Hi All! I've decided to do my own range of 3D printed scale model UAV kits. They'll be in a selection of scales, because the UAVs themselves greatly vary in size. The kits will be cheap to purchase and simple to assemble, but should provide keen and experienced modelmakers the opportunity to superdetail and to be more accurate. One thing I've noticed with all of the UAV types are the variations in the field, with the factories obviously making regular changes as they learn what works, or as components, capabilities and requirements rapidly evolve.
Though I've been 3D printing for well over a year, I realise now that I've been simply learning the process all of that time (and I'm still learning every day)! Prototyping is a key part of the process - starting with your best guess, building that print, seeing what works and what doesn't work, changing the things that don't work, printing again, test building again.
I had thought the Bayraktar TB2, currently famed in Ukraina, would be our launch kit. However, I've elected instead to model a small and lethal loitering munition instead, the Aerovironment Switchblade® 300, also used in Ukraina.
The version I'll start with is a display 300 from a couple of years ago. I do understand that the design has changed since then (especially the seeker heads) and I also understand that some parts of my kit (especially the rudder controllers) are wildy inaccurate (mostly because of insufficient available info)! We shall amend as we go along, and as more information (especially accurate images) come to hand! The latest switch300s, in the Aerovironment 2022 brochure, have very pretty blue noses and another version, captured by Russian proxy forces in Luhansk early in 2022, featured a ball nose, rather like the switch600. We'll get to all the versions in the end, but we'll make a start with our initial prototype!
I'm already onto version 16 of the prototype! Still doing test builds and still tweaking the different features of the model. More details to follow shortly!
Switchblade® 300 is a registered trademark of Aerovironment.
All images from Aerovironment website (accessed 160722).
https://www.avinc.com/tms/switchblade
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