"time to stop the dromes........NOW"

I sure hope not, especially considering my most recent project!

Wanting to get some decent aerial video, and obviously inundated with all this "drome" nonsense, I decided the best course of action was to design and build my first tricopter, which I just flew for the first time this week.

Being the traditionalist, it had to be made of wood, so the frame is 1/16 and 1/8 inch ply from Tower Hobbies, with 5/8" dowels for the booms. The two forward booms are simply attached with bolts so that if one is removed, the whole thing folds so it can be transported.

A lot easier than a one piece Tiger 60 wing, that's for sure!

The electronics were all sourced from Hobbyking, which included three 700kv bell style outrunners, 20a ESCs, the KK2 flight control board, a 9 gram metal geared servo, and a 3000 mAh 4 cell LiPo. All of this resulted in a day or so of wiring, which was a nice change of pace from clearing up balsa and plywood dust.

The tilt mechanism for the rear rotor was built ala the FliteTest design, which was probably the most time consuming part of the construction.

Finally, having been dragged into the 21st century, kicking and screaming, I made one concession in using my tried and true Tower Hobbies 72 mhz computer radio. Obviously having the long antenna meant that I had to wind it around a straw to keep it out of the rotors.

Total cost? Around $200 with shipping.


Now as I found out, the KK2 has an auto level feature that I decided to bind to my retracts channel, so it can be turned on and off in flight.
Naturally, I have left it off, because having been a fixed wing pilot for a decade or so, this should be easy as pie....


Not even close!


Although it flies "locked in", not that automatically trailing yaw is tricky, and means that if you don't fly coordinated (and not that half honest touch of rudder most guys are using), you'll end up behind the ship very fast. This thing requires constant attention to keep it from drifting, and is a really great challenge to keep where I want it. I'd be willing to bet that even a top-tier pattern pilot will be sweating on their first go, if not breaking props and cracking booms (as I've done so myself).

All in all, this is a fantastic aspect of the hobby that I'm enjoying immensely, introducing new challenges to myself in both building and flying, and will no doubt make me a better fixed wing pilot as well.

Most importantly, this is not something that's completely alien and should be banned. Coming from a balsa and glow guy, this is 100% just another model aircraft, and a really fantastically fun one at that.