Coanda Jet, scracthbuilt 1/72

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

These are all old builds, and in retrospect should have been posted at the beginning of these series. They often represent the first, hesitant steps on scratchbuilding.

Here is another from 2008, 11 years ago (original text as posted then):

 

The Coanda Jet

Riding the Flames, The dawn of the jet era…in 1910!

 

Romanian Henry Coanda of later “Coanda effect” fame found himself taking off the ground –involuntarily, I am afraid- during a ground test of his revolutionary creation. Given his reduced talents to keep the aircraft aloft, the flight was very short and ended in disaster –although he escaped unscathed- , but a careful observation of a strange phenomena –the flames exiting the combustion chamber adhering firmly along the sides of the fuselage- later became one of the most important contributions from Henri Coanda to physics, specifically to the dynamic of fluids, known as the Coanda effect,

The mysterious engine was in concept similar to the one utilized, decades later, in the Caproni-Campini CC-2, that is, a “mixed” engine, with an internal combustion unit driving the compressor stage of the jet.

His design, that incorporated a great deal of innovative features, went, for no reason, ignored by mainstream aviation history until recently.

The elegant and futuristic lines of his design were hard to resist, so out again with the glue, styrene, filler, sanding stick and the metal bits.

Available plans differ from each other and all of them differ from photos, so there you are submerged in the relentless fogs of scratch-building.

Hopefully the images will give an idea of the materials and techniques involved in this attempt, but perhaps most important, will render a general sense of the gleaming beauty of the design.

Seemingly flying away from a still of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” –by the way, a much later production- its proud pilot could well have been Little Nemo in Slumberland.

Some of us are interested in aviation history, some others in the constructional aspects of modeling, and some just love these planes for their diverse, rich, alternative, disconcerting but immensely attractive aesthetics.

Whichever the reasons that lead you here, I am sure you will like this first jet of aviation history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Courageous]

It's amazing how you scratch these subjects from such differing references.

That looks like one of those plastic coffee cups up front.

 

Stuart

[Dazey]

Another educational masterpiece!

[Meatbox8]

Beautiful.  I've always thought the Coanda was a fascinating aircraft and clearly ahead of its time.

[invidia]

fantastic looking aircraft and model, i remember that there was one of these built in a model magazine a fair few years ago, cannot remember which one.

[HansReggelsen]

Models like this and the stories of the originals always serves me as a reminder of how far we've gotten in just a little over a 100 years! 

Magnificent! 

 

Cheers 

Hans J

[zigster]

I'm sure, the front of that "thingo" was called a "naparstek"

Could be a rich history event via locally manufactured version of  Slivovica. :-))

Z

Edited March 23, 2019 by zigster

[Baldy]

Beautiful Moa. The original may have been contraversial but the model is pure beauty!

 

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm 

[pheonix]

Just incredible as a design and as a model. What a gem from history - a wonderful story of imagination and considerable bravery, but also in turning an unfortunate incident into something of importance in understanding of fluid dynamics. A gem from your collection too - and thanks again for the construction photo - always so useful to the rest of us.

 

P