Tomorrow morning I’m leaving for Italy. This time though it’s nothing more than a vacation. No RC for one and a half week. First we will be visiting Venice for a couple of days and then were of to an island called Ustica, where we’ll be snorkeling and relaxing for the rest of the trip.

This means that the blog won’t be updated for about two whole weeks guys. Sorry. I hope you’ll manage without me. While I’m gone, fly a flight for me!

Many people have e-mailed me asking what electronics I recommend buying for their first Tricopter. So I decided to make a list of what I’ve tested and know work well. This list is intended for a tricopter weighing under 1.2kg fully loaded.
3 x 2213N 800Kv Brushless motors
3 x TURNIGY Plush 18amp Speed Controllers
4 x Hobby King 401B AVCS Digital Head Lock Gyro
1 x 6 pack GWS 10*4.7 propellers
1 x 10 pack prop adapters
1 x BMS-385DMAX Digital Servo (Metal Gear)

1 x 3S 2200mAh Turnigy LiPo
1 x Turnigy UBEC for making the “jump starter” for the gyros

Info on building a Tricopter can be found in the build log
I also made a guide on how to setup a Tricopter

Facts about my Tricopter using this gear:
Power: 10.2A@11.6V - 6370RPM - 780 grams thrust / motor!
Size: 40cm radius (center to motoraxel)
All up weight: 777 grams
Flight time: 15 minutes
Current draw during hover: ~8A

With the GoPro Hero HD and FPV gear mounted it weighs 989 grams and flies for around 12 minutes.

Hoped that helped someone out there

It’s finished! The build was quite straight forward and it didn’t take that much time either. I have flown it but you’ll have to wait a bit for a flight report.

Take me to the build!

My friend Christian reasonably bought a new transmitter as well. He also was deciding between the Aurora 9 and the Futaba 8FG, but unlike me, he chosed the 8FG. This gave me and opportunity to really feel the differences “in real life”

From the left: Futaba 8FG, Hitec Aurora 9, Futaba 7C Read More...

I finally took the plunge and replaced my old Futaba 7C transmitter with a brand new, fancy one. After much contemplation on which one to choose, I settled on this one:

The Hitec Aurora 9. And I must say that I’m very satisfied with my choice. I love the touch screen and the powerful yet simple to use interface. Read More...

Time for an update on my DLG build. I’m nearly done. I’m aching to try it out!

Take me to the build page.

Finally I got my hands on a DLG (Discus Launch Glider) kit! It’s called the A2 and is made by two friends of mine here in Sweden. Oooo I’m so exited!

Enough talk let’s start building!

It is finally completed. I went trough roughly 900 songs before finding the one that would be my baseline. It then took just over 20 hours to cut, trim and match the video to the music. But it’s finally done! And here is the result:

The airplane is a 3.1 meter (45%) Model Power Yak54 equipped with a 170CC DA170 engine. It was a monster! Weighing close to 18kg the turbulance from the propeller was much more that I though.

The good guys at All things that fly talk about my Welcome to Domaine du Planet video at 13 minutes in to episode #146. You can download and listen to the episode here; ATTF #146.mp3

A big thanks to Diggs and Jamie for doing the shows. I always look forward to tuesdays, because that’s ATTF day.