Rubber Band Powered Airplane (Wings not included)

A simple rubberband airplane body.

Make your own wings from foam board or similar material. Experiment with different aerofoil designs and have fun learning how to build a stable and long flying airplane!

I made these wings out of some foam board from packaging. There is lots of materials suitable for wings, experiment!

Assembly Instuctions:

1. Print parts. (1 Body, 1 Clip, 1 Prop, 1 shaft, 3 Spacers)
2. With a lighter or other heat source, carefully heat up the propeller blades near the center and twist to give it angle of attack, hold steady and blow and let it cool off.
3. Put the propeller on the shaft followed by 3-4 spacers
4. Hook on the rubberband to the shaft and carefully thread the rubberband through the front hole.
5. Tying a string to the rubberband makes it easy to thread the rubber band through the tail hole.
6. Secure the rubber band using the holder clip.

Print the body with “Detect thin lines” enabled!

If you have problems with bad seams, try lowering retraction length and print speed.

TIPS:

• It can be a good idea to use gluestick for the wings, so you can easily experiment with positioning and pry it off gently. For the rudder and elevator its recommended to use hot glue.
• A little oil on the spacers can help give it a bearing effect.
• Talcum powdered rubber bands can perform better
• Use a beefy rubber band, experiment with different sizes. The ones i used is approximately Ø60mm 1mm x 3mm
   

18/02/2022 - Added .3mf files with optimal print orientation and settings.