Building an RC Pulse Jet Powed Airplane.

I believe everything but the head is made of .020 thick 321 stainless. It is all welded by hand, and to look at this welding close up it is of amazing quality. I originally thought it was robot welded, if you look really close you can tell it is hand welded. The head is machined out of a solid block of aluminum. the heat is not supposed to get that close to the front and there are some internal baffles to keep the heat to the rear, and the incoming fuel is sprayed on the back of the head for further cooling.

All of the hot section parts on my RC turbines are made of Inconel because they have to be really strong to hold together at 1500°F while spinning at 125,000+ RPM (not a typo) some of them will cruise at 250,000 RPM. Heck Idle is 37,000 RPM
 
Last edited:
I have finally decided on a color scheme for this beast. The computer does not do the colors justice.
The yellow will be the very bright Corvette Yellow, The red is a very bright GM Fire Red (same as my truck) and the darker red along the leading edges will be a bright Metal Flake Red. In the top view the gold area in the center will be a gold heat reflective material. The same gold stuff that NASA uses to protect spacecraft from heat. On the bottom it is just a very bright white and black stripes with the same Metal Flake Red wrapping around from the top. All of the priming is now done. it is in white primer so that the colors will be brighter. I am now in the process of accumulating all of the painting supplies that I will need to get the whole thing done.

TOP VIEW
Layout-Top.jpg

BOTTOM VIEW
Layout-Bottom.jpg

SIDE VIEW
Layout-Fin.jpg
 
Last edited:
I know nothing about this type of "Jet". Looks like an awesome build., and fun to fly.
But when you were talking about the spark you needed, wouldn't the electronic starter on a gas stove be enough to lite it off?
Might have been easier to use one of those than building the whole thing from scratch.
 
Could you built a test plane with conventional propeller drive and with similar flight characteristics so you can practice flying that before the jet?
 
The spark has to be able to fire throuogh raw kerosene to get it lit. I do not think that a stove lighter would have enough oomph. This spark will fire through almost anything.

I have flown similar aircraft to this. I just have never flown anything this fast.
 
In 1963 I build a ram jet engine and mounted it to a skateboard
I had a lot of fun with it ( it did go fast)
. My mom took it away from m, she was afraid I would set the area on fire
I used a co2 cylinder and filled it with white gas, mountEd a burner under to heat the cylinder, mounted a steel tube (adjustable for max thrust)
it didn’t go fast about 10 mph
very simple engine
 
dirty tools said:
In 1963 I build a ram jet engine and mounted it to a skateboard
I had a lot of fun with it ( it did go fast)
. My mom took it away from m, she was afraid I would set the area on fire
I used a co2 cylinder and filled it with white gas, mountEd a burner under to heat the cylinder, mounted a steel tube (adjustable for max thrust)
it didn't go fast about 10 mph
very simple engine
Click to expand...

Ok which was it, Slow or Fast? :laughing:

For what its worth, I would say 10mph on a skateboard isnt Exactly like riding on a turtle!
 
Could I ask for more details of whats in the box to generate the spark, are you using a condenser as well as the points?.

I saw two of these flying at a display years back and was shocked at the amount of sound it produced, level flight, climbing, diving it was just one continous glourious sound. I've always wanted to build a pulse jet but I could never fly one at those speeds. Please keep those posts coming.
Nick
 
The spark box is simply an automotive ignition coil, a DPDT relay with one side wired as a buzzer and the other as the ignition points with an automotive condenser across the points. Power is a small 12V sealed gel cell battery that runs thru a fuse and a power switch. there is also an interlock that will kill power if the lid is opened.

I start a new part time job on Monday so I spent the weekend prepping for that and I start a new full time job next week so I will be spending a bunch of time closing out my old full time job and preping for the new one. I am still waiting for all of the paint to show up. I want everything here before I start squirting color. It is the Corvette Yellow that was hard to source. I had to get regular paint and will have to use my HVLP for the yellow the metal flake and the final clear coat. The black, red and white will all be buzz bomb. I hate cleaning the spray gun. I guess no one figures a vette would ever get painted from a buzz bomb.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top