K'nex Tricopter Model!!!

by nerfrocketeer in Living > LEGO & K'NEX

2107 Views, 4 Favorites, 0 Comments

K'nex Tricopter Model!!!

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After building my K'nex quadcopter model, I became fascinated with other kinds of multirotor drones. I already knew I wanted to build another model, and when I saw the tricopter, I knew it was the perfect thing to build. When finished, the tricopter was just as realistic as its four-armed couterpart, this time featuring a central suspension and four-bladed rotors, all while being an actual-size replica. In this Instructable I am going to show you how to replicate my building process and build your own K'nex tricopter model!

The beginning of the story can be found here.

Parts

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You will need:
-15 white connectors
-18 blue connectors
-66 yellow connectors
-12 green connectors
-18 red connectors
-62 grey connectors
-4 light grey connectors
-2 orange connectors
-5 blue separators
-16 blue caps
-23 grey separators
-4 black caps
-4 grey rods
-12 green bendy rods
-4 yellow rods
-4 orange bendy rods
-6 red rods
-6 blue rods
-12 purple bendy rods
-99 white rods
-213 green rods

Center: Pieces

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Take a grey connector and a blue connector and slide them together. Repeat to get six pieces.

Pair Up

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Add two white connectors to the group, then pair the pieces up as shown. Next, connect the pairs using green rods. Finally, arrange the pieces in a square exactly as shown.

Red Connectors

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Take four red connectors, and attach them to the pairs using green rods to make a square. Repeat steps 2-4 to get two squares.

Stack and Connect

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Stack the two squares as shown and connect them using green rods.

Top and Bottom: Pieces

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Take two grey connectors, and slide them together. Repeat to get eight pieces.

Pair Up

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Pair up the pieces you have just made and connect them using green rods. Next, arrange the pairs in a square as shown.

Red Connectors

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Take four red connectors and add them to the pairs to form a square. Repeat steps 6-8 to get two squares.

Add Top and Bottom

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Using green rods, add each of the squares you just made to the top and bottom of the other two squares as shown.

Top and Bottom Covers

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Take four white connectors and arrange them in a square. Next, connect them using green rods. Repeat to get two pieces.

Add Top and Bottom Covers

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Add the pieces you have just made to the top and bottom of the center piece.

Fill in Spaces

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Fill in any spaces using white rods. Make sure you have done it exactly the same as in the pictures!

Purple Rods

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Add purple rods to the corners to fill in spaces.

The "Antennas"

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Take a grey rod and attach a light grey connector to it. Next, add an orange bendy rod to the light grey connector. Repeat to get four antennas.

Adding the Antennas

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Insert the grey rods through the holes in the red connectors. Next, click rhe orange bendy rods into pmace in the white connectors on the top. Finally, add black caps to the bottom of each grey rod.

Center: Check

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The center is now complete! Check to make sure it looks like the picture!

Arms

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Take eight yellow connectors and connect them using green rods. Repeat to get two pieces, and connect the two pieces using green rods.

Arm Tips

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Take two green connectors and connect them using a green rod. Next, attach them to the end of the arm with green rods.

Upper Arm Connector

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Take two grey connectors and slide them together. Repeat to get two pieces. Next, connect the two pieces using a green rod. Then, add two white rods and two grey separators.

Attaching the Upper Arm Connector

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Insert the white rods in the fourth yellow connector from the end without the green connectors. Next, add blue caps to the underside of each rod.

Upper Arm: Back

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Take three yellow connectors and connect them using green rods. Repeat to get two pieces. Next, connect the two pieces using green rods, and add it to the upper arm connector as shown.

Upper Arm: Middle

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Take two red rods and attach them to the upper arm connector.

Upper Arm: Front Connector

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Take a blue connector and a grey connector and slide them together. Repeat to get two pieces. Next, connect the two pieces using a green rod. Then, add two white rods and two grey separators to the pieces. After that, insert the white rods through the last yellow connector as shown and add blue caps. Finally, connect the two red rods.

Upper Arm: Front

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Take two green connectors and connect them using a green rod. Next, attach it to the front of the arm.

Blue Rods

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Add two blue rods to the front of the arm as shown.

Rotor Holder

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Attach an orange connector to a yellow rod as shown. Next, add on a white rod and a grey separator. Then, add blue and grey separators to each side of the yellow rod. Finally, attach the yellow rod to the front of the arm.

Rotor

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Take a white connector and attach four green bendy rods as shown.

Attaching the Rotor

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Attach the rotor to the white rod on top of the rotor holder and add a blue cap.

Fill In

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Fill in any spaces using white rods.

Repeat

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Repeat steps 17-29 to get two arms.

Attaching the Smaller Arms

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Attach the two arms you have just made to the center using green rods. Next, fill in spaces using white rods.

The Third Arm

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Repeat steps 17-25 to make another arm frame, except this time, the two sides are connected using white rods, to make the arm wider.

Third Arm: Tips

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Take two red connectors and attach them to the end of the arm using green rods.

Third Arm: Rotor Holder

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Take a yellow rod and attach it to a blue cap. Next, insert it through the holes in the two red connectors. Add three grey separators between the two connectors, and two grey separators to the top.

Third Rotor

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Make a third rotor by atracuing four green bendy rods to a white connector. Next, add it over the rotor holder, and add a blue cap.

Yellow Rod

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Add a yellow rod to the front upper arm connector.

Fill In

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Fill in all spaces using white rods.

Third Arm: Attach

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Attach the third arm to the center using green rods.

Done!

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Congratulations! Your K'nex tricopter is now complete!

The story ends:
Now having satisfied my curiosity with the workings of multirotor drones, I now have a lot of new knowledge! One question still remains: can anyone make this fly? Anyone who can gets a patch and sub from me!

Thanks for viewing! Enjoy!