Spitfire76's Build Log of Eclipson's Model B XL

[Spitfire76]

I've built and flown several 3dprinted planes from Eclipson including their original Model B but this one interested me as it was much larger with its wingspan of 1500mm/60in compared to the original model B of 1150mm/45in. Larger planes are easier to see and I understand actually easier to fly.

Eclipson model B XL/ 3D printed seaplane

www.eclipson-airplanes.com

I've also entered this build to the FTFC24: Buildruary Build-off Challenge along with several other 3d printed planes.

FTFC24: Buildruary Build-off Challenge

February is Build-Ruary Month! Hi All, Lets welcome another flying season, ready to go! Once Again, I challenge all here to turn February into Build-Ruary So Many Planes So Little Time: I, like most folk in this community, have a LONG build list of planes I would LOVE to build. Since I have...

forum.flitetest.com

Fortunately the rules allow the parts to be printed prior to the beginning of the challenge (February 1) as printing 3d printed planes can take a really long time especially when they are this large. This is what I am using for printing the parts:

Printer: Bambu Lab P1P
Slicer: Bambu Studio
Filaments:

• 3dlabprint Polylight 1.0 Cub yellow LW-PLA
• ColorFabb Verioshore LW-TPU (for tires)
• Bambu Lab PLA Matte White (for non LW parts)
• Bambu Lab TPU 95A HF Black (for hinges)
• Hatchbox PETG Orange (for motor mount)

I am not going to build it with floats, they maybe added later after I learn to take off and land on water.

BILL OF MATERIAL CHECK LIST
​

	Proposed	Have it?	Used
Motor	Sunnysky 2814 1250kv	Y	FT-2814-1100kv (from crashed Scout XL)
Prop	Gemfam 8x6	Y	Genfam 9x6
ESC	Aerostart 50A	Y	FT-40A
Servos x 6	Micro 9g MG90	Y	EMAX ES08MA II 12G Mini Metal Gear Analog
Radio	7 channels	Y	Radiomaster ELRS
Battery	4s 2000mAh	N	Only have 3s 2200mAh
Gyro	None	to order	Aura 5 Lite
Wire for control rods	1.2mm	Y	K&S 502 0.047in (1,19mm)
Wire for LG	1 x 3mm	Y	K&S 507 0.125in (3.18mm)
CF Tubing 8mm	1 x 500mm	Y	1m long
CF Tubing 6mm	2 x 500mm	Y	1m long
Screws	40 x M2x8mm	Y	M2 x 8 mm pan head/washer head self tapping
Bolts, nuts & washers	2 x M3x30	Y	M3x30
Bolts, nuts & washers	4 x M3x15	Y	M3x16
Linkage stoppers		on order	1.3mm Hobbypark
Wheel colletts		on order	Habbypark 1/8
Velcro		Y	Furry on battery)
CA Glue & Accel.		Y	Bob Smith (Medium CA)
Rubber band		Y

 

[Spitfire76]

Some assembly required but won't start until February 1st!

Total print time = 86 hours and 11 mins

Notes on Printing

Since I am using a Bambu Lab P1P to print this model I could not use the supplied g-code files which have been generated using the Cura slicer for an Ender 3 printer so needed to create my own profiles in Bambu Studio.

Bambu Lab have their own version of LW-PLA called PLA Aero and provide instructions on using it to print RC model planes including a link to 2 profiles, one for printing in spiral vase mode and one for non-spiral vase mode. These 3mf files can be loaded in Bambu Studio and provide, printer, filament and process settings as well as a example wing part.

Instructions for printing RC model with foaming PLA (PLA Aero)

wiki.bambulab.com

Unlike previous Eclipson models most of the parts of the Model B XL have been designed to be printed in Spiral vase * mode so I loaded that 3mf file into Bambu Studio. I first had to change the printer from a X1C to a P1P and transfer the settings. I then "saved as" a new project.

* https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-studio/spiral-vase

As I am using 3dlabprint's PolyLight 1.0 I figured that I should use their recommended filament settings

Slicing our models in PrusaSlicer (since version 2.4) – 3DLabPrint

PrusaSlicer developers kindly answered our call for a slicing mode to support printing our thin-wall planes...

3dlabprint.com

Made the changes where needed to the PLA Aero where there was a difference (see PDF below) and saved it as a new user preset called "3DLabPrint Polylight 1.0 @BBL P1P"

In the global process settings I made some changes to reflect what is specified in the table on the drawing for the B2-LW category.

• Layer height from 0.2 to 0.25mm
• Bottom shell layers from 0 to 4
• Brim type from auto to No-Brim although I found a few parts do need an outer-brim.

Saved this to a new user preset called "0.25mm Eclipson B2-LW @BBL P1P"

I deleted the example wing section from the plate and imported the Model B XL Wing_C.stl file, sliced it and printed it.
Subsequence wing sections were added to new plates. Once all the wing sections had been loaded I save as to a new 3mf project called Model B Wing. I repeated this for the fuselage parts. etc.

More notes
some parts require changes to the number of bottom layers and I changed this in the object setting. There are a few parts that can't use spiral vase mode, All these slight changes are indicated on the drawing. Also some smaller parts can be loaded on to one plate but with LW-PLA its important to print by-object and not by layer (Print sequence settings)

Notes on printing the non-spiral parts, PLA parts and tires to be added.

 

[FoamyDM]

Some assembly required but won't start until February 1st!

Total print time = 84.5 Hours!

View attachment 242107

I love the Piece picture

 

[Spitfire76]

Build-ruary day 6 of 29

Just started to assemble this today as I have been working on other builds for the challenge.

• Glued Fuse2, 3,4 and 5
• Painted Fuse1as it was printed in regular white PLA
• Glued fuse 1 to 2
• added VTP

 

[Spitfire76]

Build-ruary day 7 of 29
Started on wing only to discover I only have enough 6mm tubing for one wing half. Going to have to see what else I am missing on this and other builds and make an order to https://windcatcherrc.com/

 

[Spitfire76]

Build-ruary challenge day 13 of 29

Was able to get some 6mm CF tubing from a friend so continued with building the wing.

 

[Spitfire76]

Build-ruary challenge day 29 of 29
I wont get any more of this build done this month but did get to complete at least one plane on my build-ruary list.

Spitfire76's Build Log of Eclipson's Go 1 Wolf

I have built and flown several Eclipson planes and had printed their Go 1 Wolf sometime ago but never go around to assembling it. This 3d printed plane is free to download from https://www.eclipson-airplanes.com/g%C3%B61wolf and should be a good one for anyone just starting out with 3d...

forum.flitetest.com

Now that one is completed I will continue with the Model B XL build and hopefully maiden it during March,

 

[Spitfire76]

Well its almost August and I am finally resuming work on this build.

I have found a new part of the hobby which is flying off water and after failed attempts with a couple of foam board planes and 3dlabprint's Piper J3 Cub I am going to give the Model B XL a try. Unlike the other planes that I tried this one has flaps which I understand are helpful if not essential for flying off water.

 

[Spitfire76]

I'm printing the floats and ran into a issue with the files Float2L,2R,3L and 3R not making the slots for the 4 guides, the first 2 layers are covered in and the slots start at layer3 which is odd.

After some research found that the "Remove All Holes" setting was selected in Cura and needed to be unselected.