Ok, I have for a while wanted to try my hand at designing a 3D printed plane.

I've always been frustrated with the CAD part, I tried multiple CAD programs after deciding that Fusion was too clunky and hard to use, but I went back to fusion because I haven't found anything as capable that is free.

I have had a couple of things rattling around in my head for a while, several iterations of different jets, and a slick VTOL I want to try as well. Nothing ever turned out right. I have been watching several videos and reading articles learning up on how to do this.

This guy has a great series on designing them. It was really nice of him to make these videos, especially considering that he sells .stls too. Makes me want to buy from him, so I will be supporting him in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLI...pxNBarxto9vXAg

There are also some other good videos out there.... this has been a ton of homework, trial and error, and some frustration to boot.



I've taken a couple of shots, and I have some half done fuselages and such littering the archives of my computer. Eclipsons new jet came out which pushed me in this direction (I am actually printing that as we speak) and I saw a F-20 for sale in the classifieds, and thought, hmm, I've always liked these jets, let's do it.

The sleek F-5 with a big ole engine, nice minimalist design and big power! Obviously, to make this plane more "RC friendly" and easier to fly, I have taken some liberties much like others so it isn't scale per say. I scaled the wings up a little and am also using a MH60 airfoil, as well as scaling the inlets up for the 64mm EDF so hopefully... no cheater holes. Should be about a 900mm long plane with 650mm wingspan.

Now that I have the 3D model completed, I just need to hack it apart and start adding the structure in there. Wish me luck, I'll need it.

I know you all saw me ask about this before, but for $114 shipped for the pnp, I couldn't pass it up. The ''community'' decided this was garbage because Andrew Newton tipstalled it in a gust right next to the ground and called it a fail, in spite of other reviewers saying it was actually pretty good. The community as a whole was simultaneously lauding the sonic binary as a great plane or at least an acceptable plane even though heavy modification is needed to keep it from being a tip stall monster.

I get it, you don't want your plane to tip stall 3 miles out, which is why I am afraid to go real long range where I fly with my s800. Even though it is fast, efficient, and fun, you can get yourself into an unrecoverable spin if you are too much of an idiot. I traded some efficiency for control on that plane by installing VGs on that plane and it helped a ton. Mind you, people like the s800, and so do I.

So, my plan for this plane is along the same lines. Add some VGs to the tips although some people say it doesn't need them, and maybe add some washout. I am probably going to go twin immediately. It depends on what the set up looks like, as it only came with the single engine which is a 2216, I'll probably just rock a couple of 2207s which should be plenty.

Either way, the plane will carry the "real" sparrow 2 FC which has OSD and is adjustable like a real FC, albeit not in the same fashion, you have to do some controller set up instead of just loading it from your computer. We will see if it is worth the price savings of $7-$20 over a F4 flight controller. Power will be a 4S 4000 MAH and the vtx/camera set up will be straight off banggood. The VTX does "1000 mw" but it apparently only does about 600mw, and the camera is a 1200tvl Caddx Ratel 2. Should theoretically give some decent image quality and range for $30. Should end up being a pretty good budget sub $200 FPV plane when I am done.



2022-06-30_03-57-51 by Burkeomatic, on Flickr