u/Swww

The basis for this plane, which I’m calling Spectre, was the TWIST_DT platform I worked on back in May.

I originally designed TWIST_DT as a small experimental testbed for exploring different wing geometries, particularly around bell-shaped spanload concepts. It also ended up becoming a really useful aircraft for developing my understanding of fixed-wing PID tuning.

The final stage of that development was adding the two small vertical stabilisers. For me, that pretty much closed out the original TWIST_DT concept: a very small, stable and forgiving flying-wing platform that I could use to experiment with geometry, control and tuning.

Then someone who had built TWIST_DT made their own FPV version. I thought it was such a cool direction for the platform that I wanted to develop a properly integrated FPV version of my own.

So rather than just sticking a camera onto TWIST_DT, I ended up redesigning a fair amount of the aircraft around FPV. This first version of Spectre is built around the DJI O4 Wide, with support for more camera and video systems coming shortly. The wings are now removable so replacing parts in the event of crashes will be super easy which is something I'm looking forwards to the most as I push the limits of these little planes so I end up crashing a lot!

The complete aircraft is 215g AUW with the DJI video system and a 2S LiHV 1000mAh battery. It also flies happily on a 2S 750mAh, and the battery bay is deliberately fairly generous, so I expect quite a few different packs will fit. For the moment the wiring is a bit of a mess, ok for a first round of testing.

Right now I’m getting around 6 minutes on the 750mAh pack, flying it pretty dynamically through trees with loops, rolls and plenty of time on power. I haven’t actually done a proper cruise flight yet because it’s just far too tempting to keep throwing it through tree gaps.

One thing I’m really enjoying is how little ceremony there is between flights. Landing, swapping a pack and launching again takes about as much effort as it does with a quad. With some short grass, landings are extremely easy too. The aircraft can fly ridiculously slowly, and the propwash over the wing gives it a huge amount of low-speed authority, so approaches can be very slow with a lot of recovery margin available if you need to add power.

Handling-wise it's honestly verging on the divine. The original wing geometry has carried across really well, and one of the more interesting parts of the aircraft is how nicely it works together with differential thrust for yaw control. It makes for a surprisingly composed little FPV platform.

Still testing and refining it at the moment, but I’ll get some flight footage up soon!

The basis for this plane, which I’m calling Spectre, was the TWIST_DT platform I worked on back in May.

I originally designed TWIST_DT as a small experimental testbed for exploring different wing geometries, particularly around bell-shaped spanload concepts. It also ended up becoming a really useful aircraft for developing my understanding of fixed-wing PID tuning.

The final stage of that development was adding the two small vertical stabilisers. For me, that pretty much closed out the original TWIST_DT concept: a very small, stable and forgiving flying-wing platform that I could use to experiment with geometry, control and tuning.

Then someone who had built TWIST_DT made their own FPV version. I thought it was such a cool direction for the platform that I wanted to develop a properly integrated FPV version of my own.

So rather than just sticking a camera onto TWIST_DT, I ended up redesigning a fair amount of the aircraft around FPV. This first version of Spectre is built around the DJI O4 Wide, with support for more camera and video systems coming shortly. The wings are now removable so replacing parts in the event of crashes will be super easy which is something I'm looking forwards to the most as I push the limits of these little planes so I end up crashing a lot!

The complete aircraft is 215g AUW with the DJI video system and a 2S LiHV 1000mAh battery. It also flies happily on a 2S 750mAh, and the battery bay is deliberately fairly generous, so I expect quite a few different packs will fit. For the moment the wiring is a bit of a mess, ok for a first round of testing.

Right now I’m getting around 6 minutes on the 750mAh pack, flying it pretty dynamically through trees with loops, rolls and plenty of time on power. I haven’t actually done a proper cruise flight yet because it’s just far too tempting to keep throwing it through tree gaps.

One thing I’m really enjoying is how little ceremony there is between flights. Landing, swapping a pack and launching again takes about as much effort as it does with a quad. With some short grass, landings are extremely easy too. The aircraft can fly ridiculously slowly, and the propwash over the wing gives it a huge amount of low-speed authority, so approaches can be very slow with a lot of recovery margin available if you need to add power.

Handling-wise it's honestly verging on the divine. The original wing geometry has carried across really well, and one of the more interesting parts of the aircraft is how nicely it works together with differential thrust for yaw control. It makes for a surprisingly composed little FPV platform.

Still testing and refining it at the moment, but I’ll get some flight footage up soon!

Bit of an impromptu formation flight from an early morning at the lake.

I’d arranged to meet up with this guy and his homemade Depron seaplane as we’d both had the same idea of getting some flying in while the lake was still quiet. Ended up doing a couple of flights together with my little 3D printed wing.

