2025-05-11 3D-printed ASW-28 - A fun but failed experiment

Airfection ASW-28 - 3d-printed glider

This is a 3D-printed RC glider with 3m wing span. It was printed using LW-PLA and ended up with about 3kg weight with a 4S 4000mAh battery.

My ASW-28 is the second-generation design by Airfection.    • 3D Printed ASW 28  3m - Maiden 2.0 - files...  
By now, there are newer versions available that might correct some of the problems in the older design and should be a bit faster to build.    • ASW 28 - 3D Printed RC glider - version 3....  

Here are my thoughts on the plane:
With 3m wing span, it is a nice size and it looks like a real airplane. The design was made with a lot of attention to detail, mixing LW-PLA parts with PLA parts for the mechanics. The strength is provided by lots of carbon tubes. It was certainly fun but time-intensive to print and build.

Why is it a failed experiment?
I pushed the LW-PLA printing parameters a bit too far, which resulted in a rough and porous surface especially on the thin parts of the wing. I assume this is the main reason why it feels as if the plane is flying with the handbrake constantly on. It was even worse when I first used a lighter battery. The designer now suggests to coat the plane with epoxy for a smoother surface. This should improve the performance and probably make it a bit more robust, but at the cost of even more build time.

This was a fun experiment to try once, but not worth repeating. Maybe I am just spoiled flying with high-performance carbon-composite airplanes.    • 2025-04-22 Multiplex GP-14 Velo