Posted by WinField on 07/27/06 17:55

Ah yes, the Jet-X engine. Brings back more memories ...

One of the hobbyist magazines ran an article by an author who designed a
small balsa glider specifically for the Jet-X. It was called "Small
Wonder" - and indeed it was.

I sent away for the plans, and built me one. As an impatient kid, I
just couldn't wait to fire it up.

At night, without really taking the time to trim flight characteristics
on "Small Wonder", I lit the fuse, waited for thrust and let'er rip ...

Mostly what I could see was the dim orange glow of the engine case as
"Small Wonder" performed two really halatious loops - barely missing a
tall tree, and then glided into a park across the street. Luckily there
was some lights there. A beautiful landing. A truly exhilarating flight!

There were problems with Jet-X engines. Every flight was less powerful
than the last. The hot exhaust would enlarge the nozzle (methinks).
Getting consistent fuse ignites was a bit hellish.

The last flight of "Small Wonder" was sad. Limping along on a very
weakened Jet-X engines, it pretty much replicated the Wright brothers
first flight. It hit a tree trunk, and (sob) shattered into pieces.


- Winf


jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com wrote:

>
> Should have used Jet-X engines; lower peak thrust and longer burn time.
>
> What we learned was if you didn't put foil over the balsa where the
> exhaust hit it, you got a really neat in-flight fire.
>

[Back to original message]