{"id":169,"date":"2026-02-17T12:46:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/?p=169"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:46:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:46:28","slug":"old-jet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/?p=169","title":{"rendered":"Old Jet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"715\" src=\"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jet.jpg\" alt=\"A toy jet aircraft made of galvanised steel sheet held together with screws and pop rivets. It is rather beaten up. \" class=\"wp-image-170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jet.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jet-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jet-768x536.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">My little toy jet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I was poking around in the box of junk in the linen press in preparation for cleaning it out when I came across the bits and pieces of this old toy jet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, I knew they were there, I just hadn\u2019t got around to doing anything about them but on a whim I decided to put them back together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This jet was one I had made as a teenager. If I remember correctly, I found some sheet metal at the tip and brought it home. I can\u2019t remember my design process but maybe I made a mockup with cardboard. I also suspect I did some of the work at school because I can\u2019t see how I would have been able to make the neat bends without access to a bending machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The original had a collection of LEDs powered by a 9v battery and a digital watch mechanism in the instrument panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jet2.jpg\" alt=\"Closeup of the cockpit area of the toy jet before reassembly. A tangle of red and black wires and LEDs can be seen coming from behind the instrument panel as well as a slide switch. The main power toggle switch can also be seen. The metal is covered in white spots of corrosion.\" class=\"wp-image-171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jet2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jet2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jet2-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A closeup of the half finished rewiring job that I gave up on.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some time ago I had tried rewiring the jet but clearly hadn\u2019t finished and when I tried turning it on nothing was working. I stripped out the circuitry and put the jet back together without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which of course got me wondering. Could I make a reproduction? I have the metal. The challenge will be making the bends, but with the right clamping, who knows? And could I bring the model into the 21st century? The nose area has more than enough room for a Raspberry Pi Pico. The Instrument panel is large enough to fit an OLED display. The engine area could easily house a couple of lithium ion batteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Add an accelerometer and some code to make the instrument display interactive and, who knows? Might be a fun little project. It will need some thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was poking around in the box of junk in the linen press in preparation for cleaning it out when I came across the bits and pieces of this old toy jet. Now, I knew they were there, I just hadn\u2019t got around to doing anything about them but on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172,"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blinkbonnie.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}