Only from the auction. I've been chatting with him. The seller is the maker. I'm pretty certain he doesn't have a company. Previous sales records on eBay show he's sold a few. I've got his specs (22mm diameter) and instructions.
I've been having a hard time not buying it outright just to mess with it.
This device is what prompted me to ask about cetification requirements and hybrids. Working with a sealed gas cylinder and a piece of plexiglass rod have *got* to be safer than reloading with APCP. The total impulse of these things is in the E range. You do have to work with nitrocellulose lacquer, but that just means dissolving half a dozen ping pong balls in a pint of acetone.
I'd like to see these things get certified, but I sort of doubt the guy selling them will see to that. Perhaps a company with the right equipment and history of getting engines certified will pick up on it.
If and when some mid-power hybrid gets certified, it'll be time to look into changing the certification rules. A good, small, safe hybrid shouldn't require L1 to fly. In the mean time, well, I remember when mention of anything even resembling reloading a motor would get you shouted out of the local NAR chapter. The rules have only gotten changed after people worked outside of them and then made the rules fit the technology as it was proven.
"Look, a hybrid engine!"
"But we need a sofa."
"But it's a HYBRID. It's NEAT."
"And we need an air conditioner. SOON."
I'm not winning this one so far.
