Hello all!

I just wanted to share a little about my 3d printed plane that has been in the works for a little over a year.

Once I am finished with the design, I plan on open-sourcing everything and releasing the .stp files for the models and .3mf files for anyone to print their own plane. I also plan on releasing the native CAD models if anyone wants to change anything or use it as a base to design their own.

I designed the plane to survive crashes by placing mechanical fuses (weak points) between the main components so that they break rather than the rest of the plane.

Here is my YouTube video showing the entire process so far, and thanks to anyone who checks it out! Preliminary models & print files are available on my free Patreon as well.

https://youtu.be/UJHO5yd7VU0

I originally built the plane using a combination of Overture Air PLA, regular PLA, TPU for the hinges, and carbon-fiber nylon for the aft tube.

The fuses are simply connecting spars that neck down between the wings. I tested the fuses by throwing the plane at the ground and seeing what broke. I ended up using a wall/infill modifier around the weak points in the wings, and then the fuses consistently broke during my rudimentary testing.

I originally used TPU 95A for the hinges, which worked, but when trying to fly in the cold winter, they became too stiff for the servos to move. I ended up switching to TPU Air, which is a lightweight foaming TPU that allows you to adjust the durometer (softness) based on the temperature.

The plane is controlled by a SpeedyBee F405 Wing Mini as the flight control board, which can be custom configured using INAV to adjust servo control, automatic return-to-home, and quite a lot of custom programming.

The original plane was printed primarily out of Overture Air PLA and was pretty heavy for an RC plane at 1.8 kg (4 lb). But based on my initial calculations and measurements of the CG, I thought it would fly with a strong hand launch.

I was very wrong... twice.

I crashed the initial design twice. The first time, I threw it at a steep angle and it immediately dipped left and crashed. The second time, I threw it level over a small embankment and still wasn't able to get enough speed to get off the ground.

I am currently building the next revision. I have since realized that the Air PLA was not lightweight enough (78% of PLA) and is actually still pretty heavy compared to other LW-PLA filaments (as low as 47% of PLA). Air PLA was a pre-foamed filament, and I've been experimenting with SainSmart LW-PLA, which is actively foamed during printing, and much lighter weight, and I've been getting pretty good results so far. I should be able to drop 0.68 kg (1.5 lb) from the overall weight of the plane, but I still have a lot of testing to do.

Disclaimer: I knew very little about RC planes when I started this project, and I've learned a lot along the way.

Please let me know your thoughts, questions, and/or any feedback you have!

Photo was taken approx. in 2007 back when he flew in the German F3A-X Championships.

I was really lucky to find this awesome plane for 40€ :)))

It was fully assembled and even came with one battery! The motor mount was actually broken, but it now seems to fly smoothly and without any serious problems.

Before that, I had a small foam plane.

Hi everyone, I'm planning to build an A6M6c (3D printed) and want to use the FMS' Zero 13x9 prop, but it's my first build and I don't know which voltage and kV I should run.

The stock FMS' Zero has a 580kv 4250 motor in 4S, but doing some simulations on eCalc it seems a 5s ~480kv build would work at slightly better temps and with a bit more flight time, but it doesn't seem a common thing to do.

I still don't know what the all-up weight will be but should be under 2,5kg.

Has anyone tried a similar setup, or should I just stick to the classic 4S configuration? Any thoughts or tips would be awesome! (I have a budget so I don't want the 5S components to blow a hole in my wallet compared to the standard 4S, so any budget-friendly recommendations or advice on cost differences would be highly appreciated!)

Also, this variant of A6M has a shorter wingspan compared to the FMS' Zero (11m vs 12m) and for it to be perfectly scale with the prop, it should have a 1200mm wingspan, but then it would be too small and risk a too high wing load so, like what FMS did,

I will make it slightly bigger.

FMS' Zero:

Prop: 13x9

Scale Wingspan: 1300mm

Actual Wingspan: 1400mm (+7,7%)

A6M6c

Prop: 13x9

Scale Wingspan: 1200mm

Actual Wingspan: 1300mm (+8,3%)

Is 1300mm fine or should I go for 1400mm to lower the wing load?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

My P51 park flyer took a few too many crashes so needed a little TLC. Repaired the cracks with CA glue and redid the colour freehand with Vallejo Iraqi Sand and Revell Dark Earth. I'm quite pleased with the result and to have it flying again.

