TBS Caipirinha

The TBS Caipirinha is a small wing released by Team BlackSheep purposely designed for FPV use. It can be flown anywhere and the light weight makes it resilient to crashes. The airframe has pod inserts in the front for a GoPro HD camera, in addition to a pod to make it easy and safe to mount a FPV camera.

This is a great wing to get into FPV or to learn new tricks for proficient FPV flyers.

Specifications

• Released: February 2013, shipped March 2013
  • Also known as: TBS Caipi, TBS Capy
• Type: Powered medium sized flying wing
• Airframe: Molded EPP (Expanded Polypropylene) foam
• Wingspan: 34-inch / 850 mm
• Wing area: -
• Length: -
  • Root chord: -
  • Tip chord: -
  • Sweep: -
• Center of gravity: 130 mm from front [1] - unconfirmed
• Frame weight: -
• All up weight: 600-650 grams incl. RC and FPV gear
• FPV camera pod: W33xH33xL36mm - unconfirmed
• Battery: 2S 3300mAh 30C+ LiPo pack or 3S 2200mAh 30C+, with JST-connector, Mini Deans T-connector or EC2-connector
  • Battery weight: 150-200 grams recommended
  • Battery compartment: W47xH17xL135 mm - unconfirmed
• Elevon travel range (radio programmable): elevator: +-15 mm, aileron: +-10 mm
• Motor type: 22x06mm (Ø28x18-24mm), 22x08mm (Ø28x26-28mm) or 22x12mm (Ø28x28-30mm), 1400-2200KV, 25-40 grams, 50-100 Watt
• Propeller: 8x6-inch on 1800KV motor recommended
• Speed controller: 12-30A switched ESC with 5V BEC
• Servos: 2x 9 grams servos with extensions
• Payload capacity: 100-250 grams - unconfirmed
• Flight speed: 8-60 km/h - unconfirmed
  • Flight time: ~35 minutes
  • Flight range: ~10 km on TBS equipment
• Flying area: minimum 250x250 meters recommended
• Reinforcement: fiber glass, 2x530mm wing ribbons, 2x430mm cross section spars, 1x160mm ribbon under motor mount - unconfirmed
• Accessories: pre-laminated plywood elevons, plywood motor mount, plywood GoPro mount, push rods, clevis, bunny-ear and symmetrical winglets, negative foam inserts included
• Similar models:
  • Techone Popwing 35-inch wing
  • Turnigy Tek Sumo 35-inch wing
  • Windrider Ele-Bee2 48-inch wing
• Product page:
  • TBS Caipirinha - announcement
  • Support

Equipment

A complete basic setup includes a motor, propeller, speed controller, servos, RC receiver, battery, FPV camera, HD camera, OSD, FPV power regulator, video transmitter and antenna. Below is a good selection of most common gear used on this wing.

The gear below is picked to be a direct drop-in to fit the compartments without much or any modifications. The drive train is focused on long flight since this is a wing primarily suited for FPV and shallow vertical climb.

Motor

• Scorpion SII 2205-1490 1490KV brushless motor - overall well matched motor, quality
• Hacker A20 34S 1500KV outrunner motor - for cruising, less thrust, quality, efficient
• SunnySky X2204-21 1800KV brushless motor - great value, pancake, lightweight
• RCTimer A2208-12 1800KV motor - great value, speed
• Hacker A30 22S 1440KV outrunner motor - powerful, quality, heavy
• AXI 2208/20 1850KV Gold Line outrunner moor - quality, heavy

Propeller

• Graupner E-Prop 8x6-inch propeller - balanced, rigid
• Graupner CAM slim 8x6-inch propeller - balanced, efficient

Speed controller

• Turnigy Plush 18A speed controller - great value, reliable
• Turnigy Plush 12A speed controller - same reliability, smaller and lighter
• Hacker X-12 Pro 12A brushless ESC - quality
• Castle Creations Thunderbird 18A brushless ESC - quality

Servos

• Hitec HS-65HB / HS-5065HB micro servo - excellent quality, lots of torque
• Hextronik HXT900 micro servo - good value, infamous, chance of DOA

Battery

• TBS 2S 3300mAh 35C Lipo battery - long lasting, tough, keeps charge, fits the compartment nicely, rebranded KYPOM KT3300/35-2S battery
• TBS 3S 2200mAh 35C Lipo battery - equally good, for speed and larger motors/props, rebranded KYPOM KT2200/35-3S battery
• Turnigy nano-tech 2S 3300mAh 25C Lipo pack - great value, fits nicely, must be handled properly
• Turnigy nano-tech 2S 4000mah 40C Lipo pack - large capacity, might be bit nose heavy, 230g

OSD

• Skylark Tiny OSD - compact, simple overlay
• TBS Core - basic, includes clean voltage output for vtx/camera

Setups

TBS default gear setup

This is the default TBS setup offered on their website. The focus is to get a lightweight wing with long flight time.

• Motors: TBS branded 2000KV outrunner motor
• Propellers: Graupner E-Prop 8x5-inch propeller
• ESCs: TBS branded 12A switched ESC 5V BEC
• Transmitter: Futaba/Spektrum/JR/Graupner 6-8-channel radio
  • Transmitter module: ImmersionRC EzUHF 433 MHz 200mW/600mW transmitter module
• Receiver: ImmersionRC EzUHF lite 8-channel or 4-channel 433 MHz receiver
• Servos: TBS branded 9 grams servos with extra long wire
• Battery: TBS 2200mAh 2S 35C branded KYPOM KT3300/35-2S Lipo battery pack

TBS default FPV setup

And the default FPV setup offered by TBS.

• FPV camera: TBS69 or TBS59 FPV camera
• HD camera: GoPro HD Hero1/2/3 camera
• Video transmitter: Lawmate TM-240500-LM 2.4GHz transmitter - modded
  • Antenna: Stock 3dBi dipole antenna
• Video receiver: Lawmate RX-2460CK 2.4GHz receiver - modded
  • Antenna: TBS 2.4GHz 11dBi 10-element yagi
• Power management: TBS Core video- and power-controller
• OSD: TBS EzOSD system with 25A current sensor
• Goggles: FatShark Dominator FPV goggles
• Other: OEM 3S 2200mAh ground station batteries, custom-made power cables, composite video splitter

Tips and tricks

• When choosing folding props, Aeronaut assume a 42mm yoke centrepiece, whereas Graupner assume a 32mm centrepiece [2]
• Minimum 1:2 static thrust to weight for leisurely flight, 1:1 for aerobatics, and atleast 1.4:1 for extreme maneuvers [3]
• A thrust-to-weight ratio 1:1 means that the motor generates the same thrust as the weight of the plane [4]
• Use 3M double-sided tape to fasten servos and packing tape to cover the compartment, easy to remove for later repairs and upgrades

Presentation

The video below is the official announcement of the TBS Caipirinha. Shot in New Zealand, February 2013.

A short walkthrough by Trappy.