I started working on a 3D printed RC motorglider that can carry cameras.

While I have designed dozens of RC aircraft even multi rotors this is my first venture into a 3D printed one. I’ve studied the plane print and eclipson models a lot and cooked up something similar to the general structure and module construction. I wanted to make my own technology demonstrator to master the full design to flight cycle.

I’ve been trying out several PLA and LW PLA brands off amazon. I ended up using Sunlu normal PLA in orange and blue due to it having very good print quality. I did try some pre foamed and LW PLA options but it’s more of a science project to get something useful out of it at this stage. The color scheme inspired me to call it the Bronco from the NFL team from my home town.

Here you can see the nose that can fit a mobius or run cam action camera, the frontal area is way less then a gopro. The “canopy” can be modified to fit an fpv camera.

It’s powered by a 2300 KV drone racing motor

This is the printed main body section with a mono wheel module I tried out, I’ll likely start off with a conventional 3d printed tail dragger landing gear for the mains.

You can always tell your wife you can print high heal shoes. This just happened to be a good orientation to print to get good resolution on the curved surface and a minimal amount of support structure

This is the initial assembly, Right now the nose is taped on and I’m guessing I’ll need a longer one for a no ballast CG

The printed hinge rudder and full flying horizontal stabilizer work quite well. I’m using TIG ER70S-2 filler wire for the push rods, I have a ton of it and it’s quite economical

Much of the inspiration for the Bronco came from a Motor glider I designed about 20 years ago called the FL Condor. This one was 2X the scale at 8′ Powered by a Magnum .40, featuring very similar elliptical flight surfaces, a full flying stabilizer and only rudder / elevator for control. I Still have this aircraft in storage. It was a great flyer and logged up a bunch of flight time.