by Alexby

This is inspired by the Cessna L-19 Bird Dog. Pretty much a Cessna 170 liaison and observation aircraft made for army after WW2. I designed it to be rubber band powered and it flies OKAY but it weighs a bit much for the rubber band to handle. I will probably upgrade this over time to an electric RC.

I've printed several. It is fun and challenging because of the very thin .5 mm walls. Good printing practice. You'll need to print it in pieces and assemble with cyanoacrylate glue. It is surprisingly strong if you get your printing settings right. I have read that turning the cooling fan OFF helps to make thin wall stronger.

NOTES:

To get the center of mass right I added 10 pennies to the nose. Glued them inside the nose cowling. Start with 8 and see if you need to keep adding. Depending on how much glue you use your results may vary. You want to get the balance point about 3/4 inch behind the leading edge of the wing.

I designed the wing struts but didn't use them. Mine was strong enough without.

The rear stabilizers, elevator and rudder surfaces need a surface added. I used packing tape. You might have a better and lighter alternative. Saving weight in the rear is key.

I cut away a few areas and I will show that in the MAKE when I add that.

I used these propellers. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006OBI38/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Test Flight: https://youtu.be/30J9oSQrXho

I'll keep updating here and a make.

Happy flying. Let me know what you think.

-A