Skybound
Background and Objective
The Model Flight project was part of our Universities Aerospace 161 class, where we learned the basics of Solidworks and improved our proficiency in Matlab. We were placed into groups of five and were instructed to design an aircraft of our choice. For this assignment our group chose the Cessna 152. We split the aircraft into five smaller parts that we assigned to each team member until final construction.
The available parts were:
1) Propeller
2) Wings
3) Fuselage
4) Tail Fin
5) Struts and Landing Gear
My assigned part was the fuselage. Our goal was to design all parts from scratch using openly available resources and present our work through a report and group presentation.
Design Process
The fuselage has a very abnormal shape; thus, to make it, I used reference images by finding front, side, and top-down view of the Cessna 152 aircraft. Having done that, I placed those images in their respective planes as a sketch tool. Once all the images were in place, I started by going on my right plane and sketching out the fuselage outline. I made sure that I had endpoints in the middle of my front and rear portions of my aircraft for future lines. After completing my outline, I went to the top view to create a 3D sketch heading along the fuselage's right side. Once that was completed, I went back onto the right plane view to align my 3D sketch to the front and rear endpoints I made in my previous step.
Before I could make a boundary surface, I had to make cross-sections of the aircraft to ensure it stays consistent along the lines I made while giving the fuselage the appropriate thickness. I chose four different points along with the aircraft and made 3D cross-section sketches. To make my boundaries, I use the "boundary surface" tool in SolidWorks and select the bottom outline of my fuselage and my 3D illustration what went around the side on the top view for my "Dir1 curves influence" and my cross-section 3D sketches for "Dir2 curves influence."
And finally, to add a few more features, I made outline sketches of features on the aircraft like the windows, door, and windshield - once that was done, I used the split line feature to add them to my model. Since I didn't use any values to define my aircrafts size, I drew a line along the center of the fuselage and checked its length; after finding out the distance, I scaled it up by an appropriate value to get it to the actual size in real life, which is 24 ft.
After completing those steps, voila, you have a fuselage.
During this project, **Project Leadership** played a crucial role in the development of my management and communication skills. By delegating tasks effectively to team members, I learned how to optimize workflow, ensuring each member's strengths were utilized. Managing the preparation of reports and presentations further sharpened my ability to convey technical progress clearly and efficiently. Overseeing key operations such as planning, reporting, assembly, and document preparation deepened my organizational skills, teaching me how to balance multiple moving parts while maintaining project momentum.
In terms of **Designing and Modelling**, this project significantly enhanced my technical proficiency. Using SolidWorks, I was able to take on complex assemblies, incorporating newly learned techniques to create detailed, functional models. Scaling the design of a part allowed me to develop a sharper eye for precision and accuracy, which is essential in engineering design. The assembly of multiple parts into a cohesive structure further strengthened my understanding of component integration, enhancing my spatial reasoning and mechanical design skills.
The **Problem Solving** aspect of the project fostered critical thinking and teamwork. Brainstorming solutions for the fuselage construction challenged me to approach design problems creatively, while proper planning and time management ensured tasks were executed efficiently. Working collaboratively with the team, I learned the importance of cross-functional cooperation, which not only reduced hours but also increased overall efficiency. These experiences reinforced my ability to approach complex challenges systematically while fostering a collaborative working environment.
Overall, this project provided significant opportunities for skill development across leadership, technical design, and problem-solving, equipping me with a well-rounded set of tools for future engineering challenges.
