Project Information
I was tired of the commute everyday; 3,000 one way. That took me 26 hours in my 1985 Yugo.
You may think I'm nuts to travel from Rochester, NY to L.A. everyday, but wouldn't you if you were promoted to manager of a Taco Bell? I'm not talking second shift here either, but the day shift. Not every man can pull that off.
So why don't I move? I enjoy New York state. Who wouldn't? I have the privilege to have the highest taxes in the union, and can watch those silly young kids move south where all the jobs are! Could you leave that? I didn't think so. Hence, the long commute.
I couldn't find plans for this Scramjet - not even on FineWoodworking.com. Strange, I know. So, I had to draw this baby up in Sketchup. That took about 4 weeks. Modifying a '72 Volkswagen engine to a scramjet engine was tough. I basically had to build it from scratch, meaning I had to first build a small foundry in the wife's laundry room; she didn't care for that much, LOL. Here's a picture of me and my two boys pouring the main cone of the engine:
It was a great dad/son bonding experience.
Then I had to build the main fuselage - out of wood, or course. The "experts" said it couldn't be done; these "experts" said that wood fibers would incinerate at speeds of Mach 25 (about 19,000 mph). Well, ok, they were right about that; my first test vehicle (unmanned, thank god) became essentially, a very fast sparkler, according to NASA. A second test vehicle did a little better - I used a marine grade polyurethane (yes, I pulled out all the stops), and it didn't break up until it hit mach 2. Undeterred, I built a third version, this time with a carbon fiber and nano-technology hybrid paint I whipped up in the kitchen. Wife didn't like that; ruined three of her good baking pans. Home Depot didn't have carbon fiber fillers - can you believe it? What's up with that place lately?
Anyhow, after 2 test vehicles, I finally had a third vehicle, made out of - what else - qtrsawn white oak. Time for a test pilot to give this baby a run.
Once I got it out of the basement (I had to actually move the house off the foundation, for a day), I got it to the local airport via a tractor trailer, strapped in and took off. After hitting 85,000 feet, I hit the scramjet button, and wow, what a kick in the pants! I went from mach 1 to mach 25 in about 3 minutes, which generates about 35 Gs! After I woke up from the blackout, I found myself over Montana - after only 5 minutes from leaving Rochester! I quickly slowed her down to .5 mach, landing to a very surprised group of ATCs at LAX. After explaining my situation to the men (all dressed in black, for some reason) from Homeland Security, I got a rental car and headed off to work at Taco Bell. Got there about 3 hours early. I forgot that time change thing.
Anyhow, the project came out really well, as you can see in the pic. White oak is just an amazing wood, I can tell you! Side note- I don't just use this baby to get to work; we also use it to get some Chinese food - in China - since we can get there in 2 hours! What's weird too is as I travel west, at full speed, the sun will actually rise as I go west - since I'm traveling much faster than the earth turns!
A great project, just wanted to share this with you guys!
You may think I'm nuts to travel from Rochester, NY to L.A. everyday, but wouldn't you if you were promoted to manager of a Taco Bell? I'm not talking second shift here either, but the day shift. Not every man can pull that off.
So why don't I move? I enjoy New York state. Who wouldn't? I have the privilege to have the highest taxes in the union, and can watch those silly young kids move south where all the jobs are! Could you leave that? I didn't think so. Hence, the long commute.
I couldn't find plans for this Scramjet - not even on FineWoodworking.com. Strange, I know. So, I had to draw this baby up in Sketchup. That took about 4 weeks. Modifying a '72 Volkswagen engine to a scramjet engine was tough. I basically had to build it from scratch, meaning I had to first build a small foundry in the wife's laundry room; she didn't care for that much, LOL. Here's a picture of me and my two boys pouring the main cone of the engine:
It was a great dad/son bonding experience.
Then I had to build the main fuselage - out of wood, or course. The "experts" said it couldn't be done; these "experts" said that wood fibers would incinerate at speeds of Mach 25 (about 19,000 mph). Well, ok, they were right about that; my first test vehicle (unmanned, thank god) became essentially, a very fast sparkler, according to NASA. A second test vehicle did a little better - I used a marine grade polyurethane (yes, I pulled out all the stops), and it didn't break up until it hit mach 2. Undeterred, I built a third version, this time with a carbon fiber and nano-technology hybrid paint I whipped up in the kitchen. Wife didn't like that; ruined three of her good baking pans. Home Depot didn't have carbon fiber fillers - can you believe it? What's up with that place lately?
Anyhow, after 2 test vehicles, I finally had a third vehicle, made out of - what else - qtrsawn white oak. Time for a test pilot to give this baby a run.
Once I got it out of the basement (I had to actually move the house off the foundation, for a day), I got it to the local airport via a tractor trailer, strapped in and took off. After hitting 85,000 feet, I hit the scramjet button, and wow, what a kick in the pants! I went from mach 1 to mach 25 in about 3 minutes, which generates about 35 Gs! After I woke up from the blackout, I found myself over Montana - after only 5 minutes from leaving Rochester! I quickly slowed her down to .5 mach, landing to a very surprised group of ATCs at LAX. After explaining my situation to the men (all dressed in black, for some reason) from Homeland Security, I got a rental car and headed off to work at Taco Bell. Got there about 3 hours early. I forgot that time change thing.
Anyhow, the project came out really well, as you can see in the pic. White oak is just an amazing wood, I can tell you! Side note- I don't just use this baby to get to work; we also use it to get some Chinese food - in China - since we can get there in 2 hours! What's weird too is as I travel west, at full speed, the sun will actually rise as I go west - since I'm traveling much faster than the earth turns!
A great project, just wanted to share this with you guys!