The Stormbird is a 1.1m plank style flying wing. It’s free to download. This is a fast and exciting RC plane that has been developed for FPV flying. It has a slippery profile and is built for speed & efficiency. It offers excellent flight characteristics with its slim semi-symmetrical reflexed airfoil. It features a long spacious fuselage with a magnetic slide on canopy for quick easy access.

There is a range of accessories available for the Stormbird. There are 3 different types of winglets to choose from and a large collection of FPV accessories including parts for Walksnail & DJI.

Specifications

Wingspan = 110cm
Length = 58cm
Printed weight (PLA+) = 620g
Flying weight = 900-1200g
Airfoil = PW75
Wing area = 20dm²
Wing loading = 45-60g/dm²

Features

• Plank style wing
• Thin semi-symmetrical airfoil with reflex
• Streamlined drag-free profile
• Spacious fuselage with battery attachment plate
• Single pusher motor
• Secure slide on magnetic canopy
• Cooling air intakes & exit holes
• Removeable motor mount for a 28mm outrunner
• Rear magnetic hatch
• Optional flight controller electronics tray
• Fuselage finger holds
• FPV accessories

News

June 2024

The Stormbird has had quite a few changes and some new accessories added too.

The biggest change is the addition of the fuselage landing skid. The skid can take some of the impact damage from landings and can be easily reprinted & replaced. It is available with a curved bottom or flat. Another change is the drop in flight controller tray. Previously the flight controller tray was inserted into slots inside the fuselage and it couldn't be removed. The new flight controller tray is glued into the fuselage with UHU Por and can be lifted out for maintenance. There are a few other changes such as a longer nose part, modified battery tray and a few other small things.

The new accessories include a canopy for the AtomRC gimbal, canopy for a pan servo and the RunCam Link.

Printing

Filament

It is recommended to use PLA+ (such as eSUN, Polymaker or Sunlu brand). Regular PLA is not suitable, PLA+ is much stronger. PETG, ABS or LW-PLA filaments could also be used.

Print bed

The 3D printed parts will fit onto a print bed no smaller than 200x200x200mm. This will be suitable for common printers such as the Creality Ender 3/5, Prusa MK3/4 & Bambu Lab range.

Layers, lines, walls & infill

A layer height of 0.2 to 0.28 can be used. Thin layers will give a better appearance, however using thicker layers will significantly speed up printing times on older slower printers.

A line width of 0.4 to 0.42 should be used.

Most of the parts should be printed using a single wall with a small amount of infill density, typically around 3% with the cubic pattern. The battery plate, flight controller tray, motor mount & servo trays should be printed solid with 3 walls and 50% infill density.

The elevon inner parts should be printed with 3mm of bottom layers to create a solid control horn (eg. 0.2 x 15 layers).

Support & brim

The canopy front, nose & wing inners should be printed with support, all other parts do not require support. A brim should be used on taller/wider parts to prevent warping and bed detachment.

Other slicer settings

Pay attention to the Z seam position for each part. The Z seam is quite noticeable on single wall prints so it’s best to hide it as much as possible.

Increasing the printing temperature & reducing the fan speed can help improve the strength of single wall PLA+ parts.

Settings for the nozzle & bed temperatures, flow, speed, retraction & cooling are very important and need to be tuned for your specific printer and type of filament.

Equipment

Hardware & supplies

• Filament PLA+ 620g
• Carbon fiber tube 6mm x 1m (1)
• Carbon fiber tube 6mm x 300mm (1)
• Carbon fiber rod 3mm x 330mm (2)
• Carbon fiber rod 3mm x 30mm (3)
• Magnet round 6mm x 3mm (4)
• Hex head screw M3 x 10mm (1)
• Locknut M3 (1)
• Push rods, ball links, clevises (2)
• Battery strap 20mm x 200mm (1)
• Velcro adhesive strip 25mm x 150mm (1)
• Medium CA
• UHU Por / E6000
• Sandpaper

Servos

Two 12-13g mini sized metal geared servos are required. Measuring approx. 24x11.6x24mm. The Emax ES08MDII digital servo is recommended.

