Autonamous UAV - KESTRAL

KESTRAL - 7/2/26

Hi guys, I’ve done a lot since the last devlog here’s a list of things added:
-Proper hinges for the ailerons, and ruddervators
-Mostly final model of aileron and ruddervators
-cavities in some of the ribs for servos to actuate the control surfaces
-routing for wires for servos in main wing
-inserted servos and servo horns
-models of RPI4, MATEK F405 Wing, 40 amp ESC, RPI HQ Cam w/ Lens
-All of the cells of the 4s3p lipo pack
-Modeled the brackets to hold the 21700 cells in the battery pack together
-Modified main nacelle to be larger to fit all avionics and payload
-Dummy model of motor and imported prop
-Removed internal support structure of all ribs (turns out with this scale of 3d prints the honey comb structure would be heavier, this was very painful)
-Started putting 3d printed parts in bambu lab Slicer to find mass when printed with right settings and putting mass in onshape to calculate the CG

Things I plan on doing:
-Finish adding mass to all parts
-Add wiring routing for servos in tail section
-Figure out how to join 2 halves of the main nacelle
-modify the main nacelle holder (currently its like 2 cm wide and probably will not hold the weight of the nacelle)
-Figure out how to fit all the avionics into the main nacelle
-Figure out main payload
-I might need to make a power distribution board so I need to learn how to make pcbs

Also I still haven’t finalized the payload, right now I’ve just thrown a RPI HQ cam on there to take pictures of the ground and maybe use machine vision or something to identify and track things on the ground.

If yall have any better suggestions please tell me
The UAV can carry 1 KG for 1 hr so anything that is relatively small and under 1kg is fine. PLZ give me ideas

here is a link to the CAD:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/9bbfe5c889049964a7b3ec7c/w/12735438ade2747052664e45/e/bffd84ac46a9da4b91f82ea6?renderMode=0&uiState=6a466a252d98a41a72b522e7

Hi, 1st devlog

I’ve already been working on this for a while before I started Stardance, so I have the main structure done
Things to add:
-space for wiring and linkages for control surfaces
-payload design
-mount for motor
-other things I have yet to think about

did some work on the ailerons and wings today

Also I still haven’t decide on the final payload yet so if yall have any good ideas please let me know

This platform should be able to carry up to 1kg for 1 hour and I can probably redesign the fuselage to fit anything reasonable.

Finally here is the link to the onshape project if you wanna chack it out:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/9bbfe5c889049964a7b3ec7c/w/12735438ade2747052664e45/e/bffd84ac46a9da4b91f82ea6?renderMode=0&uiState=6a3db24cd585f1d9e3870a42