Does anyone sell CMR-like body tubes?

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I was on the Apogee site and their white tubes sound really close to the ones from CMR. Any experience with Apogee's tubes?
 
I still have a few of the original tubes. What size are you looking for?

- Rich
 
I have used some of Apogee's tubes, and they are more like Estes tube with a plain white outer wrap instead of glassine. Semroc's tubes are similar to Apogee's. As I posted earlier, the CMR style tubes with a slight overlap on the outer layer are no longer available.
 
I am sick right now; please give me few days to check and see what is left. I'll also see what nose cones and egg capsules are still around.
 
I haven't forgotten about you. I am STILL sick. I 've never had pneumonia before and I am not recovering from it very well. And unfortunately I don't have the CMR stuff at my house. I have to go over to my Dad's to find it and I don't have the energy.
 
This is what I have: tubes in 4 sizes, 9 nose cones in approx. 13mm size (not pictured), 7 nose cones in approx 18mm size and one in approx. 24mm size. The tubes have some surface scratches, but are in relatively good shape for having been in storage since 1997.CMR Parts.jpg
 
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I bought 10,000 feet of RB-74 equivalent tubing in the 1980's direct from the source - Stone paper. I'm not sure, but stone is probably now part of Smurfit-Stone. I have no idea if they still make spiral paper tubes.

I bought them but I would not do so again. The Estes type are superior and come from Euclid Spiral Tube Company. https://www.euclidspiral.com/tubing/euclidspiral-tubing.html

The Stone tubes would warp (bow) and the Euclid tubes do not bow easily.

i have zero stone or cmr tubes left. Pratt has the CMR nose cone machine and can make some old CMR sizes and he may even buy tubes from Stone, so check with him. he also makes CMR style nose cones for some Estes sized tubes.
 
The Stone tubes would warp (bow) and the Euclid tubes do not bow easily. i have zero stone or cmr tubes left. Pratt has the CMR nose cone machine and can make some old CMR sizes and he may even buy tubes from Stone, so check with him. he also makes CMR style nose cones for some Estes sized tubes.

I spoke to Pratt and they do not carry the tubes and basically said the same thing as you, the manufacturer is long since gone.

I liked the tubes because I could sand them with 0000 steel wool and they became super-smooth, without spirals, and a bright glossy white. Plus, they had tubes that would fit inside of each other which made them safer (in my opinion) for launches off of pistons and super-strong Super Rocs (double walled).

But I did find some tubes I like and many fit inside of each other. I bought some tubes from Totally Tubular and they will have to do.
 
Fred, what lengths did you buy? I worked for Howard for several years as did Brian as I remember correctly. I myself prefer the Stone tubes Howard had, as properly finished the came out much superior to Euclid tubes, without the spiral gaps to fill. Howard generally bought his tubes in 12" lengths, maybe that is why his weren't warped.
 
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And Stone Industries does still exist as Precision Product Groups see: https://www.ppgintl.com/capabilities/paper-tubing. Stone tubes are different from Euclid, because they use a wet wrapping technique instead of the dry wrapping Euclid uses, which is why they have a tendency to warp at longer lengths. The tube I really like was their phenolic impregnated tube. Howard only sold this in RB-50 size for piston tubes, however when you sanded them on Howards' fin cutting machine, you could make them super light. 3g for a 9" length. And they ended up glass smooth without using sanding sealer. So if Doug really wanted to sell the old CMR tubes he could. They are still located in College Park, MD.
 
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Interesting posts!
I would think the MPC Miniroc kits had the Stone Industries tubing also.
I made an MPC Taurus last year. The tubing had overlaps and reminded me of the CMR style tubing.
You could sand the overlaps with 400 grit and there were no spirals!
The MPC tubing had thicker walls than the CMR tubes.
 
The tube I really like was their phenolic impregnated tube.

Hmmm. I don't recall those tubes at all!

But like you, I like the CMR tubes because they would sand glass smooth with 0000 steel wool.

People give Howard a lot of credit, as they should, for being innovative with his egg capsules, machinery, kits... but he was a MASTER at sourcing and procuring stuff.
 
Hmmm. I don't recall those tubes at all!

I should have mentioned his launch lugs were impregnated with phenolic too. At first I didn't like them until I discovered you could sand them and they came out super smooth. I wish I had about 50 of those now.
 
I should have mentioned his launch lugs were impregnated with phenolic too. At first I didn't like them until I discovered you could sand them and they came out super smooth. I wish I had about 50 of those now.

I had that little tower you kinda liked that I made in shop class so I never used his lugs! :clap:
 
I bought them 36 inches long and they were "mill cut" (which I did not understand at the time I ordered, but that is not a perfect cut on the ends, but it is pretty good).

The tubes were straight and remained straight if you stored them on their ends in a box where they reamained upright (full box). If you rested the box on its side, the tubes could sag in the middle and develop a bow.

The MPC tubes did look a lot like the Stone tubes.

The "stonized" tube was impregnated with a resin, but it was like stage couplers. Yes, there was also the phenolic impreganted paper as well.

I only bought the one size tube from them in the one giant order. After that, everything I ordered was from Euclid. I found the Euclid tubes superior and while I did use the Finishing Machine to sand the CMR tubes to a perfect finish for competition models, I found it a time consuming annoyance. The overlapping seams were a pain in my opinion. The Euclid but joints are not a big deal to me and can befilled in easily if you are a prefectionist. This is much faster than the sanding down method for the CMR/Stone tubes.

Fred, what lengths did you buy? I worked for Howard for several years as did Brian as I remember correctly. I myself prefer the Stone tubes Howard had, as properly finished the came out much superior to Euclid tubes, without the spiral gaps to fill. Howard generally bought his tubes in 12" lengths, maybe that is why his weren't warped.
 
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