2 ms·
The fun thing to do with the engines was to start them standalone, point them straight up and let go. They'd go shooting up into the sky until torque reaction m
by zh3 4y ago
The fun thing to do with the engines was to start them standalone, point them straight up and let go. They'd go shooting up into the sky until torque reaction made them spin fast enough to stop fuel getting to the engine - at which point they'd pop and misfire, and tumble back to earth (sometimes restarting on the way back down.
To this day I have scarred fingers from playing with these model engines.
- acomjean 4y agoWe had that in helocopter form. You started it (of course hand spinning the prop). It took off, ran out of gas and came back down. There were large blades that slowed it decent. I remember we first started it, we had no idea what to expect. (the pre youtube days) Its a wonder kids who grew up with these things have any fingers..
- jiggawatts 4y agoI had a similar experience building model rockets with those Estes brand engines. After many hours putting together the rocket, I launched it successfully but the parachute got stuck in a tall tree and I couldn't retrieve it. My Dad an I had the bright idea of simply lashing a bare Estes engine to a balsa rod, and launching it like a classic Chinese rocket. The performance was amazing, so we promptly drove to the hobby store and bought the biggest engine they had in stock. The "D" size, if I remember correctly. That was a tad too much power -- our contraption bent and started going in spirals and nearly set someone's garden on fire. Fun times.