The Turbine Sled of the Grand Duke Kiril Romanov

[Paul Bica]

Hello everyone. I am sorry for writing you in English but I think this could be an interesting subject for you. My model is not quite a car or an airplane but it is after all an interesting machine. In 1910, at the Aviation Exhibition from Paris, Romanian inventor Henri Coanda exhibited a propeller-less airplane (some called it the first jet airplane in the world). Grand Duke Kiril Romanov (first cousin of the tsar) was impressed by his airplane and ordered him a sled equipped with a similar turbine. The sled was intended to be used in motorized sled races from St. Moritz and St. Petersburg. The sled was made by Coanda in cooperation with Gregoire car manufacturer and Despujols - a boat manufacturer. It is not sure if the sled was ever used, but some newspapers of that time wrote that the sled had achieved a speed of max 100 km/h on the ices Seine. My model was 3d printed and then casted in resin. I ve designed also the photo etched parts for it. The model is at 1/32 scale. I hope you like it. The model can be ordered to me if there are some interested people, the price is 27 EUR (no delivery costs included).