An apprentice engineer has built his own jet engine from scratch.

Ian Watts spent more than 100 hours researching, designing and constructing his creation, which is capable of powering a plane with a 7ft wingspan.

Other students on the 20-year-old's course at Colchester Institute were content to make simple mounting frames for machinery.

Ian, of Tendring village, was a bit more ambitious - and pressed ahead with his project, even when warned he was biting off too much.

"I have always been interested in the aviation and aerospace side of engineering, so I thought making a jet engine would be a challenge," he said.

"People said I was crazy and that I would never do it, which made me more determined to complete it. But everyone has been impressed with it, especially my boss!"

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