Airplane Update #20

Today I have some good news and bad news. The good is that almost all the exterior structures have been completed and printed, including the parts I showed in the last post. Let me start by showing them alongside the horizontal and vertical stabilizers:

The first two photos are of the third and last portions of the fuselage found at the very back, while the other two are of the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, respectively. They follow the same designs I showed in the last post, except that I added some extra support within the stabilizers for the rods that will eventually be connected to the servos in the form of a hollowed-out cylinder. Next up is the fuselage section where the wings will be attached:

I had to add much more supporting ribs to this structure because it will eventually house the battery (the heaviest piece of electronic equipment), hold onto the wings, and have its top surface layer be cut out:

so that a maintenance hatch can be installed to allow for future repairs/battery charging. One can also see how the bottom portion of the structure has been cut specifically to the curvature of the wings to allow for smoother installation:

Here are some pictures of the printed product, with the top cap cut out:

Finally, here is the front part of the airplane. Due to some printing issues, I was forced to split this component into two separate pieces and design further support to account for the instability such a cut could bring about. Here is the larger part:

The third image shows the second rib I had to put in place to keep the part from being too wobbly and fragile. I also acts a nice base onto which the very front cap can later be glued on. Here are some photos of the printed object:

Finally, the aforementioned frontal cap, which also comes with a hollowed-out cylinder in which the engine can later be placed:

This is where the bad news begins. I was not able to print this part because the printer messed up and enveloped itself within a giant ball of plastic, which I was not able to remove without breaking the nozzle. I have already ordered a new replacement part, but it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive. Once it does, I'll finish printing the front cap and begin working on installing the electronics, stabilizers, maintenance hatch, and landing gear.

I'll end this post on a less bitter note with the following photo of all the parts I've printed taped together:

Hopefully it'll actually fly...