I finally managed to get some flight video of the Porter this week. The Porter was the first of our designs and it is one of my favourite aircraft ever since watching the movie Air America and antics they get up too, especially the epic hillside landing.
One of the key challenges of designing 3D printed aircraft is the wing loading and how that affects hand launching the aircraft. The porter has landing gear, but unfortunately the grass was too long at the field today. Luckily the Porter is a breeze to hand launch, even with only a 2213 935kv motor running on 3S and a 9x5x3 prop.
It was great to finally have someone about to hold the camera, albeit only and iPhone, and get some video today. This was the original prototype Porter and has been glued and bandaged up a few times. Alas the final landing was little bumpy and the wing broke at a section that had previously been repaired. I think it might be time to print a new one, especially with the new flower flap wing that is coming soon. Perhaps in the Air America paint scheme (before you write in, yes, I know it is a different PC6 variant than the one I have modelled!)?
You can easily switch out the wing on the Porter depending on your mood, flaps or no flaps. I am also planning an upgrade for the landing gear to make it a bit more robust. As usual if you have already purchased the Porter you will receive the upgrades free of charge, by way of thanks.
As 3D printed planes go the Porter is pretty quick to print and easy to launch and fly. If its your first 3D printed plane I would highly recommend it.
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