From back to front:
Array of blue LEDs ---> diffusor made of etched glass or rough-sanded perspex/plexiglass ---> wire screen ---> chrome plated exhaust port with desired nozzle shape or rolled lip shape
The trick is to black out a portion of the diffusor with several coats of black nail polish, so light is emitted only from the clear, non-blacked zones. If the port is circular and the diffusor is circular, you could black out the center of the diffusor, leaving only a thin annulus of clear around the perimeter. This will emit a soft glow around the circumference of the port but no light from the center. Of course, other shapes and other blackout patterns on the diffusor would create different lighting effects. Bulls-eye might be particularly amusing.
Optional LED drive circuitry could make 70% of the LED array glow at constant brightness, while the other 30% does a "breathing" effect, or a "twinkling" effect, or a random trianglewave effect, to emulate exhaust flashes from a Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 on a Spitfire, or to suggest flickering flames from a bonfire, or a fission encabulator engine running dangerously close to self-detonation.
Array of blue LEDs ---> diffusor made of etched glass or rough-sanded perspex/plexiglass ---> wire screen ---> chrome plated exhaust port with desired nozzle shape or rolled lip shape
The trick is to black out a portion of the diffusor with several coats of black nail polish, so light is emitted only from the clear, non-blacked zones. If the port is circular and the diffusor is circular, you could black out the center of the diffusor, leaving only a thin annulus of clear around the perimeter. This will emit a soft glow around the circumference of the port but no light from the center. Of course, other shapes and other blackout patterns on the diffusor would create different lighting effects. Bulls-eye might be particularly amusing.
Optional LED drive circuitry could make 70% of the LED array glow at constant brightness, while the other 30% does a "breathing" effect, or a "twinkling" effect, or a random trianglewave effect, to emulate exhaust flashes from a Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 on a Spitfire, or to suggest flickering flames from a bonfire, or a fission encabulator engine running dangerously close to self-detonation.
@stajo Lol dude, that kind of suggestion is a perfect 7/10 trap... kinda like a cmoy headphone amp in a mint tin or a coffee can forge or a simple rocket stove that morphed into a high flow, folded flue wood stove 🤣
Adding it to the list anyway because I never learn.
@Mark Johnson Ding ding ding... I'm clearing off the welding table to start messing with your ideas. Thank you
Adding it to the list anyway because I never learn.
@Mark Johnson Ding ding ding... I'm clearing off the welding table to start messing with your ideas. Thank you