On the second one a passer-by stopped and filmed us from the shore, so we actually got a decent outside view of the two planes buzzing around together.

Pretty great way to start the day!

Here’s some flight footage of a bit of close-in acro around the trees with my 3D printed FPV wing.

One of the coolest things about designing aircraft for 3D printing is the amount of control you have over the actual shape of the airframe — the airfoil, twist, internal structure and how everything blends together. Once the design and tune are working properly, you can end up with a really precise little aircraft that feels properly locked in.

It’s been great getting out and flying this one a bit harder, finding more things to fly around and gradually pushing both the aircraft and my own flying.

Flown with a spotter and kept well below 35 m AGL. More info here

Specs:
600 mm wingspan
Sub-250 g AUW
LW-PLA airframe
1506 4200KV motor
4S 1100 mAh
DJI O4 Lite
INAV flight controller

Been a bit quiet on this one but im ready to start testing soon. Im interested to see how it flies with this setup before moving to my plan B V-Tail setup that this platform is begging for!

Next up soldering and flight testing. This time the wings are removable so crashes should slow me down a lot less (useful as I crash a lot).

This plane should be perfect for small areas and be more like a 5inch drone vs Bandit (my other fpv wing) which is more like a 7inch+ if that makes sense to anyone!

Spec:
Matek wing F405 WMO
DJI O4 Wide
Nano ELRS Rx
25A 4in1
4x 1003 motors (little bigger would be preferred but this is what I have)
3x 4.3g DSPOWER servos
1000mah 2s LiHV

I’ve been working on keeping my flying tight and close rather than just disappearing into the distance. This session was mostly loops, split-S manoeuvres and a little proximity flying around the club field.

I’m really enjoying this plane, especially now that I’ve got the settings dialled in.

It runs on 4S, weighs under 250 g and has reached 198 km/h. It can fly for around 20 minutes when cruising, although flying like this usually brings that closer to 13 minutes.

Being under 250 g and easy to keep below 35 metres AGL opens up quite a few possible flying locations where a larger aircraft would be less practical, provided the location allows it and I have a spotter.

Could you fly a plane like this near you?

More information on the plane.

I built this one up out of parts from a few different coloured rolls of lw-pla so I decided to paint it.

I've not painted my planes before mostly because I'm so aggressive testing and flying them that they don't tend to last very long but after painting this one I think I'm going to start! more info on the plane here

Let's see some of your printed beauties 👇🏻

Personally I'm very excited to see that DJI has finally listened and provided us with a wide angle lite air unit. I'm a big fan of the O4 lite and will be updating my builds to support the new version when it's out!

Anyone else going to be building this into your projects? Curious to hear what your favourite cam/vtx combos are

Had to retire my main test airframe after a very hard landing, but that gave me a good excuse to move the electronics into a fresh build.

This is the same sub250g 3D printed FPV wing platform, now rebuilt with a slightly cleaner electronics install. I’m still being careful with the grey LW-PLA because it gets pretty delicate with heat, but the yellow material has been excellent so far.

Hopefully I’ll get some flights in tomorrow morning before it gets too hot and test a couple of new settings.

Had to retire my main test wing after a very hard landing, so the electronics got moved into a fresh sub250g build.

Same FPV wing, cleaner airframe, ready for more abuse. Hopefully flying it tomorrow morning before the heat gets too high.

Anyone else here running drone parts in fixed-wing builds?

Had to retire my main test airframe after a very hard landing, but honestly that was mostly just an excuse to move the electronics into a fresh build.

This is the same sub250g FPV wing platform, now rebuilt and looking a lot cleaner. It uses a mix of lightweight 3D printed parts and drone-style electronics, which has been working really well for keeping the build compact and capable.

I’m still being careful with the grey LW-PLA because it gets pretty delicate with heat, but the yellow material has been excellent so far. Still not completely sure about the colour combination though. I’d love to see more LW-PLA colours available in general, or maybe I just need to finally start painting parts.

Hopefully I’ll get some flights in tomorrow morning before it gets too hot and try a couple of new settings. Keen to see how it feels with a fresh airframe again.

Curious how many people here are starting to use drone parts in their RC plane builds? Flight controllers, mini ESCs, quad motors, FPV systems, that sort of thing.

Had to retire my main test airframe after a very hard landing, but honestly that was mostly just an excuse to move the electronics into a fresh build.

Still unsure about the colour combination. It would be nice to see more colour options available from LW-PLA suppliers like ColorFabb. I’m not really one for post-processing printed parts, but maybe I should finally start painting them.

