3D printed F-104G Starfighter maiden flight by kevinkal
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- Kevinkal (2101Striper on UA-cam) flew his 3D printed F-104G Starfighter for the first time at Wavemaster’s Model Airplane Field in Hollister, California. Unfortunately a week before the flight the model received some damage from being exposed to sunlight while being transported in a car trunk. Inspite some buckling of the fuselage skin, Kevinkal flew the Starfighter very successfully.
In Kevinkals own words:
"It flew like a dream! CG per manual seems spot on!
My first ever EDF bungee launch was perfect. All the spectators were impressed.. It has presence in the air. The Xfly fan was perfectly balanced and sounds like whooshing air/turbine, can't even hear the motor whine. It needed just a few clicks of up trim, ailerons were perfect.
Landing was amazing.. it flys slow with a nice nose up attitude, and slower than you would think! I didn't notice any bad stall tendencies, but still need to explore further. It was impressive on final approach low and slow higher alpha to a gentle touchdown on the grass."
Files for the F-104G Starfighter are available from 3DLabPrint.com
3dlabprint.com...
Kevinkal has his own UA-cam channel. Check it out: www.youtube.co...
try the pla LW Ht . i just printed some Lancaster bomber fuse test parts and are black , after direct sun exposure i dont see anything so far
Thanks. this was my second ever printed model. I used ColorFab LW PLA. Wished I’d known about the HT variant! But, with the melted side, I was less stressed to maiden her!
I wonder if a sweep wing plane on this scale still fly's well with sweeped in wings.
Awsome build, didnt thought this would fly so great.
Thanks 🙂👍
Swept wings are not a problem at this scale. Check out the videos of my F-84f Thunderstreak. Flies great.
wow that is something I haven't seen ever. that is awesome my friend Im Joe and glad to have found your channel and gave you a like and sub and I love it my friend👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you for your kind words. 3D printed models have evolved quite a lot and the Starfighter is my best model so far. Check out my Instagram for more info about my models: instagram.com/hammer_design_3dprinted_planes/
Forgive me if this has been covered previously, why does it seem so quiet? There's just a soft "woosh" sound, not the whine one would associate with electric ducted fans.
It does sound very nice, doesn’t it 😜
The edf used in the Starfighter is a XFly Galaxy 50mm with a 12 bladed rotor. Combined with an optimized duct, the sound is more like a jet than a vacuum cleaner.
What are the infill percentages for the fuselage & wings? Also what parts require top / bottom layers
Open the 3mf files with PrusaSlicer and all settings are there for you. But do try the provided G-code files first. Many people get great results with them.
now add retracts so that it has the wing cube loading of a brick (just to be scale)
Really nice flight! Well done.
A coat of aqueous polyurethane does wonders for the heat stability of LW-PLA. Weight gain is minimal.
Thank you. I assume that minwax water based polyurethane. (kevinkal here)
@@2101Striper Cabot's "Carbothane Clear" here in Australia although there is another brand available. I think it is minwax in the USA.
Just make sure its water based polyurethane. Most of it is water and evaporates.
Beat me to it! dang it. Was the made of LW-pla? I wiped out 5 of my planes down in FLA. last year by not keeping a window open in my car. Nice flight .
Don´t worry. I would love to see a video of you flying your Starfighter.
Yes, printed from LW-PLA. 5 models destroyed at the same time? Bummer!
What size lipo are you using ? I assume it is 4s ? I have the Xfly 50mm unit from the SU27 and also some of the Arrows 50mm fans. The Arrows runs fine on 4s even though it is only a 3s fan together with their small and light 30A ESC and I was getting around 3 minutes with a 1100 4s pack. On a F104 model this size, weight and wing loading is key to success ?
Hi Catherine
My Starfighter can be flown with both a 3S and 4S setup. The XFly EDF 50 is the best fan I’ve used. I don’t know the Arrows EDFs.
The 3S is perfect for a 3S2200mAh battery and the 4S uses a 4S1800mAh. Weight is definately a key factor when dealing with a F-104 and has been a focus point to me. The landing speed of the Starfighter tells it all. The F-104 flies great and is actually very easy to fly.