This is a great project. Next time, attach a balsa strip along the fuselage seam line before adding the frames. This would make the top/bottom joining process simpler? Just a thought. I wish I was your age again. Great technology available to create things. Next time go crazy with a Raptor.
Thanks! Yep, quite a lot of print time. It took about 15 days of printing to get all the main molds printed. I haven't added up the print time of all the tools and jigs.
This is some incredible craftsmanship! In the past when I've needed composites to follow a sharp corner I have strategically added unidirectional fiber so it can follow the sharp edge and build a small radius which the twill or weave can follow, with a vacuum bag on top to help keep it on the mold, but I was surprised how well a single ply and cut shape worked!
That is a great technique and will certainly result in a stronger part than the technique I used since you maintain continuous plies. The way I did it will totally be fine for this application though since the parts are not stressed that much.
This is amazing work done, the videos and your build. I started playing with 3d design and 3d printers about two years ago and released that it makes the hobby really easy to design and make scale detail and models. I do think this is the next best method for scratch building of scale model, especially with complex jets.
First time viewer, really like your approach. For that sharp corner fiberglassing, you also could have printed a positive mold and sandwich the fiberglass in between. Look forward to seeing it fly!
So many sections and all the fitment Amazing well done. If you cut the fiberglass at 45 degrees it bends much nicer around the sharp corners. Also a more layers of thinner FG helps getting around those corners. Hope the way you did it is strong enough on those 90 deg bends :) I can see that you have good modelling skills but not much experience with composites - and this is a complex project. Good luck!
Thanks! Im thinking the loads in the parts will be low enough such that the butt joint method of making some of the parts won't be an issue. If I had suspicion the loads would be not insignificant I would have put in the effort to make the plies continuous. Lots of what I'm doing with the composites is because it's easier and I can get away with it :). Working with composites can be very tedious and use a lot of consumables (vacuum bag materials, hours spent making perfectly prepped mold surfaces, etc.) I like to keep it as simple as I can!
I make fibreglass models from homemade molds : Your approach is a thin layer of fibreglass on an underlying structure and it is beautiful but you can also make the skin to be a structure in itself an vastly decrease the number of formers and the overall weight. A thin Herex pre- shaped with a heat gun and curing under vacuum, otherwise known as sandwich construction faster and easier to make. Beautiful anyway
I did a calculation and it would have been heavier if I used another ply and less frames. The weight of another layer of fiberglass ply plus epoxy is quite a lot more than just having more balsa frames. I definitely agree it would have been an easier and quicker build if I had much less frames.
@@3DParadigmDesign I.m inclined to believe you but what matrix did you use? Glue seams can be heavy… total ply weight when you use a one ounce first cloth layer for texture followed by a two ounce on other side of the herex for a total of 5ounces while re absorbing a lot of resin in the vacuum process is my way to doing things but I’m not trying to say I’m right
@@oyveydetoymeny I used a single ply of 6oz fiberglass. And approximately a 50/50 weight ratio for epoxy to fiberglass. I can see your method being just as light or lighter since the ply weights are much lower. Sandwich structure composites are very efficient for stiffness.
Haha I'm super nervous about it! But I'm very much accepting the possibility that something I worked on for years can end up destroyed in a matter of 10 seconds 😂
This is my new favorite channel. I've been wanting to build a 90mm F-18, and was wondering if it would be possible to do it with fiberglass/carbon skins. I'd never seen it done on that small of a plane but now I have! I'm working on drawing it up right now and will hopefully be starting soon. Good luck on yours and I'm looking forward to the next video!
@@3DParadigmDesign I'm not the type to do too much documenting but I'll see if I can at least grab some pictures here and there. Can't wait to see if yours flies so I know if I can have hope for mine or not lol
@@jaringoossen1042 yep, until I figure out a better way (need to decide if I want to put my email public or not): you can go to my Etsy shop (linked in any of my video descriptions or on my channel page) and contact me through there. I'll share my email with you there.
Absolutely. That's one of many ways molded composite parts are made: start with an original solid as your "positive" part, prep the surface/apply some release agent, cast a "negative" mold from it, then you can make new composite parts from it. In concept that's exactly what I did but virtually. I made a CAD model of an F-16 then virtually cut that body away from blocks that became negative molds (which I then 3D printed).
