Over a very cold Christmas some years back, in an effort to clear a particulary virulent cold David and I had a day out at an aircraft breakers (what else do you do over the festive period?) who had just acquired a handful of Rolls Royce Artoust auxiliary power units. Most had been stripped of their generators, however there were a couple with them still intact, so it was one of those that came back in the van. Originally designed to power the electrical systems on Victor bombers, it's a 400Hz, three phase device which looks to be just the thing for those occasional power cuts...

Still mounted on a transit stand and zipped up in a heavy plastic jacket with the biggest silica gel pillows you've ever seen inside, this thing has probably been sitting about in stores as part of our strategic reserve since about 1960. It turns over freely and spools up on its (24 volt) starter whilst making all the right whooshy gas turbine type noises. I've since acquired an ignition unit for it (generally known as a "bang box", it produces sparks big enough to stun an elephant), schematics for rather basic control system required and, somewhere, I think I managed to get a copy of the manual.

One of those toys that has become somwhat surplus to requirements. It has sat on a shelf in the workshop for the last five years - with ever-increasing numbers of steam engines competing for the same space it's probably time to let somebody else have a play with it, there are few toys you can buy which give you more beautiful engineering and exotic materials per pound spent.

If you need to know more about it, give me a call. If you want to be impressed by the calm efficiency of professional aircraft engineers starting up a Victor bomber - first the Artouste, followed by the first of its Rolls Royce Conway main engines, there's a clip here. If, on the other hand, you simply want to be entertained by a determined soul frightening sheep with one, then there's another clip here.

I hope the dangers of playing with something like this is blindingly obvious, but I would hate for anybody to go into it without their eyes fully open: it weighs around a quarter of a ton, it's probably fifty years old, there are bits inside going round at 34000rpm, if you hold one of the high tension leads to the igniters when they're powered up it will likely kill you and the thing drinks kerosene at a high rate of knots - which requires a tankfull standing nearby, itself a major fire hazard if anything goes wrong. Check your home insurance, don't tell the wife...