Over last winter I printed both the Firebird V2 and the Stormbird flying wings, designed by StuntDouble; I glued the fuselages together and that was as far as I made it before other projects took over. But I finally cleared enough of those out of the way to finish assembly of the Firebird. The designer was kind enough to create a canopy that holds a servo for a pan mount, which I enthusiastically embraced. Printing and assembling this model was extremely straightforward, with only a handful of parts, it's quick to crank one out and glue it together. My canopy was very tight but does still slide on and off. I believe the designer has adjusted the tolerances on the canopy since I printed mine.
As far as flight performance goes, this maiden flight was fantastic. Launch was easy with zero dip and no torque roll. The plane flew predictably in all circumstances. Running a tiny 6S 1300mAh with a 7x4.5 prop was a great combination and had all the power I would need for normal flying. Inverted needed no additional correction. Landing approach was slow and controllable.
This is a free airplane design and it flies fantastically! What a time to be flying RC FPV!
I went with an interesting combination of equipment with this one. I'm using a Flysky FTr16s (2.4Ghz LoRa) receiver with ORT D-pole antennas and Flysky FRM302 TX module (up to 2W of output, mine was set to 500mW for this). For flight control, I finally dug out one of my LefeiRC SN-L+ flight controllers that I've had forever and wanted to try. Lefei released a new firmware that supports sending OSD data via MSP-OSD, and I wanted to try it with my DJI Goggles 2. One of the big advantages of the SN-L+ is the pixel-based, graphical OSD that allows one to configure many FC parameters from within the OSD menus, but unfortunately that feature still only works on the analog OSD. But the data sent over MSP-OSD is accurate, responsive, and more than enough for most flying I would do. Since MSP-OSD is so flexible, I would think Lefei could port their OSD menu functionality over to MSP-OSD, but that takes time and effort.
StuntDouble also has not only the Stormbird design I printed, but now has the Stinger (4x tractor motor wing), Interceptor (like Stormbird but twin tractor), and the Nemesis (forward-swept twin tractor), and he's got even more in the works. And they are all freeeeee!
My second flight with this plane: I flew the pack so low the DJI O3 blacked out and the plane went down uncontrolled. It had completely zero damage (Polymaker PLA Pro is worth the money) and it lives to fly again!
// Equipment list, affiliate links where applicable
// In the air
Firebird V2 by StuntDouble: www.thingivers...
All StuntDouble designs: www.thingivers...
Brotherhobby 2806.5 1470kv: team-legit.com...
Skywalker 40A ESC: amzn.to/3VIfLxv
HQ 7x4.5 prop: amzn.to/3XENoTv
LefeiRC SN-L+ flight controller: www.aliexpress...
BN-220 GPS: amzn.to/4cj2p1V
DJI O3 Air Unit: amzn.to/3W2CmpK
Feetech FT90m pan servo: www.robotshop....
1300mAh 6S li-po: amzn.to/3L59A1x
Flysky FTr16S RX: amzn.to/4bofndl
ORT D-pole antenna: www.team-black...
Emax 3059D servos (yes, plastic geared!): emaxmodel.com/...
Insta360 Go 2 on vertical stab: amzn.to/3zqhb8s
// On the ground
DJI Goggles 2: amzn.to/3xDcN5n
Frsky QX7 radio: amzn.to/3RNNBjj
Flysky FRM302 TX module: shop.flysky-cn...
// Printing Things
Polymaker PLA Pro (best filament I've ever used): amzn.to/3XJmBWc
Artillery Sidewinder: amzn.to/4cJo6Ii
Kingroon KP3S: amzn.to/3zjc0a6
CA Glue: amzn.to/3xLloTu