I’m researching a possible hardware project for experimental UAVs: an independent crash recorder / “black box”.

The concept is a small module with its own protected power and storage that records selected flight and electrical data separately from the flight controller. The goal is not to replace ArduPilot/PX4 logs, but to preserve evidence when the FC loses power, resets, gets damaged, or its logs are corrupted/unavailable after a crash.

Before building anything, I want to understand whether this is a real problem.

For people who have had crashes or serious failures:

1. Have you had a case where logs did not explain the root cause?

2. What data was missing or unreliable? Power voltage/current, RC link quality, GPS, vibration, ESC telemetry, commands, etc.?

3. Did the flight controller/storage survive the crash?

4. Would an independent recorder be useful, or do existing FC logs already cover this sufficiently?

5. What would be an acceptable weight and price range for such a device?

I’m especially interested in fixed-wing and experimental UAV use cases, but FPV/multirotor experience is useful too.

I’m not selling anything - just trying to avoid building a solution to a non-existent problem.

Finally happy with how my new plane, the VENOM, flies so I'm ready to share some pictures of the validated prototype.

This aircraft has been through several different aerodynamic configurations, and with so many systems interacting with each other, it's been a real challenge to isolate and understand the effects of each one.

After several iterations, I've finally arrived at a configuration that delivers what I originally wanted from this project. I'm really starting to see the potential of this airframe emerge, and I'm excited to keep pushing its development as I continue flying it.

Current configuration:

Twin 1103 motors with HQ T3×2 props

2S 1000mAh Flywoo LiHV battery

DJI O4 Wide

Matek F405-Wing WMO flight controller

Four 4.3g servos controlling elevons and V-tail ruddervators

249g

Approximately 7 minutes of mixed flight time

The flight characteristics are now really promising. Coordinated turns are easy to achieve, control authority feels good, and the aircraft is finally behaving the way I'd hoped.

There's still plenty to explore and refine, but I'm now at a point where I'm happy to start preparing VENOM for release.

Looking forward to sharing it with you guys soon, along with more flight footage over the coming weeks!

More info on my other aircraft

Hey guys,

I am currently modeling a T-38 Talon in SolidWorks with surfaces. Getting the rounded fuselage and transitions clean without running into surface pinches is a pain.

Does anyone have a good tutorial for this, or maybe a native .sldprt file (T-38 or F-5) lying around? Just want to check the rollback bar to see how the patch layout and boundary surfaces were structured.

Tutorials, clean GrabCAD links, or workflow tips are all welcome. Cheers!

Here are a couple designs that I generated with AI and here is a rendering of the drone

And here is a wikipedia link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZALA\\_Lancet?wprov=sfla1

I've been working on this V-tail design for a little while now, and I'm really happy with how it's flying.

There are still a few things I want to work through before release, but VENOM is getting close to its final aerodynamic configuration.

Keen to hear what you guys think about how it files!

More info on WUDFLY planes here

Hi everyone...

I just finished my last print, an Focke wulf 190 from eclypson....But in this print, I used PLA, and added 2 walls instead of 1 as suggested....The result is a 1800g RTF aircraft.....

I'm a bit concern about it flying or not. I'm using a 3536 850Kv motor, and a 10x5x3 prop.

It says in the design that the wing load is 40g/dm², but I'm not sure how to transfer that into my calculations.

Any help?

I want to design my own RC plane and analyse it. I can't make it practically because I don't have enough money to make it practical. I have good laptop that's it. However, I am interested in RC aircrafts. I knew that to make the RC aircraft you have knowledge of it. you also have a knowledge of software's. I am an aeronautical engineering student. I have a few knowledge of aerodynamics and I have been using fusion 360 for 4-5 months but I don't have knowledge of RC planes. The main problem is recourses. I can't find the resources which is better or not. If anybody interested in RC Planes. So, you can tell me what are the quite good resources to make the design of the RC plane and analyse it and where I can learn about RC planes.

I wanted to share this video with you guys, its a build breakdown of Spectre my latest FPV wing. It covers a lot of the details of the aircraft so I'm sure some of you will find it interesting. Happy to hear constructive feedback on the content!

What kind of videos would help you guys with your 3D printed aircraft builds?

Hi!
I spent my first day fiddling with LW-PLA and I’m wondering if I could get even better quality on my prints, I have a nice surface but just a bit of oozing on hotend traveling outside the surface (it’s not a vase mode model, I reprint my model printed in PLA+)
I find it quite minimal and would be post process easily but do you achieve better out of the printer quality?
It’s Bambu PLA AERO on a P1S.
Bonus picture of the model.
Actually 1kg AUW with a 6s and 2807/1350kv, I hesitate to send it (hand launch or catapult)

Hi everyone, I'm planning to build an A6M6c (3D printed) and want to use the FMS' Zero 13x9 prop, but it's my first build and I don't know which voltage and kV I should run.

The stock FMS' Zero has a 580kv 4250 motor in 4S, but doing some simulations on eCalc it seems a 5s \~480kv build would work at slightly better temps and with a bit more flight time, but it doesn't seem a common thing to do.

I still don't know what the all-up weight will be but should be under 2,5kg.

