The introduction of well-flying piston aircraft stimulated new directions in model airplane flying: building control lines and radio-guided models-copies of aircraft. However, the complexity of their manufacturing and handling make it difficult for the public at large to access them.

The rapid development of missile technology has similarly resulted in the appearance of missile model flying sports and model-copies of missiles on the basis of solid-fuel micro-engines.

Technological advances switched aviation to jet thrust. Model builders naturally wanted to build flying models, but until now they had been faced with the problem of acquiring a simple and cheap micro-jet engine.

A group of Russian engineer-experimentalists with extensive experience in military aviation and model flying sports therefore set out in 1980 to develop simple free-flying models-copies of world jet aircraft that would allow maxi mum simulation of their flight, including "combat use of airborne weapons".

50 model-copies of aircraft of many countries have now been designed, flight tested and are ready for production, including:

• aircraft models of the traditional aerodynamics pattern (MiG-21, F-104, Starfighter, Mirage F-1),
• models of wing variable sweep aircraft (Mig-23 and I-1),
• models of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (YaK-36).

No one anywhere is manufacturing such models, and therefore appropriate patenting and purchase of "know how" are required. One-forty-eighth-scale-models proposed for mass production are manufactured from paper (Whatman drawing paper) using the most simple gluing technology, accessible even to junior high students). The core of the project is the use of standard solid-fuel micro engines produced by Russia's industry for missile modeling: they are additionally provided only with a nozzle-extending tube.

The model-copy of an aircraft therefore looks like a missile model and may be launched in a similar way: vertically or along an inclined plane. A real takeoff of a model, following a takeoff run on the undercarriage released after takeoff, however, is indeed a spectacular sight.

After the microengine stops operating the model gains speed of up to 150 km/h and switches to gliding from 200m altitude, descending along a 50m spiral, and performs a smooth landing a few minutes after the takeoff. For repeated launching the exhausted engine need only be replaced with a new one.

The main purpose of the models intended for production is to satisfy the standing public need in all countries to educate younger generations using the best examples of world aviation technology. The capacity of the world market for such models cannot yet be precisely determined. Model-copies may also be used for ordinary museum collections and scientific research, and as souvenirs at international aviation exhibitions.

The appearance of freely-flying model-copies of world jet aircraft on the world market will be a "pleasant" surprise for manufacturers of plastic model-copies (mock-ups).

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