Amazing job. I only wonder if it will not be too heavy in the end. From what I can see there is a lot of plywood ribs ... Hope I am wrong and the weight will be good to take this baby in the air.
Thanks! Most of the frames are balsa wood so they're super light! I am going to weigh it soon and compare it to my estimates. But, yes hope it's not going to be too heavy!
Looks awsome man! Just a thought.. with all that ply frame work, and given that you are already 3D printing sanding jigs, any reason you didn't use a router + routing jigs instead of bandsaw and sanding? Could be a good little time saver idea for the next project👍
No good reason why I didn't do that haha. I didn't think about that! I do have access to a router.... Maybe the main reason is that when I first started the project I initially planned to cut EVERYTHING out by hand. I quickly learned that would take way too much time so I sent off the balsa parts to get laser cut. Figured I'd just finish off the ply parts by hand (for the challenge) since there weren't many. It took way too much time though...next time I want to get EVERYTHING laser cut to save myself time and just work on the fun stuff.
Wow awesome 👌, thanks for sharing your knowledge for how to make fiberglass rc model , I request you please make video of making complete model and share the video, I am also hobby flyer from India, and make foam rc model airplane
Amazing work, just impressed with the advances. There is by any chance you can share or sell the moulding pieces for the 3d printer, I'm dying to try it myself!
I won't be able to sell the physical molds since it requires a lot of printing time just to make 1 set. However I'm considering offering the digital files of the molds for sale - that you can 3D print yourself.
Carbon fiber would work just fine! I had a bunch of this fiberglass laying around before the project so it made sense to use it instead of ordering carbon fiber. The only thing with carbon fiber is that when you make the whole fuselage out of it it will block your receiver signal so you have to add a couple antennas on different parts of the plane to make sure at all angles you have signal connection.
Thanks! I'm not so sure I could have reduced to that few frames. The skin is super thin (just 1 ply of 6oz. fiberglass) so I needed to add the frames to keep it from buckling. I would definitely choose to make the skin thicker/stiffer next time so that I can use much fewer frames.
@@bowenbrown oh haha, we shall see! I'm thinking it will be okay. The freewing 90mm F-18 uses 9g servos everywhere except 23g on the full movable horizontal stabilizers. My plane is smaller and also has full movable horizontal stabilizers so it might be just enough.
hello, congratulations, I ask you if you could make a bell206b helicopter fuselage, in class 600 size, i.e. about 1.20cm long to be able to mount a multirotor above it with 4 motors and 4 propellers.
You do great work. The only thing that would have been better was if you made the best F-16 of all time. The SuperCruise capable F-16XL. Stupid money men preventing it's real life production. Cruise at Mach speed without afterburners. Longer range. More payload. Could have altered the tail profile for stealth and used stealth materials. Na pour money into the failed F-22. I have been hoping the F-16XL would become a production model for EDF for years. It's simply a beautiful plane.
Great work man!
Ramy, do you think you will ever make carbon fiber fighter jets? I would really love to see one!
This is a great project. Next time, attach a balsa strip along the fuselage seam line before adding the frames. This would make the top/bottom joining process simpler? Just a thought. I wish I was your age again. Great technology available to create things. Next time go crazy with a Raptor.
That would probably do the trick. As long as I design notches into the frames to accommodate the strip then I think it should work!
Beautiful work my friend! And oh boy there must be at least 72hrs worth of printing time for those molds asuming no failures.
Thanks! Yep, quite a lot of print time. It took about 15 days of printing to get all the main molds printed. I haven't added up the print time of all the tools and jigs.
Artist At Work !
This is awesome. I have more composite tools but nowhere near the patience to make something this intricate
Dude, its awesome! Good Job!
Incredible build. Brilliant modelling skill
This is some incredible craftsmanship!
In the past when I've needed composites to follow a sharp corner I have strategically added unidirectional fiber so it can follow the sharp edge and build a small radius which the twill or weave can follow, with a vacuum bag on top to help keep it on the mold, but I was surprised how well a single ply and cut shape worked!
That is a great technique and will certainly result in a stronger part than the technique I used since you maintain continuous plies. The way I did it will totally be fine for this application though since the parts are not stressed that much.
Whaaooou I've never seen this molding's technics it's Amazing congrats man !!
Fantastic project. Love watching these vids and can't wait to see the completed F-16.
Looks heavy, good luck with the flight.
