1/30 Scale Airbus A330-300 Build Log (3D Printed)

[Dirty Dee]

Hopefully I will hit my target of maiden in the spring!

Another progress shot. Finally starting to grasp the size of this thing :Cool:

[Twister006]

I want to print this for a static model. Its beautiful!

[seaviper]

Dude that is the perfect size...

[Dirty Dee]

Dude that is the perfect size...

I consider it "comfortably big" :). Big enough to have a notable presence, but not so big that it becomes a PITA with transport/field assembly. Atleast that is the hope, and we will see when I finish up the airframe.

[Dirty Dee]

Here are some various progress shots. I've ditched the LE slats idea as the wings are way too thin to easily work in, and the weight gain may not be offset by the aerodynamic advantage. However I might test out building a second set of wings down the road with LE Slats after this get maidened.

XRP fans are on order, so after they arrive I will make final tweaks to the nacelles and do the first test print for those.

Wing design is probably a week away from completing, and the test prints are building my confidence in it's strength. I might try another "test to failure" with a completed wing panel much like I did with the horizontal stab.

Flap and spoiler operation will likely be done with bellcranks, as I want to preserve the clean look of the wing with minimal servos and pushrods exposed under the wing.

[Jhnybgd]

Has any thought crossed your mind about making the wings outboard of the engines removable?

[Dirty Dee]

Has any thought crossed your mind about making the wings outboard of the engines removable?

I've considered that option but haven't looked back on it recently. These wings are pretty skinny, and barely have the room to house sub-micro servos. To operate the outboard flaps and spoilers, I will be working on a simple bellcrank system with the servos mounted in the wing section right behind the nacelles.

The current placement of the wing splits works out really well for a possible option to have removeable outboard wing sections, so I might play around with that variant after I lock in the current wing design.

[Jhnybgd]

Oh and absolutely beutiful work btw.

[Dirty Dee]

I finally got around to officially printing for the first airframe. All tail sections are printed and I just need to glue together the control surfaces still. I need to order the electronics tonight so I can begin fitting the tail servos and the various LEDs.

Currently I am printing the center fuselage section and I have 2 of the 7 sections completed. Here is a quick mockup of the tail with only one of the fuselage sections. It is definitely starting to show it's size :)

The 3D model is also nearing completion. areas still in the "development" phase are:
Landing gear
Main lading gear wing section
Spoilers
Spoiler and flap support hardware
Landing gear doors
Battery hatch.

February is starting to look like it will be a busy building month for me

[Dirty Dee]

Trent 700 Nacelles.

[MikeT]

WOW.

Mike

[Dirty Dee]

Thanks Mike!

I have about 190 hours worth of useable parts. a good 200-250 hours left for the remainder of the airframe and landing gear. Not sure yet if I will do spoilers on this one, since the wings are so narrow, and not much space to install bellcranks, and the hinging is a bit tricky.

I also have accumulated a piles of various test prints. This isnt even all of them, as a good half I just threw out. I have been fighting with some ABS warping in the middle fiuselage section with the belly fairing, so that has resulted in lots of tests, and having to discard some already completed parts due to a re-design.

[Dirty Dee]

Tight mounting space? odd retract angle? No problem!

Using a "180-degree" servo (which actually has closer to 165 degrees of movement) I designed a retract system for the main landing gear. These need 80 degrees of movement, and being in the training section of the wing there was very limited space to work with.

[Dirty Dee]

I have a good amount of confidence in the 3D printed strut so far. Worse-case, a bad landing would break the strut instead of damaging the wings/fuselage with stress cracks

[Alpha]

Keep it going, Dee! I sense many of us are living through you vicariously! I'm very envious of your project!

As a separate topic, I wonder when hybrid designs and building techniques will become more mainstream. For example, a traditional sheeted balsa wing with 3DP enhancements for scale and complex shapes (canoes, flap system, etc). I'd love to see kit plans one day that marries the simplicity of balsa with the rigidity of carbon and the scalability of 3DP. I could even see the case for insulation foam being used in certain internal areas for load sharing.

I'm just afraid of printing for 250 hours and would love to bring that number down a bit with lasercut/prefab parts from ply/balsa.

[Dirty Dee]

Thanks!

Regarding hybrid kits, I know of one individual who has developed various pusher prop depron designs (Steve Shumate-style) and also includes STL files for the complex areas. http://jetworks.online/ . I do plan for my next airliner to do a more hybrid approach and using 3D printing for complex areas, and balsa sheeting/hot-wired wings for the majority of the airframe.

250 hours of printing would be nice, this airbus is coming out a bit over 400 :). The next less-ambitious plane I will design is a YAK-17 for a 70mm fan. I'm guessing that one would take about 120-160hrs.

[Dirty Dee]

2" Dave Brown wheels, and replaced the hubs with 3D printed ones to be more semi-scale. I made it a habit to replace most of my fleet's wheels with the dave browns, as they work great on pavement and give a bit of shock absorption.


Since I will be using these 3D printed struts, the dave brown wheels should help soften impact forces and minimize chances of breaking the struts. We'll see though. I ordered a roll of PLA just to see how much stronger the struts will end up.

Majority of the fuselage has began undergoing priming and filling. The constant rain here has made it a bit difficult, but hoping tomorrow clears up to lay down the first coat onto the center fuselage.

[Dirty Dee]

updates

[MikeT]

Your incredible.

Mike

[Dirty Dee]

Thanks Mike