Slowly cogitating on what to build next but...

Vertical lift/take-off is feasible, but they weren't very good at landing! :evil:

A slight revision with the EDF now right at the back so the exhaust tube is the FSA.
This is the test section that I have actually started to build.

4 inlets (like cheat holes) with an inner 'body' that guides the air to the fan to give the shortest possible duct length.
If that works reasonably then to see if some sort of inlet door is practical.
At this stage the big advantage is the bit I am making is quite modest (and is temporary) so storage is not a problem.

just a small question,but do you chaps design and print your own plans for your builds? as i see lots of refs to cad and other types of drawings, and if so how do they then get blown up to say 1/3 scale? :blush: :blush:

Boz
I have a modest print package that allow me to 'tile' print to any size. You just have to tape the A4 sheets together afterwards.
Not quite as bad as it sounds as you only have to print off the pages for the bit of the plane you are going to work on but it would be a bit of a pain at 1/3 scale though!
Biggest I have done like this was a 2.2m powered glider. Although the wing would have required eight A4 sheets end to end it was actually built in 3 pieces so each was no bigger that 3 sheets.

First bit of the A4b 'test' duct.

No it is not a Depron pie funnel! :woohoo: but the inner cone that leads to the EDF - something like this.

Obviously it will not actually touch the fan hub so the cone will have to be surrounded by a structure that not only supports the EDF (and the 4 tail fins) but includes the 4 cheat holes with their ducting that have a combined area least equal to the FSA.
I can visualise the sort of shapes required but to actually make it ...........! :huh: :huh:

The cone has 32 planks in 2 mm Depon over 4 'ring' formers and weighs 7.5 g.

If the full A4b ever gets built its body would be done in the same same sort of way but probably as a full length half shells over a plan.

A bit of trivia.
The A4b was a misnomer it was actually called the 'Aggregate A9' (Aggregate is German for machines that work together) as it was intended to sit on top of a big booster called the A10 which initially was intended to use 6 A4 (V2) rocket motors clustered together as part of the Amerika project to bomb the US.
Plans existed for the even bigger A11 and A12 which could have placed a payload of several tons into earth orbit. :woohoo:
As materials were hard to get by 1944 the A9 was referred to as the A4b to make it sound as if it was part of the already approved A4 (V2) programme.
With such grandiose plans you can see why Von Braun readily accepted the 'invitation' to work for the US (he actually moved his whole team to Austria by April 1945 to ensure they would meet US soldiers) as I am sure he realised that only the US economy was likely to have such resources available in a peace time environment.

Incidentally my Dad on one of his trips to America whilst working for the MOD in the late 1950s actually met Von Braun.