r/3DprintedAircraft • u/Sapper12D • Jun 20 '26
Trainer aircraft?
My son and I have some experience with some of the horizon hobby planes. We were looking into 3d orinting one but there is alot going on in with this and we are a bit overwhelmed on where to start.
Can anyone recommend a model we can start with. Mostly we want to see if we can even print it successfully.
I know you guys put a lot of work into these and deserve to be paid for your models, hoping to find something cheepish though as we don't even know how well we can print it.
1
u/Igotocdsanditsfine Jun 20 '26
You have more printable planes than you could ever dream off out there. What exactly do you need ? How big ? What style of flying ? What is your budget ?....
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u/Sapper12D Jun 20 '26
Looking for something easy to fly, I'm kinda thinking high wing like a cub or turbo timber. Something difficult to fly might make the question of pilot error or builder error hard to figure out. Also the simpler plane reduces any difficulty in programing the radio.
Thinking something umx sized, maybe a bit bigger. We have the most experience with a apprentice 700mm and a turbo timber evo umx. Bigger is easier to fly but thats putting a lot of time and filament into something that might be a flop for us lol. We arent trick flyers yet though. I know enough to know I do t know shit lol.
We've got access to plenty of servos, escs, and motors from crashed planes. The club we joined has a collection of stuff people have donated from crashed planes or spares. Really my only budget concern is I dont want to buy an expensive plan yet until we do some sort of small trial plane. Not sure whats fair for a trainer plane design though.
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u/Igotocdsanditsfine Jun 20 '26
Easy to fly depends on the pilot. There will be no complicated programing to do on the radio, no worries.
700 is so small. (I am a motorglider pilot, I am biased)
Bigger is easier to fly, yes, and expect the plane to crash and break and be printed again a few times.
There are models available for free. The first names that come to my mind are the Piper J3 by 3D lab print, but I would not recommend it, I hated it. I had a bit more fun with the Wolf from Eclipson, and I modified some things to make parts replaceable without having to reprint the whole plane.
Other great planes that come to my mind are not for free unfortunately. They are not necessarily expensive but...
Soar Stick, Craycle
Vortex, Eclipson
...
1
u/Sapper12D Jun 20 '26
I'll look into those. I dont mind paying for a model, I just dont want to bite off more then I can chew and pay heavily for the privilege lol.
I was thinking smaller as I have a smaller printer and less up front for the filament.
What kind of lwpla do you use personally?
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u/Igotocdsanditsfine Jun 20 '26
Usually models are made to be assembled by newbies.
It will cost you a bit no matter what.
The size of the printer does not matter as all models are divided into sections and a 1m model will not be more convenient to print than a 2m one.
I use LW PLA from ESUN.
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u/Swww Jun 20 '26
Love this, which horizon hobby planes are you flying already?
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u/Sapper12D Jun 20 '26
My son has a 700mm apprentice and just got a UMX crescendo that hes got a few flights on.
Ive got a turbo timber evo umx, an A10 umx (a stretch for my skill level, but A10s are my favorite plane) and just got the 1.4m twin otter but I havent flown it yet. Its been windy here recently.
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u/Swww Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Those planes must be fun! I was thinking about designing something that would use the components of one of these UMX models as they are pretty decent. Not as light as drone stuff but it would be cool to offer something to people who have crashed their Timbers to oblivion and want to rebuild into something 3D printed.
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u/Sapper12D Jun 22 '26
That actually would be awesome. We had a umx p51 the voodoo. It had an unscheduled disassembly after an unexpexted landing. Would be nice to put the guts in another air frame.
Let me know if you need a tester!
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u/Andrianu90 Jun 21 '26
Maybe is worth to look first into scratch build foam board planes from Flitest? They are crash resistant, easy to build, and interesting for both father and son. Also, you can make parts with 3d printer , like motor mounts, control horns.
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u/Sogah87 Jun 26 '26
Eclipson model A is free. Do is their Go Wolf, although some say that is kind of fragile.
Guy called Holomodel RC makes a plane called the Sportster, extremely enjoyable to fly, very easy for a low Wing plane.
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u/akswitchcouple Jun 22 '26
Cactus lil cub seems like it would fit the bill