Over the summer I built a tricopter. I followed FliteTest’s videos and bought all my hardware from them. I purchased FliteTest’s ElectroHub which is an awesome platform and makes for a very clean build. However, I wish the electrohub allowed for a folding boom design. I attempted to see if I could make the electrohub work with a folding boom mod, but decided to just build it as intended. I’ve only flown the tricopter a handful of times thus far, but I believe sometime in the future I will rebuild the tricopter with folding booms.
I was surprised on how easy it was to fly the first time. I’m still not great at flying a circuit or similar, but the first flight I was able to hover it, fly it away from me, then back to me, and land. This is all without any stabilization modes enabled.
I’m very impressed with how durable this thing is. I’ve crashed it so many times and all but one time it was back in the air within 60s. The most common damage when I crash is the zip ties that hold the landing gear on break (like they’re intended to). All it takes is about 30s to put in a new zip tie or two and she’s back in the air. I’ve only ever broken one prop and that’s when I crashed at full speed into a stadium light pole about 30 feet up. (It should be noted that that particular crash was absolutely hilarious).
I will say that the booms crack easily, but I’ve been flying with all three booms cracked pretty much since the beginning. It’s not an issue at all and it just allows the booms to fold a bit when I crash….similar to that of the folding boom design.
After flying a bit without lights (and crashing a lot due to orientation issues), I added LED strips to the underside of the booms. This has helped immensely with orientation.