Amazing how this project is coming together, great job!
Thank you!
This is amazing work done, the videos and your build. I started playing with 3d design and 3d printers about two years ago and released that it makes the hobby really easy to design and make scale detail and models. I do think this is the next best method for scratch building of scale model, especially with complex jets.
First time viewer, really like your approach. For that sharp corner fiberglassing, you also could have printed a positive mold and sandwich the fiberglass in between. Look forward to seeing it fly!
Amazing work, absolutely loving this build series!
So many sections and all the fitment
Amazing well done.
If you cut the fiberglass at 45 degrees it bends much nicer around the sharp corners.
Also a more layers of thinner FG helps getting around those corners. Hope the way you did it is strong enough on those 90 deg bends :)
I can see that you have good modelling skills but not much experience with composites - and this is a complex project. Good luck!
Thanks! Im thinking the loads in the parts will be low enough such that the butt joint method of making some of the parts won't be an issue. If I had suspicion the loads would be not insignificant I would have put in the effort to make the plies continuous. Lots of what I'm doing with the composites is because it's easier and I can get away with it :). Working with composites can be very tedious and use a lot of consumables (vacuum bag materials, hours spent making perfectly prepped mold surfaces, etc.) I like to keep it as simple as I can!
Very nice! Well done!!!
Beautiful my friend. Can't wait for next part! make it quick please =D
I make fibreglass models from homemade molds : Your approach is a thin layer of fibreglass on an underlying structure and it is beautiful but you can also make the skin to be a structure in itself an vastly decrease the number of formers and the overall weight. A thin Herex pre- shaped with a heat gun and curing under vacuum, otherwise known as sandwich construction faster and easier to make.
Beautiful anyway
I did a calculation and it would have been heavier if I used another ply and less frames. The weight of another layer of fiberglass ply plus epoxy is quite a lot more than just having more balsa frames. I definitely agree it would have been an easier and quicker build if I had much less frames.
@@3DParadigmDesign I.m inclined to believe you but what matrix did you use? Glue seams can be heavy… total ply weight when you use a one ounce first cloth layer for texture followed by a two ounce on other side of the herex for a total of 5ounces while re absorbing a lot of resin in the vacuum process is my way to doing things but I’m not trying to say I’m right
@@oyveydetoymeny I used a single ply of 6oz fiberglass. And approximately a 50/50 weight ratio for epoxy to fiberglass. I can see your method being just as light or lighter since the ply weights are much lower. Sandwich structure composites are very efficient for stiffness.
Very good.my brother
Congratulations, very fantastic!!! Great job!
Love the work and the explanations!
Superb !!!
You must be a killer pilot I'd be too scared to fly something I spent this much effort building.
Haha I'm super nervous about it! But I'm very much accepting the possibility that something I worked on for years can end up destroyed in a matter of 10 seconds 😂
This is my new favorite channel. I've been wanting to build a 90mm F-18, and was wondering if it would be possible to do it with fiberglass/carbon skins. I'd never seen it done on that small of a plane but now I have! I'm working on drawing it up right now and will hopefully be starting soon. Good luck on yours and I'm looking forward to the next video!
Wooo! Good luck on yours as well! Will you be documenting the build in any way? I'd love to check it out.
@@3DParadigmDesign I'm not the type to do too much documenting but I'll see if I can at least grab some pictures here and there. Can't wait to see if yours flies so I know if I can have hope for mine or not lol
@@3DParadigmDesign Is there a way I could pm you to ask a few more questions?
@@jaringoossen1042 yep, until I figure out a better way (need to decide if I want to put my email public or not): you can go to my Etsy shop (linked in any of my video descriptions or on my channel page) and contact me through there. I'll share my email with you there.
@@jaringoossen1042 oh or you can DM me on Instagram! instagram.com/3dparadigm_design?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=
Awesome build. Do you think it would be possible to take say an eflite model to make molds and create a fiberglass copy of it?
Absolutely. That's one of many ways molded composite parts are made: start with an original solid as your "positive" part, prep the surface/apply some release agent, cast a "negative" mold from it, then you can make new composite parts from it. In concept that's exactly what I did but virtually. I made a CAD model of an F-16 then virtually cut that body away from blocks that became negative molds (which I then 3D printed).
Amazing job. I only wonder if it will not be too heavy in the end. From what I can see there is a lot of plywood ribs ... Hope I am wrong and the weight will be good to take this baby in the air.
