While browsing through Facebook I ran into a few images of a very realistic 3D printed Predator drone plane, flying against a blue sky, posted by Chinese 3D printer manufacturer Mankati. Somewhat alarmed, I contacted Christina from the marketing team at Mankati to find out some more information.
For all those worried about seeing a killer military drone flying over their heads, you can relax. The 3D printed predator is not operational, meaning it cannot fly and it certainly cannot kill. However the 3D models is impressively accurate.
Designed by a web user who goes by the name of King Kong Gourd, the Predator is made up of over 20 STL files. Total wingspan measures a whopping 135 cm, so it pretty large. Each wing measures 64 cm and the length, from the front to the tail is 54 cm. All together it weighs 500 grams.
It was printed using PLA and took about 50 hours. King Kong Gourd is a Mankati Full-scale 3D printer user, a student and a designer. The image of the Predator Drone against the sky is photoshopped, however the drone model is very real. And somewhat scary.