Really Cool Toy (aviation, and a tiny bit of metal, content)

You airplane geeks will love this. My son bought his three-year-old an Air
Hogs "Twin Fury" plane at Toys-R-Us on sale for $12.95 Saturday. This is a
twin-engined pneumatically powered toy airplane that is very, very clever.
Here's a link to a picture of it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...#more-pictures

What is really clever is the design of the motors. These are tiny little
pneumatic motors with only three moving parts each, designed for them by a
consulting firm: http://www.rehkemper.com/airmotor.html The original Air
Hogs pneumatic motor apparently cost 50 cents to make. These new motors are
more efficient and cost 8 cents (!) to make.

When pumped up to the recommended pressure (50 strokes on the supplied pump)
the motors run for roughly 10-15 seconds, initially giving enough thrust to
almost lift the plane on its props. Amazing amount of thrust. Gareth set
his off the first time and claims that it climbed to nearly 300 feet and
flew around for a couple of minutes. The second time it ended up in a high
tree and could not be recovered. No problem; at @ $12.95 he bought another
one. Now that he knows how far it can fly, he's going to be more careful
about where he launches it.

Yesterday I bought one too, only for me.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

Bob Chilcoat wrote:

Yesterday I bought one too, only for me.

For a mere $30, you can get the Air Hogs Aero Ace, a twin engine RC
biplane. There are usually about three of them flying around in the
hangar where I work at lunchtime and breaks. This "toy" has boundary
layer control details molded into the wing and fuselage. It flys about
10-15 minutes on a charge from the charger built into the controller.

--
J Kimmel

www.metalinnovations.com

"Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum." - When you have
their full attention in your grip, their hearts and minds will follow.

On Mon, 1 May 2006 14:15:40 -0400, "Bob Chilcoat"
wrote:

You airplane geeks will love this. My son bought his three-year-old an Air
Hogs "Twin Fury" plane at Toys-R-Us on sale for $12.95 Saturday. This is a
twin-engined pneumatically powered toy airplane that is very, very clever.
Here's a link to a picture of it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...#more-pictures

What is really clever is the design of the motors. These are tiny little
pneumatic motors with only three moving parts each, designed for them by a
consulting firm: http://www.rehkemper.com/airmotor.html The original Air
Hogs pneumatic motor apparently cost 50 cents to make. These new motors are
more efficient and cost 8 cents (!) to make.

When pumped up to the recommended pressure (50 strokes on the supplied pump)
the motors run for roughly 10-15 seconds, initially giving enough thrust to
almost lift the plane on its props. Amazing amount of thrust. Gareth set
his off the first time and claims that it climbed to nearly 300 feet and
flew around for a couple of minutes. The second time it ended up in a high
tree and could not be recovered. No problem; at @ $12.95 he bought another
one. Now that he knows how far it can fly, he's going to be more careful
about where he launches it.

Yesterday I bought one too, only for me.

Neighbor kid and I strapped one of the originals to a 2 liter Dr
Pepper ( what can I say, it's Texas) bottle and plumbed it in.
Pressurized it to 90psi from a compressor. Lost it in some tall weeds
a half mile away.

--Andy Asberry recommends NewsGuy--

"JKimmel" wrote in message ...
Bob Chilcoat wrote:

Yesterday I bought one too, only for me.

For a mere $30, you can get the Air Hogs Aero Ace, a twin engine RC biplane. There are usually about three of them
flying around in the hangar where I work at lunchtime and breaks. This "toy" has boundary layer control details
molded into the wing and fuselage. It flys about 10-15 minutes on a charge from the charger built into the
controller.

--
J Kimmel



I saw a guy at Creve Coeur (1h0) airport doing some hangar flying with one of those - pretty cool...

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
You airplane geeks will love this. My son bought his three-year-old an
Air Hogs "Twin Fury" plane at Toys-R-Us on sale for $12.95 Saturday.
This is a twin-engined pneumatically powered toy airplane that is very,
very clever. Here's a link to a picture of it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...#more-pictures

What is really clever is the design of the motors. These are tiny little
pneumatic motors with only three moving parts each, designed for them by a
consulting firm: http://www.rehkemper.com/airmotor.html The original Air
Hogs pneumatic motor apparently cost 50 cents to make. These new motors
are more efficient and cost 8 cents (!) to make.

When pumped up to the recommended pressure (50 strokes on the supplied
pump) the motors run for roughly 10-15 seconds, initially giving enough
thrust to almost lift the plane on its props. Amazing amount of thrust.
Gareth set his off the first time and claims that it climbed to nearly 300
feet and flew around for a couple of minutes. The second time it ended up
in a high tree and could not be recovered. No problem; at @ $12.95 he
bought another one. Now that he knows how far it can fly, he's going to
be more careful about where he launches it.

Yesterday I bought one too, only for me.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

Bob,
If you really want to get some air time out of those .. fill it's tank with
butane from one of the cans they use for butane lighters. It goes in as a
liquid and turns to gas at a rate that keeps em running a really long time
I bought my son a car like that years ago and we "discovered" that a
little butane would make it run for blocks on a single fill.

Glenn

Anyway, yes the motor is clever... No it is not totally new... Any gear
head able to walk and chew gum recognizes it as a bump valve steam
engine... The original thinking is using a fixed shelf as the piston,
with eccentric faces that allow the extended piston head to swing in an
arc... This will work at low speeds and low pressures with a neoprene
0-ring as the piston seal...

denny

On Mon, 1 May 2006 14:15:40 -0400, "Bob Chilcoat"
wrote:


What is really clever is the design of the motors. These are tiny little
pneumatic motors with only three moving parts each, designed for them by a
consulting firm: http://www.rehkemper.com/airmotor.html

I take my hat of to those guys. that is a neat design.
worthy of a design award.
Stealth Pilot

Coupla guys at work are goofing with the four-electric-engined version of
these.... the "Air Hog RC Titan." They found them at Costco for about $60.

The scary thing about these is that there is no aerodynamic control of these
planes. Nothing moves except the propellers. All the joystick does is adjust
the speed of the engines.... push the lever to the right, and the left-side
engines turn faster. Pull back on the stick and all the engines rev up.

Needless to say, this results in some highly erratic...yet highly
entertaining...flights. The planes themselves are light but incredibly impact
resistant. They haven't actually broken one yet, even with some fairly nasty
crashes.

Ron Wanttaja

If you really want to get some air time out of those .. fill it's tank with butane from one of the cans they use for butane lighters.

To avoid another TWA 800 tragedy, you'd need a fuel cell inerting
device. Then again, without any lives at risk it'd make an impressive
aerial flamethrower...

In rec.crafts.metalworking Glenn wrote:
If you really want to get some air time out of those .. fill it's tank with
butane from one of the cans they use for butane lighters. It goes in as a
liquid and turns to gas at a rate that keeps em running a really long time
I bought my son a car like that years ago and we "discovered" that a
little butane would make it run for blocks on a single fill.
--Hey neat idea; I'll have to try this with my High Hopping
Hoomdorm! :-)

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : I'll have the roast duck
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : with the mango salsa...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---