Cores, Cuts and Carbon — Inside the Raptor DLG Manufacturing Process
10 March 2026
Most people who fly an F3K glider never see what went into making it. They see the finished wing — light, stiff, gloss-finished — but not the chain of precision steps that produced it. I managed to get some behind-the-scenes footage of the Raptor DLG being made, and it’s well worth watching.
CNC Cutting the Foam Cores
Before any carbon fibre is laid up, the wing’s internal foam cores need to be shaped with precision. These cores form the structural backbone of the wing sandwich — giving it its aerofoil profile and torsional stiffness while keeping weight to a minimum.
The CNC router runs a purpose-built machine with a high-speed spindle and a steel reference rail along the length for axis accuracy. White Rohacell pre cut stock blocks go onto a vacuum bed, and perfectly profiled wing cores come out — repeatable, clean, and ready for the laminating table.
It’s a satisfying watch. There’s something meditative about seeing the cutter work its way through the foam, the airfoil shape emerging pass by pass.
Various — Carbon Prep and the Pod Molds
This short clip captures a few different aspects of the build process — precut carbon and glass reinforcement pieces laid out on the cutting mat, ready for layup, and a good look at the aluminium fuselage pod molds.
Those pod molds are worth a closer look. They’re a matched pair of CNC-machined aluminium halves, polished to a mirror finish, with the parting line running precisely along the centre. Everything that touches this mold comes out with that surface quality — and the pod has to survive repeated hand-launches while carrying all the electronics, so it needs to be right.
Demolding — The Moment of Truth
This is the one to watch. After the wing shell has cured under pressure in the mold for around 12 hours, the perimeter bolts come out and the two halves separate. What’s revealed is the finished outer surface — graphics and all — exactly as it will look in the air.
No post-paint. No finishing. The pink Raptor lettering, the geometric livery, the mirror gloss — all of it locked permanently into the laminate during the layup. The inside of the shell shows the servo bay cutouts already formed, and right at the end you can spot the serial number label: Raptor DLG/F3K, R1 002/23. Made in SA.
Mine is 001/23. These are the first two production Raptors off this tooling.
Small Batch, Properly Engineered
What these videos collectively show is a manufacturing process that is small-batch but genuinely engineered — not a garage kit operation, but a proper composite production workflow. CNC core cutting for repeatability. Aluminium tooling for surface quality. Paint-in-laminate for finish durability. Serial numbers for traceability.
It’s a South African-made F3K glider that can stand alongside anything produced anywhere in the world. That’s something worth documenting.
*Previous posts in this series: From Mold to Sky — the layup process | 3D Printed Servo Holder*