I designed my little testbed engine so it can be inverted and heated from above, and I finally got the opportunity to try it out using solar energy. I had an old Fresnel lens from a large screen TV that I mounted in a frame and then put the engine hot end at the focus. I was pleased to see that it runs very well, over 1000 rpm. Features of the engine: wood frame, ball bearing crank, water bottle cylinder, tuna can cooling jacket, inner tube and PVC power diaphragm, stainless steel wool moving regenerator. Cooling water provided by tiny submersible pump from Harbor Freight. Stay tuned – next generation engine coming soon. This one has about served its purpose.

Episode four of the pizza oven. Taking advantage of the fine day to get a little more done. Thank you to Creed for the music.

All you need is scissors, paper, scotch tape, wire tape, tinfoil, cardboard, ruler, and protractor. Examples: farm3.static.flickr.com

Jeff of www.simsamurai.net takes a few minutes to show you what the XS-1 sim station looks like in the daylight without everything up and running. The XS-1 is the ultimate home built cockpit!

cheap simple home made DIY scratch built balsa wood epp corriboard first proper flight and gliding test of 2010 on board video