Antique Engines For Sale

Hi Folks....

In cleaning out my fathers estate I happened upon these rocket motors from the time I was a kid and he worked for Aerojet in Sacramento.
There are 30 of these in all, 3 to a tube (blue in color) and dry as a bone and always have been. I contacted Estes and we determined these are from the late 60's or early 70's. Given my age I am sure they are from the 60's when my father purchased them.

Each tube is sealed....I opened one of them and they contain 3 motors, an ignitor wire and instruction sheet. A Calif. state fire marshal sticker is attached on the outside. They appear to be model A 8.2 and 8.3.

If anyone is interested in these and/or can tell me the value I would appreciate it....I want to get them out of my shop as I am downsizing and have enough stuff of my own.

Feel free to e-mail at [email protected] and I will get back to you...

Cheers.........Greg M.

Can you please post a picture of the actual motors?

GregJM said:

Hi Folks....

In cleaning out my fathers estate I happened upon these rocket motors from the time I was a kid and he worked for Aerojet in Sacramento.
There are 30 of these in all, 3 to a tube (blue in color) and dry as a bone and always have been. I contacted Estes and we determined these are from the late 60's or early 70's. Given my age I am sure they are from the 60's when my father purchased them.

Each tube is sealed....I opened one of them and they contain 3 motors, an ignitor wire and instruction sheet. A Calif. state fire marshal sticker is attached on the outside. They appear to be model A 8.2 and 8.3.

If anyone is interested in these and/or can tell me the value I would appreciate it....I want to get them out of my shop as I am downsizing and have enough stuff of my own.

Feel free to e-mail at [email protected] and I will get back to you...

Cheers.........Greg M.

Click to expand...

Just for your information if you try to ship them you need to send them through a HAZMAT shipper. Best thing to do is a hand-to-hand sale...and that leaves me out

I posted a pic of the one container that was opened by me...the rest are sealed and I don't wish to disrupt that.

BTW....I was told by Estes that they can be shipped via USPS with no problems as they do it all the time. I talked with Mary in tech services.

Greg

Wow! Those are the motors and tubes I bought when I built my first rockets as a kid around 1970-72.

BTW, I am NOT an antique.

--Lance.

GregJM said:

I posted a pic of the one container that was opened by me...the rest are sealed and I don't wish to disrupt that.

BTW....I was told by Estes that they can be shipped via USPS with no problems as they do it all the time. I talked with Mary in tech services.

Greg

Click to expand...

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?127618-Shipping-Rocket-Motors


"But Mary said I could" won't work as an excuse when you're arrested and facing Federal charges, you and the guy you send them to.....

Lance....being an antique is better than being obsolete I think...yes? I am 64 now and we were involved in this when I was about 15 y.o. so you can do the math.
I also have some old books from around that time when we belonged to the Aerojet model rocket society....lots of going to Nevada in those days and firing our big rockets.
I still have pics of that action.

Have a great summer... Greg

Hi Dave.....you can bet your rear end I would check it out first. I have done a lot of contract military work so I know how to fact check, but to be sure your concern is appreciated.
I also see motors from hobby stores for sale on Ebay and Amazon so I wonder what the deal is....I'll check it out and get back here....

Thanks....Greg

GregJM said:

Hi Dave.....you can bet your rear end I would check it out first. I have done a lot of contract military work so I know how to fact check, but to be sure your concern is appreciated.
I also see motors from hobby stores for sale on Ebay and Amazon so I wonder what the deal is....I'll check it out and get back here....

Thanks....Greg

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eBay has a policy of not selling motors but many try. I have notified the sellers (but not eBay) of that fact. Many times the motors are included in a box like that Launch Box Estes sold at one time or in a pile of old parts. They have all removed the motors without eBay's intervention. On Amazon I'm pretty sure that they would come from a licensed dealer, same with eBay. The penalties can be pretty severe if you don't have the proper stuff.

eBay also has a policy of not selling black powder guns but you can sell the parts. Many times I've seen a whole pistol broken down into parts and sold that way but I have no idea how you would do that with a BP rocket motor Occasionally there are AT RMS cases but not very often and never fuel loads.

Hi GregJM,

Dave Carver is correct, shipping motors without the proper paperwork and approvals is very illegal. You can get the approvals and jump through all the hoops, but the time and expense isn't worth it for one shipment of a small number of motors. Your best bet is to sell them directly to someone in your area. That leaves me out.

I had a friend give me about 30 black powder motors that he had for many years, but never got around to using. They weren't stored as well as yours, but every one I have used so far has worked fine. I see no reason that yours shouldn't be good too. Most of the igniters were worthless though. Good luck selling these.

I did some checking and I think that your advice is well warranted. I could get Mary over at Estes to blanket me but doubt it is worth the effort for such a small amount of motors.
These have sentimental value and in fact I would like them to go to someone who respects the hobby and is involved...I have gone through a lot of this with other items of my father's
and it's truly not about the money for me.
I have always stayed involved to some level around space related things and owning a machine shop we built the rocket motor pieces and attitude control systems for the guys at Space Transport when they were competing for the Ansari X prize, at my expense. I was there in Mojave by invitation when Spaceship One pulled it off, so these motors as I said are more about going to the right place than the money.
These small rockets and my time as a kid messing with them greatly influenced my life and outlook....as I'm sure it does for you folks. Trust me, I get it!

Greg

Maybe you could find a club launch that is near you and take the motors there. If you arranged it ahead of time you could probably find someone interested in the motors and also see a few rockets launched with these motors. I think that would be a great experience since you still have some attachment to these motors.

I know that there would be fliers local to you that would be delighted to get these motors. This thread should accomplish that here soon. Payday for us old farts is Friday so expect to hear from someone by then

Thanks guys....it is a real privilege to meet you all indeed. I may take my grandson and do just what you recommend. These days, I'm more about sailing my boat and drinking beer up here in the NW.
Mary said you folks were a great bunch and she was right ....just hang onto all your fingers.

Ciao.......greg

There should be a date stamp on at least some of the motors. I have some older motors that pre-date the impulse change to Newtons. Have been temperature shocked too many times to even consider lighting. From the mid-60's and some from the early 70's. I keep a tube of unopened 1/2A8-2's for good luck in a rangebox. I believe I have a couple of the shorty 18mm they had for a time. They'll be some of the blue pyrogen igniters in there or maybe just plaine nichrome wire. Some of the oldest motors came with bare nichrome and instruction said to do two wraps around the end of a lead pencil to form a "heating" coil. Boy those were the days. Kurt

GregJM said:

I posted a pic of the one container that was opened by me...the rest are sealed and I don't wish to disrupt that.

BTW....I was told by Estes that they can be shipped via USPS with no problems as they do it all the time. I talked with Mary in tech services.

Greg

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Looks like 8/14/68 date stamp? Pretty smudged. Kurt

Date=3/14/1968

I had to change the pixel size to upload so it may not be clear. I was 17 at the time and that's not to clear either anymore...