Mozella
Member
I liked the Flite Test Viggen except for the foam board nose. It was not very pretty nor was it very scale. It was also a PITA to build. But the concept of a disposal/replaceable nose was appealing. So I 3D printed one along with some modification of the slightly clunky cheek inlets. I didn't really like the rather thick raw foam edges of the intakes.
The print was done with a 0.8mm shell and some longitudinal stiffeners (printed altogether without any additional structure) so the structure is heavier than a "vase mode" print, but MUCH stronger. It weighs just under 100g and I suspect that further refinement could reduce that weight. The idea of fitting internal foam structure inside a vase mode skin would reduce the weight, but would be much more difficult to build and would defeat the idea of an easily replaceable sacrificial nose.
The plane flies great and I've made several rather dramatic crashes into freshly plowed fields near our flying site as well as some pretty hard hits on the much harder lawn surface without any damage .................. so far.
Every foam board plane is slightly different, so I suggest you print this nose (aft edge down on the build surface) and abort the print after a few layers, just enough to hold the shape of the mating surface. Then see how the aft edge of MY nose matches up with the forward edge of YOUR fuselage. Chances are you can adjust the X and Y scale values using your slicer rather than redrawing the STL file.
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The print was done with a 0.8mm shell and some longitudinal stiffeners (printed altogether without any additional structure) so the structure is heavier than a "vase mode" print, but MUCH stronger. It weighs just under 100g and I suspect that further refinement could reduce that weight. The idea of fitting internal foam structure inside a vase mode skin would reduce the weight, but would be much more difficult to build and would defeat the idea of an easily replaceable sacrificial nose.
The plane flies great and I've made several rather dramatic crashes into freshly plowed fields near our flying site as well as some pretty hard hits on the much harder lawn surface without any damage .................. so far.
Every foam board plane is slightly different, so I suggest you print this nose (aft edge down on the build surface) and abort the print after a few layers, just enough to hold the shape of the mating surface. Then see how the aft edge of MY nose matches up with the forward edge of YOUR fuselage. Chances are you can adjust the X and Y scale values using your slicer rather than redrawing the STL file.
Images
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