3D Printed Planes

P-40 Warhawk, started 11-4-17 (with Tinkercad)

This was when I had no idea what I was doing, and was just designing an RC airplane based on looks. Unsurprisingly, at over 2kg and only with a small motor, the airplane never got off the ground. 

Nevertheless, I still learned about the basics of aviation:

• never have a tail-heavy aircraft

• having enough thrust is just as important as saving weight 

• 3D printed material is really heavy but strong, so it is better to print thin walls

SE 5, started 4-18-18 (with Tinkercad)

Armed with my newfound knowledge, I designed an easier airplane geometrically, so that I can make the airplane lighter. The results were promising- the wings were holding up, and the airplane was still light. 

The airplane actually took off, and flew for a solid two seconds... before hitting the ground and splintering in a million pieces. 

I forgot about the most crucial factor in determining whether an airplane will either fly, or fly once: center of gravity. The airplane was severely tail heavy, and there was no way for me to change that without drastically increasing the weight of the airplane. In my later airplane projects, I will transition to Fusion 360 in order to computationally generate the center of gravity. 

F7F Tigercat, started 5-26-18 (with both Tinkercad and Fusion 360)

My focus on this design was resolving the center of gravity issue, as well as thrust. The design of the F7F means that the wing is closer to the center of the fuselage, making it easier to control where the CG of the aircraft is. 

I designed the fuselage in Fusion 360, but everything else was designed in Tinkercad, as I was still getting used to the new design software. This means that the wing, the most important structural part, was designed in Tinkercad, meaning that there was going to be some design flaws. After the airplane finished printing, I noticed that the wing was really weak- the layers were splitting apart, and there was no way that the airplane would sustain more than 2g's of force. 

The airplane never came to fly, as I knew that the wings would snap right off.

RC trainer, started 8-19-19 (with Fusion 360)

My first RC airplane entirely designed in Fusion 360. There was a large gap between my F7F and this airplane, as I was tinkering around with the tools in Fusion 360, and I even was able to use Finite Element Analysis to simulate the wing stress. 

I had most of the airplane printed, so I decided to do a glide test, which was a big mistake- I threw it maybe 2 feet off the ground, and the wing snapped in half. 

Looking back on the overall design, I really should have made the wing both longer (chord-wise) and thicker, as the wing wasn't supported by much. In addition, my choice of the tail design was probably not the best, as it was going to be 3D printed. 

I still haven't unlocked the full potential of Fusion 360, and I will do so over the next 2-3 years through my research projects in aviation. 

Where I am right now: A return to the P-40 design, started (9-13-21)

Planned maiden flight: December of 2023

Currently my most complicated 3D design overall on Fusion 360, as I have to design the internal structure for both the fuselage and wing. This is comparable to confronting the final boss- I will have to put all my design skills to the test to conquer this airplane. 

I wanted to return to this aircraft design not only to show the progress I have made in design skills, but to also make it fitting if I end up finally succeeding- to finish where I started off. 

Maiden flight on 1/5/24- it flies!!!