Eclipson Fly Baby - Maiden Flight

I was privileged to print, build, and fly the Eclipson Fly Baby during their beta test program! The plane printed very easily due to its vase-mode ("spiralize outer contour" in Cura) design. Most testers printed in LW-PLA, but I printed mine in Polymaker PLA Pro (green, red), Voxel PLA+ (yellow, white), and black Overture TPU for the tires.
Assembly was very straightforward and much like other Eclipson designs. The unique thing about this model is the lack of a monolithic spar; it instead utilizes fishing line anchored in the cockpit and on the landing gear to stabilize the wing. I was actually very surprised at how strong the wings felt. I think the fact that the anchor points being located halfway between the wingtip and the fuselage actually lends extra rigidity, limiting the distance between sections of the wing that are unsupported.
I also utilized the AMS unit on my new Bambu P1S to print the rudder in red/white stripes. I had to split (in the slicer) the top piece of the vertical stabilizer and print them separately (one green and then one red/white striped), but it came out looking great.
Due to my choice of filament, I needed a lot of extra weight up front to achieve CG, and ended up using a larger motor (Sunnysky 2216) and a heavy battery (4S 2200) to get it set up. Even given the extra weight, the plane flew well, was quite enjoyable, and looked great in the sky. The day was a little windier than expected, but the extra power from the motor easily carried the plane through any moments of questionable airspeed.
It definitely is a fun and unique model!
Parts List - Affiliate links where possible
// Printing
Bambu Lab P1S: us.store.bambu...
Kingroon KP3S: kingroon.com/p...
Polymaker PLA Pro: amzn.to/4a86jJ9
Voxel PLA+: voxelpla.com/p...
Overture TPU: amzn.to/48MtO9N
// Aircraft
Eclipson Fly Baby: www.eclipson-a...
Sunnysky 2216 1400kv: amzn.to/3v3Kmfx
Master Airscrew 9x4: amzn.to/48MVVFF
Hobbywing FlyFun v5 30A ESC: www.readymader...
2200mAh 4S Lipo: amzn.to/3Iuxl1H
Frsky D4R-II receiver
// Onboard camera
Insta360 Go 2: (replaced by the Go 3) amzn.to/4a66dBT
// Ground
Jumper T-Pro: amzn.to/48PuPOr

[@FarmerFpv]

You need Snoopy the Plush Pilot Ace aviator with a scarf and goggles in the cockpit of the Fly Baby! I have Aviator Snoopy in my Adams CA-2 and my Fokker Dr-1 Triplane. He looks so cool. Plus, your kid would love it, lol.

[@brubakerjm]

Ha! That is an awesome idea. He would need a fabric scarf so it blows in the wind!

[@user-qs7om8vd5h]

i recently downloaded the files and having no success . im using Ulti maker Cura to print my files and i get nothing but a mess is there some secret method the computer stuff is confusing. because i have printed their p-51 and the Focke Wolfe with success

[@brubakerjm]

Sorry to hear that! The Fly Baby uses "vase mode" (called "spiralize outer contour" in Cura) to print most of its parts. I don't think the P-51 or FW were designed in that same way. Make sure you have that option ticked in your Cura settings, otherwise you're likely to get a bunch of extra travels and retractions that you don't want. You could also try just printing one of their gcode files to see if you get something workable. Also, the version of Cura matters. If you have trouble with the latest Cura, you can go back and try 4.13 or 4.12 and see if the slicing preview looks any better. Aside from that, I would probably post a question in a thread where maybe the designers could answer your questions. Here is the RCGroups thread for the Fly Baby: www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4495481-Eclipson-Bowers-Fly-Baby

[@demetriodelgadillo1629]

I did what you said and it worked thank you very much much

[@brubakerjm]

@@demetriodelgadillo1629 Excellent! That's great to hear. Good luck on your build!