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 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

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---

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.


I've never seen the twin Air Hogs but we have a single that has been a
lot of fun.

Has anyone seen these new twin engine electric RC planes that go for
about $40? My wife bought one for my 8 year old and I just groaned,
certain that it would be way too hard for him to operate. But I didn't
bother to check it out, which I should have. It turns out that they
have designed a really slow flying, stable platform that goes into a
nice glide when the power is cut. The controls are two thumb operated
sticks that control power to each engine. That's it. No ailerons, no
elevator, no rudder, just variable asymmetrical thrust. Not realizing
this I wrote it off as something he wouldn't be able to handle for years
to come, then came home one day and saw him flying it around his head in
circles with absolutely no instruction or adult intervention. You could
have knocked me over with a feather. I can look up the name if anyone
is interested.

Tom

"Kingfish" wrote

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...

Why not put a collector on the exhaust, and a small combustion chamber with
igniter. Jet power, anyone? g
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message
news

"Kingfish" wrote

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...

Why not put a collector on the exhaust, and a small combustion chamber
with igniter. Jet power, anyone? g
--
Jim in NC

Hmmm, I wonder if there is enough pressure there for a glow-plug to do the
ignition??

Say, can anyone recommend an indoor R/C model that is small enough to
fly in a two-story home with one of those huge ceilings? Airship,
airplane, helicopter, just so long as its good quality, fairly
controllable.