Thanks! Most of the frames are balsa wood so they're super light! I am going to weigh it soon and compare it to my estimates. But, yes hope it's not going to be too heavy!
Looks awsome man! Just a thought.. with all that ply frame work, and given that you are already 3D printing sanding jigs, any reason you didn't use a router + routing jigs instead of bandsaw and sanding? Could be a good little time saver idea for the next project👍
No good reason why I didn't do that haha. I didn't think about that! I do have access to a router.... Maybe the main reason is that when I first started the project I initially planned to cut EVERYTHING out by hand. I quickly learned that would take way too much time so I sent off the balsa parts to get laser cut. Figured I'd just finish off the ply parts by hand (for the challenge) since there weren't many. It took way too much time though...next time I want to get EVERYTHING laser cut to save myself time and just work on the fun stuff.
Wow awesome 👌, thanks for sharing your knowledge for how to make fiberglass rc model , I request you please make video of making complete model and share the video, I am also hobby flyer from India, and make foam rc model airplane
Amazing work, just impressed with the advances. There is by any chance you can share or sell the moulding pieces for the 3d printer, I'm dying to try it myself!
I won't be able to sell the physical molds since it requires a lot of printing time just to make 1 set. However I'm considering offering the digital files of the molds for sale - that you can 3D print yourself.
nice video ❤
Great🎉
But I wanna ask that did you applied epoxy resin or?
Absolutely fantastic build, love it! But why not use carbon fibre? Cant wait for the next video!
Carbon fiber would work just fine! I had a bunch of this fiberglass laying around before the project so it made sense to use it instead of ordering carbon fiber. The only thing with carbon fiber is that when you make the whole fuselage out of it it will block your receiver signal so you have to add a couple antennas on different parts of the plane to make sure at all angles you have signal connection.
@@3DParadigmDesign okay got it! Thanks for the info!
awesome!
Good work ! What is the weight of the entire fuselage ? and compare with your prediction ?
Great question and thanks for remembering my video on weight estimates! I'll get back to you once I get a chance to weigh it.
@@3DParadigmDesign Thx!
That's awesome workmanship. How did you secure and install the stabilizers? Really appreciate your help.
I have bushings epoxied onto one of the plywood fuselage frames. Then the stabilizer aluminum pivot rod slides in and will be secured with a collar.
Great work. However, you could use about 1/3 the formers to save yourself some work and weight next time.
Thanks! I'm not so sure I could have reduced to that few frames. The skin is super thin (just 1 ply of 6oz. fiberglass) so I needed to add the frames to keep it from buckling. I would definitely choose to make the skin thicker/stiffer next time so that I can use much fewer frames.
No thermoformed canopy? ;)
haha probably not. I did think about it though! Maybe on the next project :)
Hi question, where can I buy the files? That’s
Next part, please
what fiber glass do you use?
I'm using 6 oz fiberglass. 1 ply for the skins.
Look good so far, however those servos seem a little lower.
Thanks! What do you mean they seem a little lower?
@@3DParadigmDesign HAha sorry I mean they seem a little small for the size of the aircraft.
@@bowenbrown oh haha, we shall see! I'm thinking it will be okay. The freewing 90mm F-18 uses 9g servos everywhere except 23g on the full movable horizontal stabilizers. My plane is smaller and also has full movable horizontal stabilizers so it might be just enough.
can you change the servo if it broken?
Yep, I'm planning to create an access door for those servos.
hello, congratulations, I ask you if you could make a bell206b helicopter fuselage, in class 600 size, i.e. about 1.20cm long to be able to mount a multirotor above it with 4 motors and 4 propellers.
Dope
Time to get laser cutter.
I know right 😆
great job can i get the full project plan with 3d file and instructions and how much the cost price
Thanks! Sorry, I won't be making a full project plan for this.
Can we have a pdf
Friend can you give me the drawing in pdf
she's beautiful
You do great work. The only thing that would have been better was if you made the best F-16 of all time. The SuperCruise capable F-16XL. Stupid money men preventing it's real life production. Cruise at Mach speed without afterburners. Longer range. More payload. Could have altered the tail profile for stealth and used stealth materials. Na pour money into the failed F-22. I have been hoping the F-16XL would become a production model for EDF for years. It's simply a beautiful plane.