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No. We are primarily model airplane hobbyists and are not currently offering Jetex motors – new or used – for retail sale. None of us are directly related to (either by bloodline or business) the pioneering individuals who invented and manufactured the Jetex product line. You can find out more concerning the creators of the Jetex.org website on our About page. Our primary goal at the moment is to bring the small yet geographically diverse rocket plane community together by providing an information service, as we feel that this aspect of aeromodelling has been largely under-served by more mainstream publications and websites over the years.
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No. The last Jetex products came off the assembly line in 1972, so it has been quite a while since they went out of production. You can find out much more about the exact details in our History section. In short, there were two companies involved in the manufacturing of Jetex products. Wilmot, Mansour and Co. Ltd. brought the concept to the market in 1948 and continued through the mid 1950s. Sebel took it from there until production ceased.
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There is an excellent motor that is made in the Czech Republic called the Rapier. It is a single-use item – a small cardboard tube with a clay nozzle. You use the motor once and then discard it. Depending upon the size of the motor, they are sold in boxes of 5 or 10. Rapiers have all but replaced Jetex and Jet-X in recent years.
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Jet-X, made by Powermax, is a similar concept (a reloadable metal motor system) but came about much later. Production began in the mid 1990s. Results have been variable in terms of certain vintages of fuel and overall weight of their 1997 Z series motors remains a concern. But refinements of old products – and developments of new ones – was formally announced in late 2006 as the company reorganizes under new management.
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We have an extensive listing in our Links section. Products and suppliers change from time to time. We keep our listings up to date and we recommend that you check that page often for new updated information.
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It’s impossible to give a generic price on something like this. If you have one of the smaller, more common, ones that you flew with back in the 1950s or 60s (which would make it used … possibly very used) it probably isn't worth more than a few dollars or pounds. It would undoubtedly be worth much more if it had never been fired, contained in its original package, and complete with various accessories. Some of these vintage Jetex motor outfits, especially the large sized ones, are quite collectable. Our Motors section shows most of the better known examples.
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Sure. Just like Barbie and Sindy dolls, Pez candy dispensers, and Mecanno and Erector sets, there are people who will pay a lot of money for certain rare Jetex motors. It's not unusual to find hundreds of dollars or pounds changing hands in some of these vintage motor transactions. Unless one has a lot of money to burn and not much common sense (a combination that is known to exist!) very few people would draft into active service one of these rare and expensive antiques that they've just purchased.
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Most newcomers are typically thinking along these lines before they start talking with people who are actually flying these days. While there are folks who have a good supply of vintage motors, fuel, and spare parts (which were probably purchased years before there was a collectors’ market) and who choose to fly this way, Rapiers are what most people end up using. We commend the efforts of those who operate vintage Jetex hardware and encourage them to continue in their pursuits. But even if you already have a good used workaday motor that is suitable for flying, you might find it difficult to locate new sources for the exact matching fuel or spare parts needed to keep it in service. This is the typical frustration facing those who wish to operate any kind of vintage Jetex motor system.
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No! The earlier aluminum motors (mostly the Wilmot Mansour products) used a relatively cool burning guanidine nitrate fuel. Later steel motors (made by Sebel) used a hotter burning ammonium nitrate formula with slightly more thrust. There are many sad stories of folks who have literally melted their aluminum motors when using ammonium nitrate pellets. The steel motors, while being able to handle the ammonium nitrate fuel, weigh more. You won't damage them with the older guanidine nitrate pellets but, since that fuel creates a less aggressive thrust, you will have a very poor performer since the motor will be too heavy for the power that it is creating. There is still a fairly large number of the newer Jet-X motors with matching fuel pellets out there but, quite frankly, this newer system never worked as well as the earlier Jetex products when those old motors were paired up with the proper respective fuel.
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We certainly hope so. The motor itself is a relatively conventional and basic machine shop project (although most amateur-made examples we have seen are seriously overweight and their makers have a limited understanding of the safety features inherent in the classic Jetex designs). Making the fuel is the complex part as certain key ingredients are virtually unobtainable. It will probably take the efforts of an established chemical manufacturing concern – as opposed to an individual ‘carport chemist’ – to make it happen.
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No! Despite their similar physical appearance, there are many important differences. Regular model rocket motors (Estes, Quest, Aerotech, etc.) burn very quickly. The duration is usually less than a second and they are designed to be powerful enough to vertically lift a model rocket straight off of a launch pad. They would simply rip a conventional lightweight model airplane to sheds. For safety reasons, ignition occurs with an electronic controller at a suitable distance from the motor laden model. These well designed products are safe to use when the manufacturer's instructions are followed. But they are not suitable – and very dangerous – for use in a hand launched model airplane.
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Also not recommended and potentially dangerous. The model would be very underpowered and likely to just sit on the launch pad and belch smoke. If the model did happen to make it into the air (on an extremely light rocket model, perhaps) it would still likely be underpowered and possess erratic flight characteristics. A Rapier is also not equipped with a delay charge at the end of the motor burn. This delay charge on a standard rocket motor is what pops the nose cone off so that a parachute can deploy. Without it, the Rapier powered rocket model will simply auger into the ground. With a low thrust and long duration Rapier motor in a conventional model rocket, the model is likely to spend more time on the ground than in the air. This makes it more of a fire hazard than anything else.
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One of the simplest ways to get into the air is to adapt a classic balsa wood hand launched glider. Many of the vintage model shown in our Plans section are basically just that. If you have never done something like this before, this is a great place to start. More advanced modellers have successfully built scale copies of full sized jet aircraft and these are most impressive to see fly. Construction of these planes typically consist of a balsa frame with tissue covering, as you would find on a rubber powered prop plane.
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Yes, and there seem to be more showing up everyday. Many are classic Jetex designs that are scaled down slightly to accommodate a specific Rapier motor. All known manufacturers and retail sources are listed in our Links section.
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Yes! The Jetex.org Discussion Forum is a great place to interact with other micro rocket plane modellers from all over the world. We encourage everyone to join and learn more. Membership is free and we’re open 24 hours a day!
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