Comment by crgwbr

Same here. Even the small motors were expensive at the time. One winter my dad and I figured out how to make our own—rolled the casing out of packing tape, poured the end plug from (I think) Durham‘s rock-hard water putty, then filled with fuel made from a mixture of black powder, sugar, and salt peter. The next summer, getting to use up all the engines we’d stockpiled, was glorious.