Low Weight 3D Printable Glider

Hello! This is a glider I designed using the design principles I have learned while earning my aerospace engineering degree. It's a very low weight glider; if you use LWPLA (I used Polymaker's) it only weighs around 20g before glue or tape. Only a small amount of glue is needed at each joint to ensure it stays together. Furthermore, use 2 layers of tape (top/bottom or on both sides) at each control surface to trim out the plane and get it flying in a stable manner.

I printed this on my Prusa MINI+. They all fit on the 7 inch bed and I've attached the files here if you want them! If you prefer to slice them yourself, just make sure you print the fuselage oriented upside down, and with supports.

Here's some boring stuff about the glider (or interesting if you like planes!):

1. I designed it with a large aspect ratio(AR). AR is the ratio of a plane's wingspan to it's average chord, so large AR wings are skinny and long like real life gliders, while small AR wings are not as wide like the Space Shuttle.
2. It has a T-tail as an empennage. This was for two reasons; first, I wanted the horizontal tail to be out of the way as you grab it during launch. Second, it really needed to be at the top or the bottom if I didn't want to waste support material.
3. I decided to use masking tape for the control surfaces because they are very easy to adjust, they stay where you put them when there are two layers, and tape is cheap. This allows you to have an imperfect build quality but still let the plane fly straight and level when you trim it out.
4. Originally, I was only going to have it be hand launched, but decided to design a launcher for it so it could be launched consistently with the same force.

Instructions to build and launch:

1. Place masking tape on both top and bottom of trailing edge of horizontal stabilizer (the little wing in the back/on top). Cut out a notch in the middle and try to make the sides as even as possible.
2. Place masking tape on both sides of the rudder. Cut the edges to make them look clean/professional.
3. Put a small amount of glue in the notch on the back of the fuselage and connect the two pieces.
4. Place tape on the trailing edge of the wing, again on both the top and bottom surface. Place it further out on the wing to increase control authority. Repeat for the other wing.
5. Put glue in the notch on the side of the fuselage. Take the wing and slide it in from the back until it sits at the front of the notch. There will be a lot of resistance, but it shouldn't break it if you're using good quality filament. Repeat for the other wing. (NOTE: the flat surface should be on the bottom)
6. Give the glue some time to dry. Place one rubber band on each side of the launcher when ready to launch. Grab the glider from the back, right under the empennage, and hook it onto the two rubber bands. Pull back and launch.
7. Trim out the control surfaces to make it fly better.
8. Have fun!

If you have any requests, please let me know. I've attached the .ipt inventor files if anyone would like to modify it!