How it all began... There was nothing accidental about the development of the "X" series jet engines, nor are the key people involved new to the game. Xicoy are headed up by Gaspar Espiell of "FADEC" ECU fame and formerly chief designer at Jets Munt Turbines in Spain for many years. Gaspar set up his own facility (Xicoy Electronica SL), Barcelona in 2017 for producing electronic products for the RC Jets market, and a project he had been toying with for a very small jet engine suitable for small foamy jets and requiring a whole new electronic control system, gradually bubbled to the surface, but lack of time prevented progress. By chance a colleague open to a new challenge appeared on the scene with similar years experience in design and production of miniature jet engines on this side of the English Channel, and a partnership was born. The colleague was Mike Murphy, formerly Chief Designer of Wren Turbines and then Wren Power Systems and he started work at Xicoy in sunny Spain alongside Gaspar in 2018. The first joint project was to bring the baby engine of Gaspar's to life. This became the X45, the first of the "X" Series and Gaspars' first Xicoy engine. The hardware of all the X series engines was brand new, not compatible or comparable to anything before. The same with the electronics, all new, designed with experience gained but not based or encumbered on any previous Xicoy or any other system. This enabled the very latest, most capable and fastest micro-controllers to be used with an ultra-fast bus system for moving data about. Everything for the ECU is contained on one small pcb mounted on the engine, giving a system which is highly capable and adaptable and has formed the platform for all future Xicoy engine products.
Keep it really simple... The idea behind all “X” engines are the same; simplicity of setup, operation with as few parts and settings as possible, as much automation of function as possible, reducing the mass and bulk of the engine to the absolute minimum, while maximising the throughput and performance capability to the best in the market. The small engine needed a mega-fast starter motor to tightly control the kerostart sequence and get it going fast enough to run, plus a tiny fuel pump able to supply a controlled fuel flow down to a few tiny drops. Both of these took a considerable effort to get right but the design philosophy worked superbly and has carried right on through the subsequent range. Finally the X45 Turbo Jet was released in June 2019. This tiny but fully functional kerosene burning jet engine was an absolute jewel. Designed for lowest weight and smallest bulk for use in very small model RC jet aircraft and foamies. This was quickly followed by the X85 (now X95), the X120 (now X132) and the X180 now twinned with the X195. The X160 has just been added to the expanding range. The small X45 engine was an obvious candidate for a 2-stage engine and after a short development the X45 Heli and X45 Turbo-Prop quickly followed. Two versions of the turbo-prop are produced, high and low ratio for large and small props. The "X" engines have all functions internalised (valves, glow plug, thermocouple and ECU) for the smallest possible installation. A miniature fuel pump and connector unit makes the package the most compact available. The engines incorporates all the latest thinking in miniature mechanical aeronautic design, digital electronic control and software developments making them some of the most advanced engines on the market. A key aim was to remove the need to have many delicate adjustments in order to have a happy starting and running engine, these are now automated inside the ECU making for a very short simple menu structure for minimal fiddling.
TheJetWorkshop idea... The TheJetWorkshop came about following the Brexit agreement where it was not possible for Mike to remain working at Xicoy in Spain. Following Gaspars encouragement Mikes home workshop back home in South Yorkshire was set up to build the smaller X series engines using raw parts supplied by Xicoy. This enabled a ready source of engines and local support for UK customers. The setup includes all equipment needed to machine, build, balance and test the engines. As producer we also hold full spares for any required support. TheJetWorkshop produce the X45, X60 and X95 turbojets as these form the bulk of requests. We can also obtain and supply the larger engines from the "X" series direct from Xicoy in Spain alleviating the burden of import taxation and having to pay in Euros. TheJetWorkshop has been running successfully now since 2021 and are pleased to have served a wide range of customers across the UK and N.Ireland. The Xicoy “X” series full lineup now includes: (as at Apr 2024): X45 Turbo Jet X45 2-stage Helicopter X45 2-stage Turboprop, in High and Low ratios X60 Turbo Jet X95 Turbo Jet X132 Turbo Jet X160 TurboJet X180 Turbo Jet X195 Turbo Jet X240 Turbo Jet New “X”engines are being developed all the time and will add to the range above.