This is a giant RC cargo plane I made to see if it would fly
This plane is based on an aircraft called the Super Guppy which is one of the strangest planes to ever take to the skies.
Here's the video if you want to check it out!
We started off with a small prototype that would include different sized fairings that we could interchange to test how much they affect the flight. The base prototype flew well as expected.
The smaller of the two fairings showed some difficulty in flying but overall still flew quite well.
The larger of the two fairings managed to stay in the air for a short amount of time but the size was too much for the thrust to compensate for and an emergency landing was required.
These tests showed our size limits for when we scaled the plane up and a size somewhere between the two fairing sizes was decided. The build began with the fuselage which was made out of 5mm foamboard.
The wings were also made from foamboard but then reinforced with carbon fibre rods provided by Easy Composites. The plane would have to be modular to be transported down to the BMFA flying field so these rods would also work well as pegs to slot into the fuselage.
A wing box was laser cut on the Bambu Lab H2D and assembled into the fuselage ready to support the wings after their installation. At this point, we had a very large, very impressive looking plane.
We printed the larger fairing front in separate sections and superglued them together, ready to be installed onto the plane.
The rest of the fairing was made out of foamboard wrapped around curved bulkheads that matched the profile of the fairing.
For the motors, there would be 8 in total, 4 per wing and each with their own nacelle to house their battery for easy access.
One last step was to install some landing gear because this plane was definitely not suitable for a hand launch.
And with that, we had a very modular, huge cargo plane. A quick coat of spray paint and the plane was ready for take-off.
The separated plane parts made it to the BMFA flying field in one piece and now we needed to re-assemble it. Emma got to work on joining the wiring from the wings to the fuselage.
The tail slotted together and locked into place and with a few pre flight checks, the plane was ready to taxi down to the runway but we noticed a problem with the propellers. They were digging into the grass and dirt as the plane rocked forward, stopping some of the motors completely.
There wasn't much we could do other than use the elevator to stabilise the rocking slightly, and push for a take off. Luckily, the plane pulled into the air with no interference from the grass.
The mighty cargo plane flew smooth and slow around the field, all of its motors on max thrust the entire flight.
Concerned about the motors overheating, I decided that was enough airtime and pulled in for a landing. The plane landed smoothly and with zero damage.
If you enjoyed this project, there's plenty more to read through on our articles page over here!