Cessna Bird Dog

The Cessna L-19 Bird Dog was a liaison and observation aircraft made for army after WW2. I designed it to be rubber band powered and it flies OKAY but it weighs a bit much for the rubber band to handle. I will probably upgrade this over time to an electric RC.

Wingspan: 510 mm
Length: 360 mm
Weight empty: 90g (ABS)

I've printed a couple already. It is fun and challenging because of the very thin .5 mm walls but they print fast!!!! Good printing practice. You'll want to assemble with cyanoacrylate glue. It is surprisingly strong if you get your printing settings right. I have read that turning the cooling fan OFF helps to make thin walls stronger.

NOTES:

To get the center of mass right I added 10 pennies (30 grams) to the nose. Glued them inside the nose cowling. Start with 8 and see if you need to keep adding. Depending on how much glue you use your results may vary. You want to get the balance point about 3/4 inch behind the leading edge of the wing.

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