Motor

A 28mm O.D. outrunner with a 19/16mm bolt pattern is required. Weight between 35-70g. The T-motor F80 PRO 2500kv (on 4S with a 6x4 prop) is recommended for a lightweight setup or the SunnySky X Series V3 X2216 1400kv (on 4S with a 8x6 prop) for a more efficient FPV setup.

Propeller

Use a 6-9 inch prop.

ESC

It is recommended to use a small lightweight BLHeli 40-50A ESC such as the Flycolor Raptor 5 50A.

Battery

A 4S 1500-3000 mAh Li-po or Li-ion is required. Weight range from 150-300g. The CNHL Black Series 4S 1500 mAh 100C is recommended for a short duration LOS flying setup or the CNHL Black Series 4S 2200 mAh 40C for a longer flying FPV setup.

Flight controller

A compact flight controller with 30.5x30.5mm or 20x20mm mounting holes can be used. The Matek F405-TE is recommended.

Instructions

A detailed instruction manual is included in the downloadable zip file. Also the video below:

Setup

Throw

Roll = 15mm up / 13mm down

Pitch = 6mm up / 5mm down

Reflex

1-2mm up

Centre of gravity

The CG is 36mm behind the straight leading edge of the wing. There are CG bumps underneath the wing.

Gallery

Accessories

Walksnail

There are some canopy parts designed specifically for the Walksnail Avatar system. This includes parts for the nano, micro & pro cameras (14x14mm & 19x19mm) and the V1 & V2 VTXs with twin antennas or a single antenna. These are two-part setups with the camera on the front section of the canopy and the VTX/antenna on the rear. There are two options for the camera, it can be mounted up front with a clear view or mounted rearwards with the nose showing.

• Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 14x14mm
• Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 19x19mm
• Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 14x14mm Rearwards
• Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 19x19mm Rearwards
• Canopy Rear Walksnail VTX V1
• Canopy Rear Walksnail VTX V2

Here are some pictures of the canopy setups for the Pro V2 and Micro V1:

DJI

There is a two-part canopy set for the DJI 03 Air Unit. More DJI accessories coming soon, I'm working on parts for the 30x30x13mm RunCam/Caddx units.

• Canopy Front DJI 03 Air
• Canopy Rear DJI 03 Air

Runcam

• Canopy Front RunCam Link 19mm Camera

FPV

There are two generic analog FPV canopies which have a mounting bracket for a 14x14mm or 19x19mm camera. It includes a mounting hole for an antenna.

• Canopy Front FPV Camera 14x14mm
• Canopy Front FPV Camera 19x19mm

There are two different pan servo canopy setups. The pan servo can be positioned forward or backward.

• Canopy Front Pan Servo Forward
• Canopy Front Pan Servo Backward

Motor mounts

There are 2 different motor mounts available with different bolt patterns.

• Motor Mount 16x16mm
• Motor Mount 19x19mm

Winglets

There are 3 different sets of winglets available for the Stormbird. The standard winglets have a small curve, there are extended winglets that take the wingspan out to 1.25m and flat winglets.

• Winglet Extended
• Winglet Flat

LEDs

There is an alternative set of wings available which has a channel inside for an LED strip.

• Wing Inner Led Strip
• Wing Outer Led Strip

AtomRC gimbal

There is a two-part canopy available for the AtomRC pan & tilt gimbal (https://atomrc.com/products/atomrc-high-resolution-3d-print-wide-angle-range-gimbal-for-fpv-airplane-fixed-wing?variant=40218642317445). The gimbal base is attached to the rear of the canopy, the gimbal can be easily swapped between different planes using multiple bases.

• Canopy Front AtomRC Gimbal
• Canopy Rear AtomRC Gimbal

Fuselage skid

There are two different fuselage skids available. The default skid is curved, there is also a one with a flat base.

• Fuselage Skid Flat

History

June 21, 2025 - Stormbird_20250621.zip

• Zip package updated - no changes made to the model.

