Quote:
Originally Posted by jadebox
Maybe someone can develop a really tiny and lightweight thrust-vector control system for those motors. :-)
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I was thinking about that, too. (The jet motor mount tube could also--in some model configurations, such as ones in which the motor mount was inside a larger-diameter pod [as in this Veron Fouga Cyclone model:
https://www.vintagemodelcompany.com/fouga-cyclone.html ]--be angled in pitch and/or yaw, in order to tilt the thrust vector accordingly.) Constantly-immersed (in the exhaust plume) jet vanes should be feasible, because the exhaust temperature, while high, isn't too high to use metal, or coated metal, or maybe graphite. Also, the burn time, while longer than that of a typical model rocket motor (it's approximately 12 seconds), isn't long enough to burn vanes away. Also:
"Tap contact" jet vanes (whose flat sides would intermittently contact the exhaust plume--Goddard's later rockets used these), or "jet tabs" (they're on shafts parallel to the motor axis, which intermittently rotate, bringing the jet tabs into contact with the exhaust plume--BAC planned to use these on the Skylark sounding rocket), would have even briefer exposure to the jet motor's exhaust plume. Jetavators (gimbal-mounted, rotating circumferential rings--a jetavator is a short length of an open cylinder, surrounding a rocket nozzle) could also be used, for example, in a scale model of a Polaris missile. The Polaris first stage had four fixed nozzles, each with a jetavator surrounding it. As well:
A jet model plane equipped with a micro R/C system could use servo-actuated jet vanes or jet tabs to steer the model during its period of powered flight. One lightweight possibility that I'd thought of could be used in Vintage Model Company's reproduction Veron Fouga Cyclone jet sailplane kit (see:
https://www.vintagemodelcompany.com/fouga-cyclone.html ). It could utilize jet vanes or a movable motor mount tube to provide thrust vector control during powered flight. (Axion makes two-channel motorglider models that work similarly; they use rudder control for left-right turning, while a throttle-able, fuselage top-mounted electric motor/pusher propeller [with a slightly raised thrust line] provides pitch control.)