Spinning intake turbines for R/M Viper???

Will it work?
I’ve been at this for some time now on and off and have it kind of working.
The test motor I’m using is having difficulties turning the turbines.
I’ve ordered an inexpensive gearhead motor, but can only hope that it will fit and work.

The pulley and belt system may have to be replaced by a gear setup.
I’m sure a gear setup would put less load on the motor and not kill the batteries as fast.
The problem is finding the right gear combination that would fit inside the confined area of the R/M Viper engine section.

If anyone has a better idea of how to do this a lot less expensive, I’d be very interested.

http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...96_chunk_1.flv

What about using one motor for each turbine?

You could use a 1/64th scale slot car motors, theyre really tiny.

http://www.ncphobbies.com/cgi-bin/vc...splayNumber=10

You can probably find them at your local hobby store.

As far as the turbines themselvs, you'll probably want to scribe some deper groves and at the same time ad styrene to the raised lines to make them pop. This way, you'll be able to see the rotating detail better in the shadow of the closed housing.

You'll have to find a way to make them spin at the rate you want. Too slow and it looks goofy, to fast and it will just be a blur.

I have three of those tiny motors as well as some others.
They spin way to fast and the shaft is nowhere near long enough to mount anything to.
The speed would need to be reduced but you still run into the short shaft part.
Ultimately, I wanted the turbines to spin at the same rate so the pulley and belt option popped into my mind.
I also thought about gears but they are hard to find and they’re kind of expensive.
I’ve been looking at a host of Robotics sites but I am starting to get discouraged.
May have to shelve this little project if the little gearhead motors don’t work.

PS: The turbines wobble because they are affixed loosely for the test.

Maybe give this a shot:

http://www.sciplus.com/

This is a store in my hometown, they get alot of surplus and closeouts and what not. Usually at reasonable prices.

That is an interesting idea and I would love to see your progress! I would never try it my self but if it works COOL!

Got everything working and fitting into the engines.
Used a different motor that is suppose to spin at 145 RPM.
Looks slower to me but what do I know.
Here’s a few pics.
Just need some final fitting to make everything come together.

Later, Barry.

I hate to be a negative nelly here. But the more I think about it, the more I think 3 seperate motors is the way to go.

Only because I see belts as drying out over time. With gears, they wear out too. Unless you want to soak your Viper in acetone and rebuild it in 5 years.

Unless you have a switch. Maybe on the floor of the fuselage, so you can stick a stiff hooked wire into the intake in the front to switch it on and off.

But even then belts will still dry out.

Just trying to save you any trouble. I may very well be wrong.

I may try three small motors on the next one to see how it works.
It will need some kind of module to limit the currnt so that the RPM's come down.

With the setup I have right now, I'm not worrying about the pullies, bearings or the belt.
The only thing I can see failing is the small gearhead motor.
With all the gear reduction, I can't see it failing for quite some time.

Motor and pulley assembly fit beautifully into the Viper model.
I am having problems with color combinations on the turbines.
I tried flat black with silver spokes, just looked like a silver disk spinning.
I then tried medium gray with gold spokes, the same problem again.
I then tried bare metal foil on every other spoke, but the foil wouldn’t adhere to the flat gray paint.
I am now in the process of painting it gloss black to see if the bare metal foil will stick.

Here’s a few photos of the assembly inside the viper.

[Titon]

Now THAT is truely a wonderful original idea.

Excellent work sir!

Turbines wobble a bit yet; will try to fix that later when I permanently attach them.
A black and silver scheme seems to work.
I painted in-between the spokes VS just the spokes.
How does it look?
Kind of getting fed up with painting these things over and over.
Will have to repaint again.

http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...t=spinning.flv
http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...=spinning3.flv

Updates!!!!

Turbines are permanently attached.
I think it adds quite abit to the overall feeling of the model.
http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...turbines01.flv
http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...turbines02.flv

Thruster cans are lit.
They look good in photos but not to impressive in person.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ers-lit-02.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ers-lit-01.jpg

How's this coming along anyway?