June 20, 2024 - Stormbird_20240620.zip

• Nose, Fuselage Mid, Fuselage Rear, Battery Plate, Flight Controller Tray, Hatch Top updated.
• Accessories added - Canopy Front RunCam Link 19mm Camera, Canopy Front AtomRC Gimbal, Canopy Rear AtomRC Gimbal, Fuselage Skid Flat, Canopy Front Pan Servo Forward, Canopy Front Pan Servo Backward.

February 19, 2024 - Stormbird_20240219.zip

• Wing Outer Led Strip L/R & Wing Inner Led Strip L/R added - these are optional wing panels with internal LED strips. The LED strips slide into a channel behind the wing leading edge and make the filament glow. Suitable for NeoPixel strips.
• Fuselage Mid updated - this part has been updated with holes for optional LED strip wiring.
• Fuselage Rear updated - minor modification to the cutout at the rear of the fuselage so that UHF antennas can be mounted against the tail fin.
• Motor Mount Heat Set Insert 19x16 & Motor Mount Heat Set Insert 16x16 accessories added - these motor mounts use a heat set insert instead of the hex locknut.

October 29, 2023 - Stormbird_20231029.zip

• Fuselage Mid & Hatch updated - the size of the rear hatch has been increased to allow easier access to the rear of the plane. Also the shape has been modified for better fitment.
• Wing Inners, Servo Trays & Servo Covers updated - the servo recess has been modified so that it prints cleaner and is easier to remove support material.
• Accessories added - Winglet Flat & Winglet Extended.

September 18, 2023 - Stormbird_20230918.zip

• Instruction manual updated - build pictures & notes added.

September 9, 2023 - Stormbird_20230909.zip

• Wing Inners updated - added CG bumps.
• Instruction manual added.

September 4, 2023 - Stormbird_20230904.zip

• Accessories added - Canopy Front DJI 03 Air, Canopy Rear DJI 03 Air, Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 14x14 Rearwards, Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 19x19 Rearwards.
• Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 19x19 updated - added slot for variable camera tilt from 0-15 degrees.

August 28, 2023 - Stormbird_20230828.zip

• Accessories added - Canopy Front FPV Camera 14x14, Canopy Front FPV Camera 19x19, Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 14x14, Canopy Front Walksnail Camera 19x19, Canopy Rear Walksnail VTX V1, Canopy Rear Walksnail VTX V2.

August 23, 2023 – Stormbird_20230823.zip

• Fuselage Rear & Wing Inners updated - fixed an issue with the rear spar position, added control rod cutouts to Wing Inners.
• Elevon Inners updated - control horns repositioned.

August 17, 2023 – Stormbird_20230817.zip

• Stormbird released.

About Me

My name is Lloyd aka Stunt Double and I've been flying RC planes since the year 2000. I started flying slope soaring models then moved on to electric powered planes & multirotor aircraft. Fixed wing flying both LOS & FPV is my main interest. I have been designing and building my own models for a long time but I am fairly new to drawing 3D printed planes in CAD.

If you enjoy my RC plane designs, please consider making a donation with Buy Me a Coffee. All donations are much appreciated, they are used to buy rolls of filament and model supplies so I can continue developing new designs. I have lots of ideas for future FPV & VTOL planes.

The Stormbird is my second publicly released plane. The idea for this plane came about while I was working on a VTOL tailsitter project. I had drawn up a straight plank style wing with 2 tractor motors and was thinking about what to do for the fuselage. I took the existing fuselage from my other 3D printed flying wing called the Firebird and dropped it onto this new wing. It looked pretty good in this basic form so I decided to develop it some more and turn it into a sleek pusher plane.

The plank design was tested throughout July & August of 2023. There were 3 flying prototypes used to fine tune the plane and optimize the layout. The feature I like most about this plane is the slide on canopy. I had been thinking about this idea for a long time, the canopy slides on a set of rails and is secured by magnets. The canopy is locked in place without any slop and can be opened quickly & easily without using any tools.

Support

Please join my facebook group 3D Printed RC Planes by Stunt Double. This is the place to discuss all my models. There are over 10,000 members with posts daily.