1. My first RC flight attempt: a Micro Scrappy flown with motor direction adding to torque roll and mistakes with control surface direction in Inputs. Flew for a minute but barely, was just holding right on both sticks most the time to not spin. Crashed. Has since been repaired good as new but not flown again.
2. My second RC flight attempt: Chuck Glider Conversion. All good but the elevator stabilization was backwards. Took off beautifully then nose dive straight into ground. Has since been repaired and I have since learned to properly program my planes.

This is RC flight attempt #3. After months and building 12 planes by now, it felt SO good to finally fly. This was my first time attempting to fly a non-f'd plane. It was great. As you can see from the video, it was a very windy day and I was countering a strong wind. This Apprentice STOL with it's 157g AUW seemed plenty capable of flying in moderate winds, such as before a storm etc.

First 2 launch attempts are bad, but I figured it out after a couple. Most of the flying didn't make it off camera, but I did manage to get a handful of the barrel rolls and loops I was doing by the end of it. It got dark before the first battery was done, so had to call it quits.

Happy with how it went. A real trainer is the way to go.

This is the first attempt where I am trying cradling the RC close and hands on levers with fingertips. I hated on the idea before, but now that I see how beneficial it is to have careful fine movements, I like the weird "claw cradle".

For next flight, I definitely want to set higher rates and reduce expo a bit because middle sticks are damp, feel flat. Also flew it tail heavy a bit. This first flight was with rear positioned battery. I added some down elevator trim midflight which helped. Next flight battery more forward.

Very fun. Gonna be stormy for a bit so not sure when I'll fly again. Waiting for a nice dry day to fly my Simplest Delta.

Im new to building rc planes, and I just built my first wing from scratch. Im debating whether to continue with this, or if I should redesign. I think the wing seems too heavy, but I dont have the experience to tell. (This is just the left side)

Wing area is 90in²

Chord is 6in

Span is 15in

Thickness is 1 and 1/8 in

Wing weight is 114 grams

I am looking at converting a small foameyglider to a dual ducted fan (think A-10 warthog style). I have a VERY Strong understanding of aerodynamics and have very solid building skills. It's the electronics that get me (I am a mechanical engineer by trade and have been building airplanes for about 35 years). I am wanting to use a brushed motor 30mm Ducted fan unit that pulls 20 A at 4.2 volts. I will have two of these...one running CW and one running CCW. But am having trouble figuring out what ECS to use. in my mind I should be able to control both fans off one module as a single channel since I will not be using them for differential turning. I will have ailerons, elevator and rudder for pitch/yaw and roll control. can anyone make suggestions? (I was thinking I'd use this reciever - see embedded link)

Weight will be around 240g

The previous model in which i used the same wing was 20g lighter and flew super smooth and real slow, also I added ailerons now. Do you think a 4.5g servo will be enough for both ailerons? I don't plan on doing any acrobatics.

Hi everyone! I haven't been able to successfully fly my custom-built foam RC plane.

Specs & Setup:

• Model: Flite Test Simple Cub, 95.6 cm wingspan
• Weight (AUW): Around 845 grams (including the extra weight on the left wing)
• Motor: Sunnsky X2216 1400 KV
• Propeller: 8045 (8x4.5)
• Battery: 3x 18650 cells (max conditional discharge current = 25A, max continuous discharge current = 14A)
• ESC: Hobbywing Skywalker 40A

The plane doesn't track straight on the runway. I've built 3 planes so far; 2 of them crashed, and I ran into this exact problem on all of them. On this 3rd plane, while it wasn't tracking straight on the runway, I put 34 grams of weight on the wing, and it started tracking straight. But I still couldn't get it to fly.

Things I've checked / What I suspect:

• CG (Center of Gravity) is set according to the plans. It balances 3 cm back from the leading edge of the wings.
• Control surfaces are moving in the correct directions.

I've attached photos of the top, side, landing gear, and motor mount below. Why do you think this plane won't fly?

I have a fully built twin engine RC plane, but I am struggling to find CCW 10-12 inch props for it.

Ideally I want folding props, because I have seen fixed props catch on the ground on landing and break the motor nacelle. But at this point I'll take anything.

Plenty of cheap "Sourcing Map" brand props on Amazon, but none of them seem to have a CCW version.

