Airfish 3 WIG boat Ekranoplan 3D print model

Herewith a 3D printable model of the Airfish 3, a lightweight 2-seat WIG-boat as it was developped by Fischer Flugmechanik and manufactured by Rhein Flugzeugbau. The model has been created in Solidworks, I've included STEP and IGES files, next to seperate STL files for all printable parts. All parts are sized to be printed on print beds of 30x30cm upwards and of course can be resized accordingly. In the standard size the assembled model is 520 x 387 x 106 mm.

A short history: The Airfish 3 is predated by the X-112, X-113, X-114, Airfish 1 and Airfish 2, all reverse-delta 'Lippish' layout WIG boats. Whilst the Airfish 1 & 2 were strictly prototype vehicles, the Airfish 3 was ordered by the Flarecraft Corporation (US) in 1989, and manufactured in 1990 by Rhein Flugzeugbau (Germany), supported by Hanno Fischer and Klaus Matjasic. After trial runs in The Netherlands, the boat was shipped to the US and was operated as a demonstrator & prototype for a few years. It is said that over 50 different powerplant configurations were tried in this period, including VW and motorcyle engines. Subsequently, it was returned to Germany to be converted to the AF-3PA configuration, which included a change in wing planform. Where the vehicle had a conventional reverse delte before the update, it was rebuild to have a non-tapered center section. This allowed a more efficient integration of two small PAR motors (Power assisted RAMwing) in front of the main wing, to reduce the take-off distance. Also it more closely aligned the wing planform with the AF-8, in development at the time.

After the bankruptcy of Rhein Flugzeugbau, the cooperation between the Flarecraft corp and Fischer deteriorated, the original AF-3 was as such not returned and eventually placed in storage. Together with the X-113 and the AF-8, it was sold to Flightship Pty in Australia in 1997. After the bankruptcy of Flightship Pty, it was bought by Wigetworks in Singapore, which is where it resides till today. It's current intended use is to be a trainer version for flightcrews of the Airfish 8, which is to be sold commercially in a cooperation with ST Engineering. Most recently the Airfish 3 was displayed in a fully overhauled state at the Singapor Airshow 2024 by ST Engineering.

This model shows the configuration it had during its time at Flightship Pty, with a conceptual coast guard scheme and a 'Fischer-typical' ducted fan propulsion unit. The vehicle is in the AF-3PA configuration but lacks the PAR engines at this time. The covering of the vertical tails has been extended upwards beyond the earlier configurations. The vehicle includes a partially exposed engine with two rearwards positioned exhaust dampers. The model is printed in two major parts, with smaller parts to build-up the propulsion unit. The CAD model is based on extensive research, 3view drawings from the AF-3 prior to the conversion, and a multitude of books & papers released on the development of reverse delta technology and Fischer Flugmechanik.