On Ebay I came across a Stanzel SpeedMaster for monoline speed flying. For about a year I have been attempting to CAD one of these from photographs, but there is nothing like working from the real thing. I won the auction ($10.50) and then drew the device with Rhino 5.0. It is about 5 inches long and weighs 13.8 grams.

It is fun to make Rhino3D models of old C/L speed models, and this control unit should drop into one or more of them. I will probably mount it in a 3D model of the ShockWave.

Here is the Stanzel SpeedMaster as intalled in the record breaking jet of 1956, the ShockWave. This is my second attempt at the Shockwave. The first cut was here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...7&postcount=12

I have been able to learn quite a bit more about the original model from an October, 1956 magazine article I found on eBay. The model was built by Jim Clem and flown for the record by Dale Kirn. Sam Beasley was the fuel expert. It seems possible there was some company support from Victor Stanzel and from Dyna-Jet. ShockWave weighed "24 to 27 oz." and burned an 88/12 mixture of white gas and benzene for the record flight.

It is basically a solid airplane made out of basswood -- then milled, drilled, grooved and machined in complex ways to mount machinery and to hide it from the wind. It is fairly easy for us to do this kind of elaborate milling and filling in CAD, but it would take a well equipped shop to accomplish the same thing in wood and metal.

Corrections and observations based on the magazine article & plan:

1) the plane was yellow, not red.

2) the gas tank is not spooned to clear the Dyna-Jet. The builder actually milled away an opening in the fins of the engine's valve body to accomodate the cylindrical gas tank.

3) there was no takeoff dolly. The plane took off and landed on its skids.

4) the builder took a lot of care with streamlining details . The crimps, loops and sheave where the monoline is connected to the SpeedMaster control is taken inside the wing, hidden under a metal panel made from thin shim stock. The control horn appears to have been taken inside the fuselage as well.

5) The plane is glassed. This probably restored the strength that may have been lost to extensive milling, gouging and carving of the basswood structures.

From a CAD point of view, this model is different from the first try in that I used tSplines to form the fuselage. The nose of the fuse was turned in a lathe, so it is easy to reproduce in Rhino with a simple Revolve. But there is an abrupt transition from the nose to an oar-blade shape along the aft section of the fuselage. In tSplines, which models the fuselage as a bubble in a cage, it is a little easier to keep this sudden transition controlled and fair. Michael

That is really cool mcg. I've never seen those things run, but I bet it it would scream.

Not sure if you have seen this link, but I'll throw it out. I came accross it on another (model engineering type) forum. Unfortunately looks like tethered jets is the only exotic home brew marvels on a wire they don't feature. But some really impressive enginering & nostalgia in there. I had no idea people made flash steam hydro's that went 118mph. Looks like the hey-day of tether cars pre-date RC by a long time. Completely blows me away what dedicated hobbyists accomplish.

http://www.onthewire.co.uk/

Thanks for the link, ptxman, those are very impressive. The steam hydroplanes are amazing.