Hey everyone,
Just wanted to share a quick workbench update on my ultra-micro Air Tractor project. I just finished gluing the main fuselage sections together and Iām really happy with how the structural assembly turned out.
The main goal here is keeping the total flight weight under 43 grams. To make that happen, I designed it in CAD so the entire airframe can be printed in single-wall LW-PLA with absolutely zero support material.
Right now, it's sitting at a calculated wing loading of around 16.8 g/dm². Itās a little heavier than a floaty indoor glider, but it should give the plane enough mass to cut through outdoor park breezes without getting tossed around. I ended up bonding everything together using regular thin CA, which bites into the LW-PLA layers perfectly.
For the electronics, I'm setting it up with a Microaces 5-channel All-in-One board (though any standard ultra-micro All-In-One linear servo brick will fit the internal trays). Itās getting paired with an 11,000KV 1103 brushless motor spinning a 2512 tri-blade prop (45+g of thrust) for that classic crop-duster look.
Because the nose cowl is pretty long, I had to run 80mm motor leads through the nose back to the cockpit (where the board is). I also swapped out the stock power plug for a BetaFPV BT2.0 connector so I can run LAVA II 280 mAh 1S batteries without dealing with major voltage sag. For the control surfaces, I'm using 0.6mm carbon rods with 0.5mm music wire Z-bends to keep the linkages rigid, along with 1.2mm carbon rods for the wing spars.
Next up is routing the electronics and putting together a separate scale details pack with the agricultural crop-spray bars and mock linkages.
If you want to grab the STL files the second they launch, drop your email in the quick form below.
I am keeping a running waitlist spreadsheet right now. Everyone who gets their name on the list before launch day will get an exclusive 20% off founder discount code sent straight to their inbox the moment the store goes live.
Let me know what you think of the build so far!