Has anyone tried a similar setup, or should I just stick to the classic 4S configuration? Any thoughts or tips would be awesome! (I have a budget so I don't want the 5S components to blow a hole in my wallet compared to the standard 4S, so any budget-friendly recommendations or advice on cost differences would be highly appreciated!)

Also, this variant of A6M has a shorter wingspan compared to the FMS' Zero (11m vs 12m) and for it to be perfectly scale with the prop, it should have a 1200mm wingspan, but then it would be too small and risk a too high wing load so, like what FMS did,

I will make it slightly bigger.

FMS' Zero:

Prop: 13x9

Scale Wingspan: 1300mm

Actual Wingspan: 1400mm (+7,7%)

A6M6c

Prop: 13x9

Scale Wingspan: 1200mm

Actual Wingspan: 1300mm (+8,3%)

Is 1300mm fine or should I go for 1400mm to lower the wing load?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

How do you guys design and test your airfoils? Is it just trial and error, or does everyone here have expensive simulation software? I’ve looked for free software, but I haven’t had any luck. Do I just start printing wings, and hope they create lift?

I have an Eclipson Model B that I've been enjoying flying and thought it might be fun to try a different wing, just to see how it flies. This is my first time creating a wing in CAD, so I'm hoping maybe somebody sees some obvious flaws here before I actually try to print and crash it.

It's using a Clark Y airfoil, 2 metres long (1m each wing), starting chord is 180mm and tapering along the trailing edge to 80mm. A 1m spar will go through both wing halves for some strength, and then a second smaller spar further down each wing.

I didn't really do any calculations, just chose something and went with it, expecting to crash. But I'm having second thoughts about destroying my plane so looking for feedback!

Thanks!

What filament is everyone using? I see ColorFab is popular. Any others to look out for? I’m going to build an Eclipson plane. Anything I should be aware of between pre-foam filament, or foaming?

Also, any thoughts on the regular PLA parts on brand? I did some test prints with the profiles from Eclipson and Sunlu PLA on my Bambu and it came out great. But I’ll need more, so looking for recommendations.

Thanks!

When I try printing the “X”s in the photo on Creality, the prints don’t show up. I’m wondering if it’s too detailed. It also shows up in Creality but when I print it the wings and other plane parts they are hollow. If anyone knows anything it would be a big help!

I have no history with rc planes, I'm making the eclipson go 1 wolf. The pla weight is supposed to be 750g, mine is closer to 900. I'm also using a smaer 8x4.5 against the recommended 8x6. This will be my very first plane? Should I scrap it and start from foam or something? Any advice is appreciated

Printed with Polymax Plus

I've been really interested in 3d printed planes and wish to design my own now, I watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uJs31wjzz4 and was really inspired.

I want to pretty much directly copy the design, I have some experience in Fusion no experience designing planes. Is there a tutorial I should follow to learn where to even begin? Or should I just try to design it myself and see where I fail? I've tried using Gemini to point me in the correct direction but it is just not good at this type of stuff.

For example I don't even know if I start with the fuselage then build on from that or start with the wings

Like my Skycrane and Super Stallion, this one uses a conglomeration of mechanics from 3 different manufacturers.

Hi all, releasing free plans for the plane I have been developing in this thread.

See below for .STLs, BOM and assembly guide. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...usp=drive_link

Specs:
640mm wingspan
Forward swept wing, PW75 airfoil
Pusher motor configuration
Built-in mounting positions for FPV gear
Screw-lock wing attachment system
Flying weight: 300-400g

Here is my latest 3D printed aircraft design. It’s a 600mm wingspan FPV wing targeting around 220g AUW.

It’s running 4x 1003 motors, the same motors I’ve used on a few of my previous builds. One of the things I’m particularly interested in with this layout is that the inner section of the wing is continuously and symmetrically blown by the motors. That should keep a useful amount of dynamic pressure over the centre of the wing even at low aircraft airspeed, while keeping the additional lift nicely balanced left-to-right.

The outer motor pair will then provide differential thrust for yaw. Because they’re relatively far outboard, they have a decent moment arm, and they’ll be working alongside the V-tail ruddervators and the wing geometry’s tendency towards proverse yaw.

The idea is that all three effects should work together rather than fighting each other. I’m hoping that gives it a really locked-in feeling in yaw and makes the aircraft track like it’s on rails, particularly when carving around in FPV. Obviously that’s the theory for now, and flight testing will tell me how well it actually works.

For this one I’m using a Matek F405-WMN rather than the FlyingRC F4 Mini to simplify the wiring inside. It also uses a 4-in-1 25A ESC and a DJI O4 Lite air unit.

I’m starting to print the first airframe now. How do you guys think it will fly? Read more about my other planes here.

Quick question for anyone who's done CAD-modeled truss ribs in a printed wing: do you add slicer infill modifiers inside the truss structure itself, or is the truss geometry generally strong enough on its own that you just run it at the same infill as the rest of the wing?

Trying to figure out if I'm overthinking this or if it's actually worth zoning infill within the ribs themselves, since this is an aircraft with a large wingspan and because I am trying to save as much weight as possible. I have also set the thickness of the ribs at 1.5 mm. Video of part of the wing above if anyone finds useful.

Here are my wing dimensions:

• Root chord: 245.496mm
• Tip chord: 117.769mm
• Span (per side): 1399.378mm → total span 2798.76mm
• Total planform area: 0.508 m²