I am finally about finished with my Steampunk Tricopter. I have been working on this design since last December on and off. After crashing last fall I decided to completely rebuild as a steampunk airship. I looked extensively on line to get some ideas and to see what was out there but I couldn't find anything that inspired me. Using my electronic components from my existing tricopter, I completely redesigned every part. I mean, the only parts I used from my old frame was the aluminum arms. Thats it... All the parts are either ABS plastic printed parts or balsa wood parts that were hand cut. Other than that I have tissue paper sails and one or two other materials just for looks. I have more images and details on a discussion thread at: http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/steampunk-tri-copter

Let me know what you think or ask some questions. 

I finally finished the body for the ArduCopter. You can check my previous posts for the details but here are the pictures. 

balsawood frame

Skinned frame with tissue paper, a little filler and primer.

Final paint and detailing. Just need a coat of clear for extra protection.

ArduCopter logo on the back. 

Ok, well Im working on a body for the AruduCopter 3DR-B frame and keep in mind that I don't have one here at my house. Its at my brothers house. He is the Tec wizard and is doing all of the FPV hookup and other mods for it. I am more of the artist and felt that I had to do something for this project so I wanted to do something that looks cool and is functional. I didn't want to have a CD case covering, not because I didn't like it but because it wasn't a big enough project for me. ;)  I have built planes and other projects with balsa wood before and that was fun. I have never built something this "round" before so putting on the monocoat will be a challenge. Im pretty sure I can do it but we will see. I built a mock frame out of wood using the files on line for measurments and then built the body onto the mock frame. Im not going to show the mock frame because its kind of embarrassing. ;)  

I will try to post more pics when I get to the monocoating processes. 

Here is the frame at about half stage:

Here it is all built and a good coat of primer on it. (helps the monocoat stick better)

Im taking it over for a "fitting" tonight and then I can make some adjustments before the final stage. 

BTW the front is the round side and the back is the pointed side. It will be coated with a carbon fiber pattern skin and there will be a nice thick bright yellow stripe going along the high point on the rear. There will be a small FPV camera mounted in the front with the mount made from plastic (3-D printer) and finished to look like the rest of the body. The antenna for the FPV camera will probably be mounted in the rear of the body with the antenna pointed downward.

Believe it or not, this weighs about the same as a plastic CD case....

More to come later.....