Saturn engine bells

[jamjammer53150]

I am just putting the finishing touches on my Saturn V , and I really want to fly it with the engine bells on . However they will end up dangerously close , if not directly exposed to the discharge of the motor .



So here is the question , can anyone approximate the output temp of the motor? Here is why I ask, I have done several experiments with various foils , metals and other sorts of covering.



I would assume the max exposure would be short of 3 seconds , the tests I have done using a MAPP gas tourbo torch , exposing a mock of the engine bell DIRECTLY in the flame , I seem to be able to get a good 10 seconds of protection using aluminum tape before anything bad happens. and even then it is just some minor smoldering



Is this test adequate?

[Bill]

Personally, I would think the bells are just as likely to be damaged on landing as from heat. If your motors extend beyond the bells to take the landing impact, the heat of the exhaust is probably too far down to worry about.


Bill

[jamjammer53150]

in this case the bells are around 2 inches downstream of the nozzle , its a 29mm motor , with the bells mounted as far out as you could get them

[dwmzmm]

I flew my K-36 Saturn - V in July 2009 with the four outer bells in place (model was a five engine cluster; 24 mm core and 18 mm outboard). All four plastic nozzle bells went through the entire flight in great shape.

[jamjammer53150]

Do you have a photo of the arrangment?

[dwmzmm]

Do you have a photo of the arrangment?

You can scroll through my photo album of that flight in my Facebook profile:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019905&id=1248161365&l=19ef5129ff

Shows the preflight prep as well as post flight. I made the mistake of having the location of the outboard engines a bit too close to the core and had to leave the center nozzle off for flight. But it did work anyway. Enjoy!