My name is Andrew Livesley and I design and 3D print aircraft. I am an aircraft designer, I am ambitious and totally in love with the process of creating flying machines.
I design the planes that I want to fly, each of my planes has a very specific idea and vision behind it that starts right at its inception and I stubbornly drive it to completion making as few compromises along the way. The result? Razor sharp aircraft built to rip but also be docile and easy to fly/land.
I want to share the experience of flying these aircraft with you, so that you may enrich your lives with new thrilling experiences and capture new perspectives high above the ground. Its up to you to choose, adrenaline or serenity.
WUDFLY is my hangar of aircraft and they are f*king awesome.
MY JOURNEY.
I started flying RC planes as a kid and then got into FPV drones a couple of years ago. I flew about a hundred hours worth of tinywhoops before moving outdoors on larger kwads. I wanted to fly something bigger and more relaxed, more chill but also exciting when I wanted it to be - something I felt I wasn't getting with kwads. This is when I started designing my own FPV aircraft.
HOW I DESIGN?
To make a good aircraft I believe you need to start with a very strict idea of what you want to achieve. With the idea in mind I run through an iterative initial sizing design loop that once sufficiently polished spills over into Onshape and eventually takes flight. This part of the process is what excites me the most, the freedom of choosing precisely what you want to achieve and going about making it happen by relying on the work of great Aerodynamicists and Engineers that have done all the hard work already.
WHATS NEXT.
More planes.
More planes that share parts, as my builds are tightly optimised around a specific set of parts in order to meet specific mass targets I want this set of components to be used widely across multiple platforms. Batteries, servos, esc, motors, props - everything that can be used on other planes will. This saves costs and lets us have more fun!
That means if you pick up all the components for EL BANDITO you will have basically everything you need for the next set of similar aircraft. Chances are you'll want to keep one of each flying - I know I do!
WHY 3D PRINTING.
3D printing allows me to control the geometry and airfoil profile of the wing very precisely over the wingspan making it possible to exploit aerodynamic benefits not accessible in traditional manufacturing methods.
Light weight PLA absorbs energy very well in crashes which protects the expensive electronics package. Reprinting an airframe costs less than €3.- and swapping the electronics over is quick. Dare to fly in cool places (safely and respecting local laws) without worrying about damaging fragile foam planes or gluing them back together. Print, swap, go again
I'm making this easy for you by designing planes that just work. No setup mess, no messing around trying to get the CG (centre of gravity) correct etc. Buy the list of components that I provide, assemble the plane and load the Flight Controller configuration and that's it. When the battery is in place the aircraft is perfectly balanced for flight. I'll be sharing as many components as possible with future planes as well.