The CW Tricopter

 The RC aerobatic and easy to fly tricopter. Great for first time rotor pilots. Fixed wing characteristics! Available as a BNF or in kit form. Use PayPal to buy.

Are you a fixed wing pilot, who would like to try to learn to fly choppers? Then look no further than the CW Tricopter! 

This 3-brushless motor powered multirotor can be set-up for very stable flight that will have you hovering like a pro, in a very short time.

The crash resistance design is simple and robust. The special Delrin motor mounting plates are flexible and help to protect the brushless motors. Please note that the left and right motor arms can be released and folded alongside the tail boom. This makes storage and transportation that much easier.

Battery requirements are a readily available 3S lipo of 2200mAh. This battery should give 5-8 minutes of flight time. There is space to fit larger capacity batteries to increase flight time of the tricopter.

Capable of loops, flips rolls and more, yet has super stable hovering, making the CW heli perfect for beginners yet can be set-up for advanced pilots.

Building the CW Tricopter

If you decide to "build your own" model, from a kit, you will find this a pleasant and fairly quick process.

It is basically a screw together assembly, with pre-fabricated parts and no glue is involved. There are lots of cable ties and Velcro straps and you will need a bottle of blue Locktite.

The Manual

This consists of 15 pages, some color printed on both sides, with lots of photographs. I would have preferred if the pages were spiral bound. This would have made referring to previously read pages a lot easier. But the contents were first class and almost all of my questions were answered in the pages.

You can take a look at the manual, for this model, by clicking here.

It took about 5-6 hours to complete the build and no major problems were encountered.

Frame Assembly

You will see the center plate (upper left corner of photo), has a u-shaped slot, that houses the battery. Check now if this width needs to be enlarged to suit the battery you plan on using.

Construction proceeds rapidly of this model and is simply a case of bolting together components and spacers.

Don't forget to add "Blue" Locktite to every  to every screw and or nut

The photo shows the completed assembly, made from CNC milled Delrin plates.

This photo shows the brushless motor, mounted to the Delrin plate that is in turn attached to the boom arm with cable ties.

This assembly is designed to safeguard the motor assembly by breaking away, in the event of a tricopter crash.

I had the experience of having one cable tie breaking but staying in position. This had the effect of the motor assembly lifting on one side only, during flight.

The lesson learned is to check the cable ties often!

Tail Assembly

If your assembly is as shown in this photo, where the servo center line and the block pivot are in line then all is well.

In our sample, the servo appeared to be slightly wider, thus moving the center line to the right. This meant that we could not use 2 servo pushrods as recommended in the manual.

We decided that one rod would be fine, but we did add the fuel tubing to the clevis for added security, and we have had no problems to date.

We could have packed the servo mounting plate away from the tail boom to accommodate the wider servo and then we could use 2 rods, but we were eager to finish and fly the copter! 

Set-Up instructions

The included receiver is a DSM2 compatible "Orange" type. This means a DSM2 or DSMX transmitter must be used. We have used a JR and a Spektum transmitter with complete success.

The recommended servo travels and expo amounts were programmed in and for a first time topter flyer were found to be right on!

The 3S 2200mAh lipo battery has given 5-8 minutes of flight time and a 4S is not recommended. (Too high a voltage for dependable operation)

This was a very easy and rewarding assembly. No one should have any problems building the CW Tricopter.

Flying the Tricopter 

We set up the model as recommended for the novice and we were soon hovering, with a minimum of problems. Flying around in a rectangular pattern was soon normal and coming home and hovering over the landing spot was a joy!

We need a bit more flying experience before we feel confident enough to try some aerobatics. It is amazing how this model behaves similar to a fixed wing airplane.

There is no doubt that the CW Tricopter is easier to fly when compared to the VT quad. If you are new to choppers, then please choose the 3-engined model for your first efforts and practice, practice on your flight simulator!

Videos

Kits available

BNF (Bind and Fly) Kit Contents:

• Completely ready to fly-just bind your DSM2/DSMX transmitter to the built in Orange receiver.
•  The model has already been test flown so problems should be at a minimum!
•  KK1 controller.
•  SimonK ESCs (3)
• 1400kV brushless motors(3)
• Finished wiring harness
• Servo for tail rotor(1)
• CNC milled Delrin plates for frame assembly
• Complete hardware package
• 2-side booms
• 1-tail boom.
• Durable, painted foam canopy
• A full set of propellers
• Just add a 3S, 2200-2600mAh LiPo battery

Price of complete CW Tricopter BNF- $225.00 US plus $15.00 US for shipping.

  Safe and secure shopping with PayPal.

Full Kit Contents:

As the BNF version, but you do the final assembly, as described above.

• KK1 controller.
• SimonK ESCs (3)
• 1400kV brushless motors(3)
• Finished wiring harness
• Servo for tail rotor(1)
• CNC milled Delrin plates for frame assembly
• Durable, painted foam canopy
• Complete hardware package
• 2-side booms
• 1-tail boom.
• A full set of propellers
• Just add a 3S, 2200-2600mAh LiPo battery

Price of complete CW Tricopter Full Kit- $180.00 US plus $15.00 US for shipping.

  Safe and secure shopping with PayPal.

Airframe only Kit Contents:

• CNC milled Delrin plates for frame assembly
• Durable, painted foam canopy
• Complete hardware package
• 2-side booms
• 1-tail boom
• You must add all the electronics, motors, ESCs etc.

Price of complete CW Tricopter Airframe only Kit- $99.00 US plus $15.00 US for shipping.

  Safe and secure shopping with PayPal.

For information on another CW copter- Click here

Photo Gallery