3D printed radio-controlled HD FPV plane!

In this video, I show how I designed, built, and flew a 3D-printed radio controlled plane with a high definition FPV (first-person view) system. I was shooting for 250g but came out a little over that at 270g. It uses the Walksnail Avatar Nano FPV system. The design was done mostly in FreeCAD with a little bit of help from Moment of Inspiration for some of the complex curved parts.
I use a ground station rather than goggles to view the live video while flying. The ground station setup is also 3D printed and shown in the video.
If you are interested in building one yourself, the STL files are available on thingiverse: www.thingivers...
Music:
Headlands and A Truly Dazzling Dream by National Sweetheart
Last Train North by TrackTribe
All from the KZbin Audio Library

[@dantorrey9509]

Beautiful design and awesome maiden flight! Great job!!

[@therealxunil2]

A bit more retraction might help with those strings. Otherwise really cool design. I happen to also use an AnyCubic printer and Polymaker Lightweight PLA. Looking forward to building this after I catch up on all my other projects. So ... 10 years or so lol.

[@jmburnzy]

Nice Job!

[@jackofclubs8791]

That’s awsome, I’m also trying to build a twin boom v tail rc plain

[@therealxunil2]

Question for you: Why have you kept the tail surfaces out of the line of the prop wash? I feel like you'd have improved tail authority if the control surfaces were directly behind the prop.

[@montagdp]

The inverted V is simpler (just two pieces and two control surfaces) and has more than enough control authority.

[@zoeyzhang9866]

If any other material you'd like to try for the fpv frame? Such as Nylon? Would love to sponsor if needed! (PCBWay zoey)

[@montagdp]

Light weight is the name of the game with these. If I were to make another one I'd probably try the foaming LW-PLA. I appreciate the offer though!

[@zoeyzhang9866]

@@montagdp Sounds a good point! Do you think is there any chance we can have a further talk about potential collab? We're open to supplying free services including custom PCBs, 3DP/CNC with different material options, for more your project possibilities!

[@montagdp]

@@zoeyzhang9866 maybe at some point in the future. I have done custom PCBs before, but honestly I don't have a lot of time for projects these days. I'll keep it in mind though in case the opportunity arises.

[@billjonesnation]

How hard was it to cover? I tried covering a 3D printed horizontal stabilizer I made and it was a disaster. I used conventional covering for balsa and couldn't get it to stick well enough to the plastic parts. Then I ended up melting/warping the plastic. I tried vinyl for cars but it is too thick. I ended up covering it with tuck tape (like packing tape) and it looks awful.

[@montagdp]

@@billjonesnation definitely trickier than wood. I also found that it doesn't stick well to the PLA, so I made sure the covering was always wrapping around and sticking to other covering prior to shrinking. I also had to be very gentle with the iron to not soften the plastic. I had a couple small areas that ended up slightly warped, but nothing too bad. Also, using extremely light covering is important. This is Aerolite from StevensAero, which I think is about as light as it gets.

[@ijahongirmirzo]

Hey, that was nice plane. can you share the STL?

[@montagdp]

Glad you liked it. I put a link to the design on thingiverse in the video description.

[@amhfpv]

please share the LW-PLA profile

[@montagdp]

There are print settings in the thingiverse link in the description. Let me know if there's anything missing that you need.

[@theroburrito]

Did it survive the landing? How important do you think the weight savings of the LW-PLA were versus using something like Nylon that'd be more durable?

[@montagdp]

@@theroburrito it did survive the landing, but I've decided to catch it from now on because the prop (attached with a prop saver) tends to strike the fuselage and cut the covering on belly landings. Regarding the material, I prefer making it as light as possible.