Realise at 04:00 a.m. or thereabouts that for a proof of concept the airframe needs only support four motors and propellers, so long as it offers the potential to up these eventually in number to eight... or even sixteen. It will after all be flying with a crash-test dummy in the first instance.
It has the benefit of practically halving the cost and while researching the options in the small hours I also find a supplier who can provide 20mm sections as well as half-metre square sheet for the centre-section.
My outlines on the lounge floor of the past two days are not wasted either, as they fix dimensions going forward to that half-metre-square centre-section, along with metre-long perimeter lengths.
One benefit of the approach is not least the fact that this outline flew successfully in December of last year, albeit in an underslung configuration:
