Toothpick 3

By elliotdickison on Dec 02, 2020

3  368  0

This build is based off of the TP3 frame from FPV Cycle. 60.7g dry weight and 100.0 on the money all up w/ a 3S 450mah battery. Verry fun little drone with long flight times (7-8 minutes of aggressive flying) and an insane power to weight ratio. I saw lots of prop wash and minor oscillations with the stock tune though (betaflight 3.2), but that shouldn't be too hard to sort out.

The build was straightforward for the most part. One complication was that because I wanted Crossfire I had to have a separate RX instead of a whoop board with a built-in SPI receiver. I stuffed the RX under the canopy which left no room for the VTX under there. I ended up strapping that and and the massive capacitor to the back of the camera with a zip tie. This looks a bit sloppy but has held together well through numerous crashes and provides good airflow over the VTX. I didn't use prop nuts initially because KababFPV (the TP3 creator) recommended this, but the insane power meant that my props would just shoot off to the moon in the middle of any punch-outs. Might be fine with a different motor + prop combo, but the Gemfan 3016's needed to be bolted down when paired with the Flywoo Robo 1204's.

Overall I would highly recommend the TP3, or really anything from FPV Cycle/KababFPV. The only downside, which is totally subjective, is that it's analog. Clips from my first few flights:

Photos

Part List

Frame

ToothPick 3 Frame - TP3 (35 builds)
Fpvcycle.com
$14.99

Flight Controller

NameLessRC AIO412T HV F4 FC + 12A 2-4S ESC (2 builds)
Getfpv.com
$43.99

Motors

4 PCS Flywoo ROBO RB 1204 5150KV 3-4S / 8150KV 2-3S Brushless Motor for toothpick Whoop RC Drone FPV Racing (3 builds)
Banggood.com
$48.99

Propellers

GEMFAN 3016-3 PROPS - (2CW + 2CCW) (56 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$2.59

FPV Camera

RunCam Nano 3 - FPV Camera (35 builds)
Fpvcycle.com
$19.99

FPV Transmitter

Eachine NANO VTX 25-400mW 5.8GHz Micro VTX - U.FL (42 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$20.99

Antenna

FpvCycle Minimortal T Antenna (16 builds)
Team-blacksheep.com
$3.99

Receiver

TBS Crossfire Nano Rx - FPV LONG RANGE DRONE RECEIVER (1485 builds)
Team-blacksheep.com
$24.95

Batteries

Turnigy nano-tech 450mAh 3S 65C Lipo (E-flite Compatible Blade 180CFX EFLB4503SJ30)
Hobbyking.com
$8.84

Radio

FrSky Taranis QX7 ACCESS 2.4GHz RC Transmitter - Choose Your Color (263 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$129.99

Goggles

DJI Digital HD FPV Goggles (141 builds)
Getfpv.com
$529.00

HD Camera

GoPro HERO8 Black - Waterproof Action Camera with Touch Screen 4K Ultra HD Video 12MP Photos 1080p Live Streaming Stabilization (37 builds)
Amazon.com
$2.00

Hardware

BeeBrain V2 Camera Mount and Canopy (38 builds)
Fpvcycle.com
$2.99

Radio Module

Team BlackSheep TBS Crossfire TX | Heli-Nation.com (11 builds)
Heli-nation.com
$208.95

Battery Charger

HOTA D6 Pro 325W 15A 1-6S Dual Channel AC/DC Smart Charger w/ Wireless Cellphone Charging - Choose Your Color (53 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$117.99

Backpack

RDQ FPV Backpack w/ Optional Rain Fly (17 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$79.99
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