and BNF, the Ready to Fly or RR I've also seen. I've now got my eye on an Arrows Husky 1800mm which seems well priced for what it is. I fancied this because it takes 4S packs, has flaps (my trainer doesn't) and it's big (easy to see). I did consider the Multiplex FunCub XL but more costly and I'm not sure if justifiable. Perhaps someone can help? Does anyone own the Husky or the Funcub XL? I've also got an untouched Acrowot EP/GP balsa ARTF in a box. There's no way this is going to get build in anything like a reasonable timeframe and I wondered if anyone had experience of the foam acrowot vs the balsa or just the foamie in general? I was hoping to find something bigger than 1.25m in the same style, but slim pickings and the acrowots are raved about for being good models. Suggestions welcome! Edited July 20, 2021 by Mitchell Howard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Carpenter Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 Colleague in club has the Husky. Flys extremely well and Red stands out. Appears to be good value. I’ve got the Bearcat and that flys very well when grass is short and dry. Also had Foam E Acrowot and got over 300 flights out of it b4 the motor mount foam gave in with the normal result ??Recommended! Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Yep, +1 for Husky; Arrows planes tend to fly really well IMO. I had a foam Acrowot for a while, flies nice but the tiny hatch under the nose limited battery choice and I found it strangely annoying having to put it on its back to change packs. My ESC packed in after a few dozen flights and the fuselage was totalled. I could never convince myself to spend the money for a new fuselage, which probably means something as when I stood on my foam WotsWot, I immediately searched for a new fuselage for that. Never seen a balsa Acrowot, kit or ARTF fly badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchell Howard Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 13 hours ago, Colin Carpenter said: Colleague in club has the Husky. Flys extremely well and Red stands out. Appears to be good value. I’ve got the Bearcat and that flys very well when grass is short and dry. Also had Foam E Acrowot and got over 300 flights out of it b4 the motor mount foam gave in with the normal result ??Recommended! Colin The only thing that I find people complaining about with the Arrows is the lack of wing-mounted connector for the wing halves, instead having to route the wires through to receiver upon arrival at the field. Can't say I'm going to be super fussed about that, I probably won't bother with connecting the lamps. There's always 4-Max's maxloc connectors to take away the faff. I also read someone saying it took about 10mins to set up at the field, is that accurate? 58 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said: Yep, +1 for Husky; Arrows planes tend to fly really well IMO. I had a foam Acrowot for a while, flies nice but the tiny hatch under the nose limited battery choice and I found it strangely annoying having to put it on its back to change packs. My ESC packed in after a few dozen flights and the fuselage was totalled. I could never convince myself to spend the money for a new fuselage, which probably means something as when I stood on my foam WotsWot, I immediately searched for a new fuselage for that. Never seen a balsa Acrowot, kit or ARTF fly badly. Husky hasn't had a bad word said, think I'll go for that. About the Acrowot foam, I've seen the Max Thrust Ruckus which looks like a great option to the Acrowot - it's physically bigger, battery bay is larger and says it can do 4S with a prop size down and a bit of ventilation. I get the feeling the Riot and Ruckus are the uglier sisters of the Wot4 and Acrowot in pure performance terms, but I'm not certain and I'm probably just reading across from the Wot4's popularity. There's also a part of me that doesn't want to give Ripmax money after struggling to buy parts from them/their network. I don't understand how they seem to have completely shut down. Acrowot balsa I'm just not going to get the time to build, I want to fly, not build - I think when I first started I would have more time and patience for the build, but I've now got 3 airframes in the house, 1 needing a repair, 1 in kit form and 1 semi-built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Never seen a Ruckus flying 'in the flesh' - seen a couple of Riots and they seemed less floaty than foamy W4, and flew very well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 +1 for the Ruckus. Plus points are rugged construction, battery access from the top and spares readily available. Quite docile on 3S lipo, or 4s if you want more performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchell Howard Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 12 minutes ago, Sparks said: +1 for the Ruckus. Plus points are rugged construction, battery access from the top and spares readily available. Quite docile on 3S lipo, or 4s if you want more performance. I've got nearly all 4S 3700s 60C packs - will they be too heavy? I'm inclined to start buying bigger 3s capacities to parallel them into 6S models. When I was looking at the arrows husky, I was looking at the 6S multiplex funcub XL at the same time but couldn't justify buying a ton of 3S packs. It'd be my first low winger, so I should probably stick with the 3s, get used to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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