With all the planes we fly, pre-built in China, have you ever wondered what the future of model building would look like? Well take a look at this guy! Eric Maglio has created some incredible models entirely from scratch. The term “scratch” has a different conotation today than it did when I was putting models together. Today modelers, like Eric, don’t bother with sheet plans, balsa, plywood, glue and clamps, they use 3-D modeling, 3-D printers, 3-D routers and laser cut their own parts. Not only does Eric design, engineer and build his own planes, he makes all the parts himself. In the picture below you will see some of his creations. Make no mistake, those planes did not come from overseas, they are one-of-a-kind engineering projects. I can testify that they all fly extremely well. -Ed. Please check out his build threads below the picture:
X-47B: http://flitetest.com/articles/northrop-grumman-x-47b-design-build
Bombardier CS100: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1964904
Mini Tricopter (didn’t have this one with, but flew it at the International Drone Day back in March): http://flitetest.com/articles/3d-printed-mini-fpv-tricopter
I also have an F-35B build in progress, but it’s been moving pretty slow. Turns out VTOL is hard!
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2416838