This is the same sub250g FPV wing platform, now rebuilt and looking a lot cleaner. I’m still being careful with the grey LW-PLA because it gets pretty delicate with heat, but the yellow material has been excellent so far.

Hopefully I’ll get some flights in tomorrow morning before it gets too hot and try a couple of new settings. Keen to see how this one feels with a fresh airframe and a slightly cleaner setup.

Has anyone here used AMS for multi-colour LW-PLA prints? Curious whether it’s worth the hassle for aircraft parts.

This started as a small handling experiment and slowly turned into a proper little park flyer.

I wanted to make a 600mm 3D printed wing that was slow, stable, easy to throw around a park, and fun rather than intimidating. It’s using twin 1003 motors on 2S, LW-PLA, INAV, differential thrust, and a fair bit of twist in the wing to calm the low-speed handling down.

It has taken quite a few geometry changes and tune changes to get here, but it’s now flying pretty much how I hoped: relaxed, floaty, and still lively enough to be fun.

Still refining it, but this one feels like a proper finished design now.

Full flight on youtube
More info

This started as a small handling experiment and slowly turned into a proper little park flyer.

I wanted to make a 600mm 3D printed wing that was slow, stable, easy to throw around a park, and fun rather than intimidating. It’s using twin 1003 motors on 2S, LW-PLA, INAV, differential thrust, and a fair bit of twist in the wing to calm the low-speed handling down.

It has taken quite a few geometry changes and tune changes to get here, but it’s now flying pretty much how I hoped: relaxed, floaty, and still lively enough to be fun.

Still refining it, but this one feels like a proper finished design now.

Full flight on youtube
More info

I've mostly been testing with little to no wind up until now but this morning there was a nice constant wind to play with.

Differential thrust is fantastic for turning hard into the wind and really helps to bank and yaw in 'lite' stall turn style maneuvers. Noticeably with this more dynamic flying I have some pitch PID to tune, noticeable pitch oscillation in some tailwind conditions possibly too much accumulation of error. Setting up Acro rates next to see what it can really do!

I think there are improvements in the geom to be made which I will carry forwards into the next project. All fun stuff. More about it on my page

After a few versions testing different twist and tail surface setups, I’ve spun this off as a chill park flyer — which is what I intended to make all along with this project.

I’m still developing the PID tune, as there are definitely gains still to be had. Next step is to find a bigger field, get the acro rates dialled in properly, and see what kind of aerobatics it can do.

It’s around 180g AUW, 600mm span, running on a 750mAh 2S pack with two 1003 motors. The airframe is printed in LW-PLA and runs INAV on an F4 flight controller.

Definitely a calm morning/evening aircraft. It can handle a bit of wind, but that’s not really where it shines. In still air, it just cruises around nicely and will fly for over 20 minutes.

I’m still refining the setup, but the maiden was a success and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

More info on my site
Youtube video

So many crashes and rebuilds last week on this one has got me thinking, what do you all do for repairing your planes?

On this micro wing 600mm span 190g park flyer I've been using tape and super glue which has worked surprisingly well.

I got some nice relaxed flights in while away on holiday last month, testing a few PID settings.

In the end the tune was a bit soft, which you can probably see in the footage, but honestly I still had loads of fun just cruising low over these fields.

Not every flight has to be about pushing speed or perfect tuning — sometimes it’s just nice to enjoy the aircraft and the view.

If you want to know more about this plane then check out my website

Prototype 1 of this little twin-motor wing flew pretty badly.

Not “minor tuning issue” badly — more like “okay, this is doing too many things at once” badly.

It did show a few promising moments, especially around low-speed behaviour and yaw response, but the overall handling was too sensitive and too coupled, even in stabilized modes.

I think the concept still has something in it, but the first version was trying to combine too many experimental ideas at once.

So Prototype 2 is about finding a cleaner baseline first: calmer geometry, better yaw stability, simpler control behaviour, and a platform that is actually tunable.

Once that flies properly, I can start testing the interesting details one at a time: control surface size, placement, twist distribution, and differential thrust authority.

I'm looking forwards to building this one up and getting it flying asap!

For more information check out my build page here.

Really happy to finally share some proper flight footage of BANDITO, my 3D printed FPV wing.

This flight shows how manoeuvrable and aerobatic the aircraft is. Fast rolls, smooth transitions, tight control, and the kind of handling that makes it surprisingly easy to throw around with confidence.

The tune and setup are still under ongoing development, so this is not the final limit of the aircraft. It is already flying really well, and will only get better from here as I develop Beginner/Advanced pilot setups.

Thanks to everyone who has been following the project so far. It has been a long road of designing, printing, testing, crashing, improving, and flying, and I’m really excited to finally share the footage properly.

If you would like to know more about this project check out my website .