RC Airplane Prototyping

Learn the fundamentals of flight by designing the whole aircraft.

The project began with a simple requirement: design a 3D-printed RC airplane around hobby electronics. The real challenge was learning to balance aerodynamic behavior, structural weight, packaging, and manufacturability.

Use analysis for direction and gliders for fast feedback.

I modeled flight characteristics in OpenVSP, printed glider-scale prototypes to check the trends, and used carbon-fiber rods as wing spars in the powered versions.

Each iteration made the center-of-lift and center-of-mass relationship more tangible and drove weight-reduction changes in both CAD and slicer settings.

Aerospace performance is a system, not a single good wing.

The prototypes showed how quickly a promising shape can be undermined by excess mass or poor balance. The project built a practical foundation in aerodynamic tradeoffs and disciplined physical iteration.