<-My face on the morning after making the shop live.

Thank you to everyone that ordered a Tricopter V3 kit!

I never imagined to sell 200 tricopters in the first 48 hours of opening the shop.  I’m very grateful and freaking out at the same time. The tricopter kits are almost now sold out. I didn’t think that so many people wanted to buy one. I’ve ordered more parts but it will take 2-5 weeks before I get all the stock up again.

I’m currently packing all the orders and unfortunately it’s going to take me a couple of days before I can get the kits out the door now that so many people ordered. Please be patient.

Everyone that ordered a tricopter so far (2014-09-28, 19:00 CET) is going to receive the limited signed edition.

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There also seems to be some kind of bug on the webshop at the moment;

For some people, adding a product to to cart works well until you actually click on the “view cart” button. Then you get to an empty cart.

I’m working on the problem, but have yet to find a solution. A workaround is to create or login to an account before adding the items to the cart.

That seems to work for everyone so far.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

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Thank you all for being awesome!

Ladies and gentlemen, the RCExplorer webshop is now open!

I’m glad to announce that the Tricopter V3 kit as well as all parts for the tricopter are available for purchase.

The first 200 Tricopter kit orders will receive the limited edition signed version of the tricopter frame.

Again thank you guys for all the support. It means a lot to me. I hope you will enjoy flying the tricopter as much as I have through these years.

Here is the mammoth 1 hour and 24 minute long build video for the Tricopter V3.

You will find all the materials needed as well as the recommended electronics on the product page

Video Index:
00:00:25 – Camera Plate
00:04:30 – Front arms – Mounting motors, soldering ESCs…
00:25:10 – Tilt mechanism
00:33:36 – Tilt mechanism – Attached servo horn version
00:43:30 – Back arm – Extending servo wire, mounting ESC…
00:47:40 – Current distribution and telemetry voltage
00:50:00 – Mounting the camera tray and arms
01:03:43 – Mounting the Flight controller and receiver
01:09:30 – Mounting the FPV transmitter
01:15:25 – Balancing propellers
01:19:47 – Motor bad bearings fix
01:21:10 – Center of gravity
01:22:00 – Beauty shots and flight video

My good friend Chad Kapper, the creator of FliteTest, has been working hard on a new project; A community collaborated Sci-Fi episodic series called Rotor DR1, that takes place in a post apocalyptic world full of drones.

“The story takes place in the not-too-distant future after some cataclysmic event has occurred. There is no government, half the world’s people are dead or missing and the sky is full of autonomous drones. Rotor DR1 follows a 16-year-old boy trying to survive in this world, who sets out to find his father, joined by his drone companion.”

They have already managed to create a concept trailer:

What makes this project unique is that the story is shaped by the community! People give their ideas on small things to large plot points and the guys take that feedback and creates the episodes.

“The idea behind community collaboration is that the audience has just as much input and influence over the content as do the people producing it. Rather than us making all the decisions and developing the story internally, community collaboration lets us bring your ideas and suggestions into the content as we create it.”

The collaboration started as a forum post and has now grown into their own website.

“Rotor DR1 will be released in segments, starting with the concept trailer. We will evaluate audience feedback from the the trailer, then create the first episode influenced by that feedback. Our plan is to have 8-10 minute episodes, with every episode revised and shaped according to the input from our audience.”

Now the guys want your input on the upcoming episodes!

So make sure you head over to RotorDR1.com and make a comment (tell the guys I say Hi)

ps. here is a behind the scenes video