Edit:

Well it flies.. annndd.. crashes..

TriCopter Rut-Roah.. (2 min 35 sec)

These things are getting cooler and cooler.. I've always liked the way they looked.. Just looked like they would be a ton of fun to play with.. Well, I stumbled across troynh's TriCopter build and thought I'd throw one together..

troynh has a ton of good info in his thread about his tricopter with a scan of his fuse and everything.. I drew my own based on his measurements..



One of the "hardest" parts of the tri builds that I have seen is the issue with the yaw motor. Most guys go from very simple to very elaborate setups.. After looking at troynh's videos and his yaw setup I thought this was the best setup I had seen..

It's very simple. Uses some 1/4 threaded rod, CF arrow shaft and some pushrod of your choice.. The following 3 pictures will show the basic setup..







I only changed my setup from his a little bit. He uses a pushrod inserted into the yaw motor mount and then held in place with a wheel collar. I had some threaded 2/56 rod laying around and had planned on using the wheel collar setup but just wound up drilling the hole undersized and screwed the pushrod into the block - no wheel collar..



I am also toying with landing gear and where to put it.. I'll have to get all the gear mounted up and see where it balances.. The gear "looks right" in the more forward position..

Rearward



Forward



Thanks for the build pics, troynh!

I was able to get her all finished up and put a battery through it..

Flies great! Very stable, no real issues for the most part.. About 4 minutes into the flight I had.. something.. go wrong.. Not real sure what happened.. The left motor seemed to quit and well, tri's don't fly too well as bi's.. Straight into the dirt..

I was able to repair it and hope get some flights on it tomorrow..

My gear:

Plush 25A x 3
HK401B gyros x 4
DT700 motors x 3
HS81MG for yaw
3S 2250