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Watch This Guy Fire Up A Screaming Axial Flow Micro Jet Engine On His Balcony – Think The Neighbors Freaked?


Watch This Guy Fire Up A Screaming Axial Flow Micro Jet Engine On His Balcony – Think The Neighbors Freaked?

There’s a pretty incredible culture of modelers and scale builders out there that we’re blown away by every time we stumble upon it. There are guys flying model airplanes, quarter scale that fly at a legitimate 400mph. That’s not a “scale” speed, that’s actual speed. These are fighter planes powered by miniature (but powerful) turbine engines that they have the same shrieking wail that the real ones have even though the engines are miniscule in comparison. While there are outfits that provide people a venue to buy such devices, there are guys who actually build these things by hand for fun and we’re pretty sure the engine we’ll see running in the video below is one of those homebuilt projects constructed by a very smart guy with very precise parts and pieces. As you’ll see, the engine is clamped in a small vice, sitting outside on a second or third floor balcony of an apartment building where the constructor must live. What do you think the neighbors said when they heard this little devil winding up and finally lit off?

The guy uses what appears to be some sort of small hand starter to spin the engine up to speed and once it reaches speed enough to sustain running, he pulls it away. The one thing we cannot determine by the video is the scale of the noise. Yes it sounds super loud on the video but the reality is that it may not be and that deafening roar may be exaggerated by the placement of the camera in relation to the device. What do you think? Have any experience with these things? Are they are loud as their big brothers or is this just a function of the camera being so close?

Either way, this is a truly awesome little beast and we’re thinking that we’d love to see it in a scale model of Art Arfons’ Green Monster at Bonneville!

PRESS PLAY BELOW AND WATCH THIS LITTLE AXIAL FLOW MICRO TURBINE FIRE UP AND RUN ON A DUDE’S BALCONY –


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4 thoughts on “Watch This Guy Fire Up A Screaming Axial Flow Micro Jet Engine On His Balcony – Think The Neighbors Freaked?

  1. geo815

    They are loud. When Warbirds over the Rockies was held near Fort Collins, I’d make it a point to go see them. Not full sizeday loud, but we’ll over safe levels. Bucketlist r/c item is to strap one on a 1/4 scale dragster.

  2. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    Well – the first motor test of The Smethurst Turbojet Orgasmatron went well. No all that was needed was to find a human guinea pig to try it out on,,,

  3. steve

    the thing he is using on the front is a ducted fan. most r/c sized jet engines are started by blowing air through it. some use an air compressor, co2, even propane. this one uses a fan to get it spinning. using an electric starter is troublesome as the engine likely needs to be around 75,000rpm to get it to light, and idle is likely around 40,000rpm.

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