Nice review, thanks. This looks like one of the most attractive foam sport planes to me. It is sold under the Ripmax brand in the UK, I wonder if Hype will sell it, too.

I just completed this last week. A few things that I think should be noted,
the tail wheel assembly and control horns are designed to fit 1 way only. The battery tray is designed to hold the pack at an angle and not horizontally. Ask me how I found that out... When the pack is installed in the 'correct' position, CG is spot on. There's an excess of wing servo wires that need to be tucked back/taped down into the wing as to not interfere with the rud/elev servos.

Mine was missing one of the screws for the rudder control horn so I used two servo mounting screws from some old hs 55's. I also used some CA on that horn for 'just in case'. The last issue was my tail wouldn't attach because the 2 blind nuts were full of whatever glue they used during assembly. One of the nicer things that wasn't noted in the review is that FlyZone installed some wing tip skids into the wings.

My kit was the TX-R version. The review is spot on. It parody's the old Gieco commercial of 'so simple a caveman...' Unknown how it flies as of yet because I'm waiting for my photographer to get back from Ca. to shoot some in the air shots. The Tactic adapter comes standard with the square plug to fit a lot of the Futaba TX's.

I'd give this bird a buy rating just for the assembly aspect. Now if my picture taker would get home...grr

Dan

But I would have preferred to have been provided more info about price & global availability.
No mention made of "value for money" which is odd when the number of quality planes of similar build, size, & design philosophy is considered.
Also I wondered why the control surface rates might not be reduced even further below the recorded "low" so perhaps allowing novice flyers to fly successfully - just asking?

I've flown one of these quite a bit, a buddy of mine has one. I think the biggest challenge a novice will have is the speed of the plane. It can scoot around quite quickly on the default prop. I would advise changing the prop for a beginner, the reviewer says it has an 11x8, maybe drop it to an 11x7 or even an 11x5.5. I'm not sure a 12x6 will clear if flying on grass, but on dirt or asphalt that would be a very good option too. The plane will slow down and fly quite nicely with no bad stall habits, so a beginner should be able to handle it well.

To PeterLonz:
I am writing to respond to your comments. On the issue of price I posted the price for both the Tx-R version and RTF in the information box at the start of the review. As for Global availability I am not privy to that information. I do not work for Hobbico and I don't know how expansive their network is. I am an independent, unpaid reviewer who tries to share my honest opinions on the products I review.
Value for money is an opinion that I often leave up to the individual reader. To some pilots only warbirds have value and they have no interest and to them no value in anything else. I generally convey enough of my opinions in the review to convey my impressions on the quality and handling of the plane. Here I described the quality of the design, the appearance, the planes control and handling etc. I think the Tx-R version I reviewed is a very good value for the money. (I am currently reviewing the new Select Scale Beaver which will be submitted to our editor later today. I do find and state it to be an excellent value because the plane flies very well, has a number of nice scale and design features and comes with both wheels and floats. I also find it to be a plane a beginner can fly using the wheels.)
Control rates could be further reduced both mechanically and by computer transmitter programming. That is something anyone can do with almost all aircraft and I didn't feel it was something that needs to be discussed. I have more pilots requesting more control rather then less and so I do discuss how to get more throw in some reviews. My belief is that beginners should be able to fly the plane as sold. I believe this is an excellent plane for the intermediate or better pilot but with the many good trainers on the market this is not a good first plane for a Beginner. I hope that responds to your comments. Best wishes for good flying. Mike Heer

Is there enough room for the ESC on this version? How hard would it be to get the motor out, e.g. to fit a new shaft? That looks difficult on the original.

When I got mine someone had torn a hole in the fuse to get the motor out. I didn't like it , but it was easy to make a piece of cheap foam to repair it. The motor mount bolts on mine are very hard to get to , as I had to do it again when a setscrew came loose. My esc is cut into the side of the fuse right beside the battery.

I've been liking mine very well , but I don't at all like the small battery compartment , no motor access and hatch. I'm afraid that one day I'll lose the hatch. The battery sure is easy to remove though.

I have always loved Chris Foss's designs and wish they were available in the US. Ripmax also makes a Wot4 foamie that I would LOVE for Tower to start selling. This one is definitely on my short list, hopefully by xmas. Thanks for the review, Mike!

Originally Posted by gulio

I've been liking mine very well , but I don't at all like the small battery compartment , no motor access and hatch. I'm afraid that one day I'll lose the hatch.

Thanks, gulio. Those are the things that put me off buying the last version. I hoped they'd fixed those problems in the MkII.

I got back from vacation and into a storm here in Northern CA this past weekend. Had the need to fly when I got off work yesterday and went to the park and had a great flying session with this plane. Handled the wind and showed up well against the cloudy skies. The recommended battery fits easily into the battery compartment but I haven't tried to go for a larger pack. So far the hatch cover for the battery has been on firmly and not a concern in the air. It did blow off the bench when I was installing the battery pack yesterday. If I was concerned I would use a little 3M white plastic tape to help secure it but thus far I have not felt any need to do that. I flew an in and out pattern with the light poles as I had the field and street to myself. I wouldn't try that with people around. The more I fly the Acro-Wot the more it grows on me as a great Sport plane. Mike H