Odie sent in the pics below showing some of his 3D printed projects. The blue plane is a GB R3. This is a scratch build using mainly plastic 3D printed parts. Like many models of full size planes there were compromises such as increasing the wing area to reduce the wing loading. The chord was increased to 120% and the area increased to 160%. Other challenges include making the plane light but also stiff and strong. Wall thicknesses are alway in mind and must be kept thin as possible. He says one needs a good printer to maintain the structural integrity of thin components.
He started with an imported drawing of the plane and created the segmented parts in a professional version of Solidworks.
To keep the tail light he uses balsa for the stabilizers. This also helps with balance. He uses a slicing program, along with Solidworks, to help calculate the weight and balance on the computer before printing the parts.
Printing time is proportional to the amount of plastic used (mass). The GB took about 16 hours of printer time. As with most 3D printed planes, the parts are printed in sections and glued or snapped together.
