Modular, real flying RC airplane - basis for all kind of tests

prusaprinters

This is a flying airplane - not only for beginners. You can use for just flying or (main idea) to test and understand different proportions and setups and how these change flight characteristics.You can easily prolong/shorten the wings, change distance from main wing to rudder,  use a 3 channel or 4 channel setup (ailerons), add wheels, try one or two motor setup, change down thrust, experiment with winglets, … Just by swapping out parts.At the end, you will probably have learned a lot about flying (i did…) :)For mounting, you will need carbon fiber rods (I used “tubes” to have them as light as possible) with 4 mm (3x body and 4x wings) and 3 mm (joints / hinges) outer diameter.In addition - besides the RC stuff - you will need servos (1.9 g micro, i may add an option for larger servos, if you need it - the small ones just got quite expensive… just write in the comments) and motor (with thrust of 300g or more - airplane weights 500 to 600 g). The dual motor setup takes props up to 7inch CW and CCW. The one-motor setup works great with the standard cheap 2212 motors and 8060 props (2 or 3S), but you will find many fitting possibilities…PRINTING:For printing wings, rudder and elevator: use LW-PLA…Printing with LW PLA is not easy as it oozes like hell. I designed the wing in a way, that the nozzle does not do any “empty” movements. It always extrudes… This enhances printing speed and, more important: oozing doesn't matter :). My wing is designed for a 0.6 nozzle and 1 perimeter. 0 % Infill, no supports. You may try with 0.4  nozzle, but make sure to set the line width to 0.65… One perimeter of 0.4 is not stable enough and - more important - will not connect the inner walls - THIS WILL NOT WORK.!!!YOU NEED TO INCREASE ACCURACY OF THE MODEL IN THE SLICER!!! Otherwise the inner walls will not be printed or not connected. I attached a 3MF file. Please check this, before you print. This is crucial, to gurantee stability and oozing free print.Printing the other parts of the plane: use what you like. The tail can be prited in LW PLA as well - remove the oozing stuff afterwards :). But PC blend Carbon might be a better option with less after-work. It is stiff, stabel and light - all you need for planes. But also PLA+ or PETG works well.(I used PC Carbon in other tries and planes and love that material, but I could not yet use it in this model, as I switched to REVO setup and I am still missing hardened nozzles…  also Extrudr TPU hard CF might be great option (from datasheet - havent tried… its quite new…)When choosing your setup, batteries, parts and print settings: always keep the weight in mind… The lighter, the better ;)Mine came out with 500g with optimized print settings and lots of modifiers, but I am quite sure, the plane will handle much more weight - why not experiment with the wing length or motor power to compensate? One more note: I did not test the wheel setup, yet. I am confident that it will work, but cannot gurantee this at the current state.  Printing and settings (beside LW specialities):All stls should be orientated for the prefferred print direction.Print frontprops lying on the motor side. You know your material best: decide if you need supports or not… if in doubt, just add it. If you feel like, you can use modifiers to only strengthen the most important parts (rod holes and motor) with two perimeters. This will decrease weight. Dont worry, if you are not experienced with modifiers, just print everything with two perimeters…Tail: you can even use LW PLA here or whatever you have… even standard PLA works, but better go for petg or PC blend (carbon) if you want. Print with front down (rudder up), no support, no or little infillMid: print front down, no support, use modifiers to stregthen or just go for two perimeters @0.4 nozzle…, no support, no or little infill. You may want to strengthen the middle with a modifier.Rudder: No support, no infill. After printing, glue it intop on the elevator first and later that group into tail.Elevator: No support, no infill glue it after printing.Wheels: not tested, yet!! I will try with: LW-PLA, as it is more shock resitstant than you may think, or a relative hard TPU. For starting,m also standard pla can work…