Microlight Flexwing Articulating Model

thingiverse

I created this for the specific purpose of a teaching aid for pre-flight briefings, where a model can be used by the instructor to demonstrate the inputs of pitch & roll etc to the student. For that main reason the prop is not intended to spin on the model so that it offers a good hold for the instructor when demonstrating with the model. The parts have been through numerous iterations to reach this point, partially to find ways to reduce the need for any support structures during printing, which take additional time and mess to remove. This does mean a bit of gluing is required – superglue works really well with the PLA. The other reason for the separate parts is to allow different filament colours as my printer only has one feed. Of course the colour you choose to print with is entirely up to you, I chose grey/silver for the Upright bar, prop, wing clamp and control A bar, a vibrant colour for the body, black for the wheels, and white for the wing, as the top of most flexwing sails is white, with any colour on the underside. Non-printed Parts The wing is attached using a M6 ~20mm nut & bolt. I haven’t found a 3D version that has a fine enough thread pitch, as you need to tighten the bolt up just enough to be secure and not so tight it prevents pitch articulation. For the rigging (optional) fishing line or a light wire will work – don’t overtighten or the small securing loops may break – the rigging is there primarily to add strength to the control bar frame, so it’s not solely reliant on the glued connection to the wing. The rigging does also add to the realism of the model. Note that the 'wing secure points' are already built into the wing, however they can break when removing the print support, so these are supplied for such an eventuality.