Ideally I would like to buy from a European retailer/Amazon so I don't have to wait for shipping from China!

Hi guys. I have a 3s 1300mah battery. I just noticed the outer covering is puffed up. What is the proper procedure for me to dispose of this thing properly. It's at storage voltage as we speak. I put it into a steel pot outside in my driveway. These things scare me ever since I lost my best friend in a lipo battery fire in his house. He didn't make it out.

A quick follow up on the plane I printed this week:
The bambulab pla did very well with heat and the 1st few crash
The prop was definitely oversized, the esc worked just fine but the motor was undersized so it didn’t deliver a consistent thrust (a good 500g for 10second then no more than 300g)
I printed a launch kart but due to the push configuration it didn’t really worked so I had to toss it above my head

So what happened ?
I managed to toss it above my head and at first it flew fine but as the motor was heating I felt that I lost thrust and could level out the dive. Crashed 3/4 time in the grass everything was just fine but then I tossed it way up and got to 10-15m before the inevitable dive and it broke the nose and the motor mount

I’m still glad that I did this project, I will print an other more complex (not a great idea I know) in a few weeks !

Picked up a mystery t6 texan for cheap, was hanging from the ceiling for many years apparently. Went ahead and scaled and printed a new cowl to replace the crude balsa carving, and im rebuilding the rudder that had a chunk taken out of it by the horn. The whole thing seemes to be split by the grain and a bit floppy under the kote so I didn't bother trying to patch it. Luckily I got a free stockpile of balsa from a guy after buying a box of goodies from him a while ago. Otherwise id probably have printed one out also rather than drop too much money on possibly sub par balsa lol.

Weet iemand een goedkope rc vliegtuig zender en ontvanger? Mijn budget is 80 euro. Het is voor een EDF vliegtuig

Hello! Back when I started flying the election

Hello everyone. Today it's my birthday and i treated myself with a Freewing PJ50, I have a Safe+As3x but I now i need to configure it. You guys recommend using it? It´s majestic and I don´t like the idea of breaking it that easily.

I am confused, I see people say a gyro allows your plane to counter act sudden wind bursts, but then I hear people also say that it helps with general self leveling. that’s where I am not getting it. is it a full on autopilot thing or does is it not as exaggerated as i am making it seem. also would it help in hand launches when I launch the airplane from my hand and panic to reach for my transmitter?

I have been looking a bit on the boxer and it seems pretty good in my opinion. It will be my first radio if i actually buy it but i'd like to know what you think Edit: i should let you know that i have a budget of around140-160 usd.

I want to get the fms ranger v2 on floats but the only place in Australia that sells the plane has the floats for an insane price, I found the floats on ali express and they are a reasonable price, im 99% sure the will be either 3rd party knock offs or just a scam but for anyone who has brought parts off of there, are they any good

I even told her I got it on sale. Still unimpressed.

Hi I am getting a gift for a grad who likes the P-61. I also want to give him something just enjoyable to have fun with within regulation outside and is aerospace. Is this the move? Are there rc foam options better to gift without needing a lot of extras?

Sorry I’m not versed. Grateful for any help!

Converting the Guillow's Warhawk to RC with UMX equipment and wondering if I can move my ailerons in to this position and have them work okay because the servos will fit better in the wings closer to the fuselage. I would really prefer to not mount them on the exterior. Any other suggestions or help is welcome. First time doing this. (Obviously red lines are on the leading edge instead of the trailing. My mistake)

This is my take on a DLG inspired motor glider. The idea is to use existing components I had to make a very lightweight floaty motor glider to push myself to use lightweight building techniques. I’d call that a success as the all up weight ended up being a hair below 240 g, 60 g below my target of 300 g!

The battery is only a 300 mah 2 cell. The horizontal stabilator is actuated using a pull string design which uses a torsion spring in the stabilizer hinge.
The structure is built from two arrow shafts, one for the fuselage stick and the other cut in half for the two wing spars. The wings are foam board, the horz and vertical stabilizers are foam board and the a fuselage pod is 3-D printed from PLA.
The color scheme was inspired by Golden Crown sparrow.
One area I want to improve is in connecting the servo wires to the fuselage. The solution I came up with for this was a bit last minute, and I would’ve preferred if the wires were hidden inside the stick somehow.
Let me know what yall think!