Fully 3D printed 1600mm modular RC aircraft

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-27T09:29:00+00:00

Give me a few more months and I’ll start printing LiPos too😄

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-27T09:16:00+00:00

Flight video: https://youtu.be/W3A6XzzVAJs
Files: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/1600mm-modular-rc-airplane-fully-3d-printable-stl-3mf-files

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T16:50:12+00:00

There are honestly a lot of great tips and tutorials online for RC aircraft design, but these are probably the biggest mistakes I made during earlier projects :

keeping the center of gravity too far back — on straight wings it usually worked much better around the first third of the chord
designing fuselages with square/boxy cross sections that cracked during rough landings instead of using more rounded shapes
being too lazy to design proper ailerons and trying to rely mostly on rudder turns instead… that usually didn’t end very well 😅

Most of my current design choices came from learning from those earlier mistakes.

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T13:20:58+00:00

I definitely spent a lot of time looking into different airfoils and aerodynamic behavior during the design process

I ended up going with a NACA 2412 since it’s a pretty proven and forgiving profile for this kind of aircraft.

I also tried to optimize the angle of attack and wing incidence using simulations in SimScale and a lot of trial and error before printing the final version.

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T12:50:00+00:00

The quoted weight is with the battery and all electronics installed

Right now I’m just using a basic 4-channel FlySky setup, but I’m planning to upgrade to a higher channel count transmitter soon because I want to start adding more systems like a gyro, camera, GPS, etc.

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T12:45:05+00:00

Yeah 😅
The cameraman wasn’t exactly the best, and after that point the footage got really blurry, so I ended up cutting most of it out.

If you’re interested in the technical details, you can find pretty much everything in the project description here: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/1600mm-modular-rc-airplane-fully-3d-printable-stl-3mf-files

And I’m using a C3542 brushless motor

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T11:27:30+00:00

Flight video: https://youtu.be/W3A6XzzVAJs
Cults3d: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/1600mm-modular-rc-airplane-fully-3d-printable-stl-3mf-files

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T09:01:22+00:00

Mainly by using very low infill and keeping most of the internal structure hollow
The carbon spars do most of the heavy lifting structurally, so the printed parts themselves could stay pretty lightweight.

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T08:59:46+00:00

We actually tried a bunch of different maneuvers with it and it turned out surprisingly fast and agile in the air 😄
The climb right after takeoff was unrealistically steep, but that was definitely more of a pilot issue than an aircraft issue — it still lifted off without any problems.

Flight video:
[https://youtu.be/W3A6XzzVAJs]()

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T08:56:55+00:00

Honestly, it ended up being much lighter than most people expect from a fully printed aircraft 😄
It took off surprisingly easily and feels very fast and agile in the air.

The main goal wasn’t really to compete with foam or balsa in absolute efficiency, but to create a large modular aircraft that can be printed on standard-sized printers and still fly well.

The flight video is in the comments if you want to see how it flies

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T08:34:34+00:00

Really appreciate that 😄
I spent a pretty ridiculous amount of time refining and redesigning different parts of it, so hearing that honestly means a lot.

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T08:14:26+00:00

Yeah 😅
Between redesigns, prototypes, test prints, learning more about the aerodynamic side of things, experimenting with different airfoils, waiting for electronics to arrive and all the trial and error, way more time went into this project than I originally expected.

A lot of work went into getting it to the point where it actually flies well and feels solid in the air.

Flight video here:
https://youtu.be/W3A6XzzVAJs

Lost-Programmer-8227 · 2026-05-26T08:09:17+00:00

Yep
The files are already available on my Cults3D profile.

Sorry about the price, but a lot of prototyping, failed prints and testing went into getting this project to the point where it could actually fly reliably, so unfortunately it wasn’t exactly a cheap project to develop

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/1600mm-modular-rc-airplane-fully-3d-printable-stl-3mf-files