Dwarfed by huge jets all around, the mini-plane Thor was nonetheless an eye-catcher at the Berlin Air Show – the small Airbus marvel is the world’s first 3D-printed aircraft. Windowless, weighing in at just 21 kilos (46 pounds) and less than four meters (13 feet) long, the drone Thor, short for “Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality” resembles a large, white model airplane.

In Thor, the only parts that are not printed from a substance called polyamide are the electrical elements. The little plane “flies beautifully, it is very stable,” said its chief engineer Gunnar Haase, who conducted Thor’s inaugural flight last November near the northern German city of Hamburg.

Did You Know?

• 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), refers to various processes used to synthesize a three-dimensional object.
• In 3D printing, successive layers of material are formed under computer control to create an object.
• These objects can be of almost any shape or geometry and are produced from a 3D model or other electronic data source.
• A 3D printer is a type of industrial robot.
• 3D printing in the term’s original sense refers to processes that sequentially deposit material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads.