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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!

Gallery

Comments

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Does your wife have any idea you have this much spare time on your hands? :)
 

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Thank you for posting this write up. I to was in the process of making my own scramjet and was going to use the same materials. After reading this, I will skip to the third vehicle so I can save time and the lives of the two blind test pilots. Thanks again for the post and the great advice….haha
 

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No, CharlieM9158, and SHE'S NOT GOING TO NOW, IS SHE BUDDY!?
 

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puzzled, also, make sure to keep some spare gauze pads in the glove compartment of your scramjet; it's great to be able to grab some to dab up the blood dripping out of your eye sockets and ears after jumping to mach 25 - just a friendly tip.
 

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everyone needs one…
 

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Patrick,

What a beautiful project. Thanks for posting it and keep up the good work.

I've been working with carbon fiber and nano-technology hybrid paints too and I've been having a little trouble. I wonder if you could expand on that a bit, perhaps in a blog or something, next time you need to mix up a batch. I'm also curious how you came to the conclusion that quarter sawn white oak would have just the right mix of weight and strength? I started with mesquite and found it to be too heavy but plenty dense (takes a lot of carbon fiber filler for all the "character" though). I'm thinking we need a hybrid Janka scale that gives the ratio of strength to weight to resistence to combustion to floatation characteristics all in one number. Thoughts?
 

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OutPutter,

The paint mix was quite simple, I'll share it with you. You just mix equal parts of Loctite adhesive's "Carbon Fiber N Forget 'er" and Behr's " Nano or 'nuttin" deck stain. The secret ingredient is burned eggs. As you know, you cannot get burned eggs off of anything. Mix all three parts in equal amounts, and boil, so as to burn the eggs (my scramjet required 40 dozen eggs), then apply to the fuselage while scalding hot. Simple.

Yes, white oak was the choice. My supplier had it on sale. Simple. I was considering balsa, and actually made up a test vehicle, but the scramjet engine shot thru the fuselage the second I turned it on. Destroyed my neighbors' dog house.

Hope that helps.
 

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That's where I failed!!! I was using wenge for the main cone of the engine… I couldn't figure out why it disappeared every time I tried to start the engine…. I'll try again… this time maybe making the cone from resin core low-temp lead solder will do the trick?? :p
 

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I like a side of bacon with my scramjet..
 

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Thank God for Kodak technology.

I probably ought to look into this… It's taking me 6 months to ride my horse to the Pizza Hut, and that explains why I'm still an assistant manager after 127 years.
 

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Just waaaaaaaay to much time on your hands. :)
 

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I would hate to have your gas bill, but I am sure the benifit of no traffic congestion is worth every cent.
 

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I can sure see why you got promoted to manager…what would Taco bell do with out you!
 

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Wow…that would sure speed up the commute from the kitchen coffee pot, to the back room office, to the back yard shop….Maybe that way I Could find more hours in a day!
Let's see…the bedroom is just slightly west of the shop, so if I go to the shop first, then west to the kitchen for coffee, then further west to the office…I should get to the office before I get to the shop?...I like this traveling faster than time thing!
 

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Could you post the SU files? What ratio of Loctite adhesive's "Carbon Fiber N Forget 'er" and Behr's " Nano or 'nuttin" deck stain did you use as they are kind of pricey and I'd like to cut down on the experimenting (how do you get Nano or Nutting out of the carpet?) :)

Great project, thanks for the postl
 

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well now i see why im the night shift manager !
Photobucket
 

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Does that mean when you fly east-to-west you get younger?
 

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Yea…i've heard of you. You're the guy being sued for the failed White Oak heat shield tiles on the shuttle.
 

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Thanks for the very detailed blog! One remark - you could have made the exterior is a weaved pattern, with some darker wood between the white oak pieces. would be a little harder to glue, but you can still build one is a weekend…. it looks very nice from the ground!
 

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sorry, double posting and don't know how to delete
 
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