Tricopter with wheeled undercarriage that allows running take-offs and landings. This machine had been created to be as cheap in construction and flying and repairable as possible, yet represent flight dynamics somewhat similar to a full-scale helicopter (so very simple flight controller that provides only minimal stabilization, and wooden booms that ocassionaly warp due to humidity, adding a bit of random drift that has to be compensated by a pilot). Tail rotor is lifted to protect it from contact with ground and obstacles while on the ground, and also for keeping it out of ground effect on landing, allowing very smooth tail-first touchdowns.

Horizontal bar on the video is a visual reference, showing frame bank angle relative to terrain and camera, as camera is not mounted rigidly and can tilt a bit itself.

Flight time is around 6-7 minutes with 2200mah 3s battery and 10-12 minutes with 4200mah, though machine becomes heavy with its weight so flying on a windy day can be challenging, especially when turning into tailwind or trying a high hover.

Flight video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC4wt_plVMo

Models are designed with sketchup for 10mm wooden booms.

On the first picture this is prototype version without vibration dampening camera mount, that is shown on other pictures. Flight video is captured with cameras mount installed.

------ update:

Since summer had come to its end, and the machine is still in one piece (though it had flown every weekend at least for an hour), i've decided to remove "work in progress" sign. It flies fine, especially with 4200 battery (it can possibly handle larger ones as well). I've pushed it to the limit from time to time, had a very rough landing once due to pilot error (chassis absorbed all impact energy with only minor damage caused to one of wheels, and there was no damage at all dealt to other parts of the machine) so it seems it's pretty much safe to fly. The only problem is the lack of avionics. So, maybe it is a good idea to replace KK 5.5 board with multiwii.

------ update 2:

The winter is coming, along with snow, rains, humidity and other stuff it's best to avoid contact with. So, there should be an all-weather version to handle it. Why not, just put electronics into sealed containers, so it will survive a crash landing in deep snow. This time i will also use aluminium booms, cause wood will most likely bend randomly in such conditions.

Stay tuned.

I used cheap and popular dt-750 motors from hobbyking, rcx 20A opto ESC with simonk firmware, sky holic HDS-577 metal gear servo, KK 5.5 flight controller, Frsky d8r2plus diversity receiver, 11x4,7 APC props, boscam 500mw 5,8G transmitter, boscam cloud spirit circular polarized 5,8G antennas, sj4000 for flight recording, sony effio 600tvl cam for flight control link. BEC is a 7805 with 2 capacitors. Frame is assembled with 3mm bolts of various sizes (12-40mm) and nuts. Wooden parts of the frame are covered with colored scotch tape for protection against humidity (to a certain extent) and better aesthetics.

Frame parts are designed for 10mm booms, i used 400mm for side motors, 500mm for rear one and 200mm for cameras mount. Aluminium booms can be used for better rigidness, not sure how it will affect vibrations though. Aquarium air tube, 2 sided 3m tape and rubber bands are used in cameras mount for vibration reduction.

If you decide to print it, please pay attention to motor mounts and tail part alignment while printing: all parts should take load along threads direction. So motor mounts should be printed horizontally and at 100% infill, or they most likely will fail due to vibration. Tail part should be positioned on its back, so the part where tail motor mount is attached is on the table, and printed with support.