PLAirplane glider/rubberband flier

thingiverse

This is a straightforward airplane to construct and cover, an ideal project for ages eight and up.\nVERY CURRENT, WORK IN PROGRESS!! MORE PICTURES COMING SOON, VIDEO OF MY SECOND BUILD WILL BE UPLOADED TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL AFTER THAT. Anyone who builds one before the end of March may have it featured in my video if you send pictures or videos!!!\nUpdates: 2/26/16 updated right and left wing rib files to fix build tightness on top rear notches, thinned them by one layer, and updated helping hands accordingly. 2/27/16 made gear more realistic in size.\nWHAT YOU NEED\nTo outsource balsa wood 1/8" rods, glue, and covering, then print:\n17 total body ribs, 24 total wing ribs, and tailfin builds a glider.\nAdd gear parts and Styrofoam floats for float glider or\nadd nose cone, paper clips, rubber band, and a propeller for a band glider. R/Cers there are included ailerons for micro setups!\nNotes: On my printer (which isn't working so great right now) this works out to 3 and 4-layer parts (mostly), so the whole thing took about 1/8 spool of filament, and all of it prints in about 4 hours for the basic model. I used 80% infill for little more strength and had to turn the infill to 0 degrees from 45 for the control&gear2 file only. I'd love to see how pretty it could be from a properly working printer...\nAssembly:\nStep 1: If using landing gear, glue gear to front & back of fuse part 4. If using floats, glue gear to front of fuse part 3 and rear of part 5.\nStep 2: All the fuselage parts are numbered on the back or check DIAGRAM.stl. Start by sliding them in order into the helping hands parts. Press the balsa rods into the notches starting with side notches. Assemble entire length with all rods in place, then remove helping hands pieces before gluing rods to ribs (a rubber band every other rib section helps hold loose spots in until ready to glue).\nStep 3: Use helping hands pieces to assemble wing sections similarly to fuselage or see DIAGRAM.stl. Build both 12-piece halves separately and flat!\nStep 4: Glue wing halves together by placing one wing half on a flat surface, then sandwiching a balsa rod longer than the wings (this for mounting later) in between wing halves, and supporting one side until the tops touch and can be glued together. The ends of the raised side should be level and about 1 1/4" or 3cm off of the surface.\nStep 5: Slide fins onto rear of fuselage and glue in place.\nStep 6: Hand sand any rough corners or edges smooth, then cover with heat shrink material, and use a hairdryer to shrink tight to frame. Tape rudder fin behind last upright on fuse with one vertical piece of tape on each side, so it can be bent for maneuvering later.\nStep 7: If using rubber band flier install propeller with shaped clip in nose part, and install band and clip in back rib of fuselage. If not glue oval washer to front of fuselage.\nStep 8: Use rubber bands to secure wings in place, and tape pieces to balance plane so that it balances side to side at the center of the fuselage, and front to back at about the middle of the wings.\nStep 9: Give it a toss! You're done except for fine tuning, which will be part of a soon-to-be-uploaded video on my YouTube channel\nADDENDUM: If you are an R/Cer there are control surfaces as part of this print. Secure them where needed with tape similar to the rudder. Add your Rx, micro servos, and motor and send me some video!! There should be enough play in the tailfin that's whole if there isn't cut it on its groove, and use tape as with other control surfaces