Almost 120 years ago, mankind took to the skies for the first time when the Wright brothers successfully flew their first aircraft in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Of course, we had been dreaming of and attempting to fly long before that. Hot air balloons first took mankind off the ground in 1783 in Versailles, France, and Leonardo Di Vinci had numerous drawings of flying machines, flight captures our imaginations. If like so many you dream of flight, this contest is for you.

LW-PLA/PLA RC Plane – Pusher Propeller by TinyTexas

Making things fly is one of the more enduring engineering challenges in the world, engineers and inventors are constantly trying to make better flying machines. We think this is a perfect challenge for all of you. There are many ways that items can fly, float, hover, or glide and we would like to see them all. This contest is open to Planes, helicopters, quadcopters, gliders, or any other kind of flying machine.

We should define what it means to fly, float, or glide to help reduce the entries from those that think they are clever with a comment like “if thrown, anything can fly”. Any valid entry once let go of in a way intending to launch the object must have some form of lift capable of slowing or preventing its descent by gravity. If your object has no more lift than a stone or a ball, it’s not a valid entry to the contest.

Trivenger Boomerang by turbi40

Take a look at some great examples below or if you are looking for further inspiration take a look at our most recent blog post about 3D-printed RC aircraft.

Toroidal Rotor 4 Strong Flying Propeller	BumbleBee Quad mk2
Rocket engine balloon	Balloon Helicopter
Water bottle rocket	Flying Helicopter Toy
Toy Plane	Pumpkin Rocket

Prizes

Our first-place winner will receive a brand new Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ Kit.

The second-place winner will receive 3 spools of PLA or PETG Prusament or 1050 PrusaMeters.
Third place will win a 2 spools of PLA or PETG Prusament or 700 PrusaMeters.

You all have a chance to help award some prizes too. We want to see your makes of these designs and the five entries with the most makes (who are not also main prize winners) will each receive 350 Prusameters good for filament and other awesome prizes.

Judging Criteria

• Overall quality of the model.
• Printability – Whether the model has an optimal orientation, whether it is divided into multiple parts so it can be printed more easily (without supports) etc.
• Originality – If you create something truly unique, it will be rated better than a slightly altered existing model.
• Popularity – Share your model to increase its popularity, and prove that users appreciate such a model.
• Your other works – In case we can’t decide between two favorite designs, we often check your other models to see what you can do.
• Assembly instructions – If your model consists of multiple parts, we check how easy it is to assemble the final product.
• Photo quality – Well-lit, in focus, and clear photos help show off your work and help us pick the best designs.

How to participate?

It’s easy to participate in this competition. Just follow these simple instructions.

• Design and create a model or improve an already existing one (“remix”) so that the result fits the theme of this contest. The model has to be printable on an FFF/FDM or SLA 3D printer (any manufacturer and model). This also means that you don’t need to own a 3D printer to participate. When creating the model, keep in mind the pros and cons of various types of 3D printing technologies and what can and can’t be actually done.
• Upload the model to Printables.com and make sure it contains:
  1. Model in .3MF or .STL file format (print files are optional)
  2. Photo or render of the model (ideally both)
  3. Model description
• Add the model to the contest. You will find the new competition button just bellow the download button on the print’s page after you publish your print. Click the Compete medal and select the “Make It Fly” contest. After that, your print will be shown on the contest page and you will be in the running.

Of course, you can share your model on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest,…), and don’t forget to add @printablescom. This can help increase the popularity of the model.

Terms and conditions

• The contest runs from February 14th, 2023 to March 31st, 2023.
• You can submit any number of models (unique) to the competition and increase your chances of winning.
• Models submitted to the contest must be new models that have been uploaded on or after the 1st of February 2023.
• The model must contain at least one printed part.
• By entering the contest, you agree to keep your model posted to Printables.com for a minimum of one year. The Prusa team reserves the right to repost your design if it is removed before the end of that year.
• You must be the original creator of the model you upload, please no reposting other people’s models from other sites.
• We reserve the right to terminate the competition or change the conditions of the competition at any time. In case of violation of the terms and conditions or attempted fraud, the competitor will be disqualified.
• Submitting entries that do not fit the contest criteria will result in disqualification and repeated offenses may disqualify you from future contests.
• Results are at the judge’s discretion and all results are final.