diff --git a/Tools/autotest/sim_arducopter.sh b/Tools/autotest/sim_arducopter.sh
index d39cad25e9..f6129ccd77 100755
--- a/Tools/autotest/sim_arducopter.sh
+++ b/Tools/autotest/sim_arducopter.sh
@@ -3,16 +3,35 @@
 set -e
 set -x
 
+if [ $# -eq 1 ]; then
+    frame="$1"
+    target="sitl-$frame"
+else
+    frame="+"
+    target="sitl"
+fi
+
+case $frame in
+    +,X,quad)
+	target="sitl"
+	;;
+    octa)
+	target="sitl-octa"
+	;;
+esac
+
+echo "Building with target $target for frame $frame"
+
 autotest=$(dirname $(readlink -e $0))
 pushd $autotest/../../ArduCopter
-make clean sitl
+make clean $target
 
 tfile=$(tempfile)
 echo r > $tfile
 gnome-terminal -e "gdb -x $tfile --args /tmp/ArduCopter.build/ArduCopter.elf"
 sleep 2
 rm -f $tfile
-gnome-terminal -e '../Tools/autotest/pysim/sim_quad.py --home=-35.362938,149.165085,584,270'
+gnome-terminal -e "../Tools/autotest/pysim/sim_multicopter.py --frame=$frame --home=-35.362938,149.165085,584,270"
 sleep 2
 popd
 mavproxy.py --master tcp:127.0.0.1:5760 --sitl 127.0.0.1:5501 --out 127.0.0.1:14550 --out 127.0.0.1:14551 --quadcopter