Getting a Little Nostalgic - Buying Motors out of Magnum Rocketry's Truck

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

pyrobob

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2013
Messages
2,439
Reaction score
48
I was going through some photos a while back and came across these. It was either at Sooner Boomer in Medford, OK back in '93 or '94, or it was in Argonia, KS at LDRS one of those years.

Anyone want to take a stab at which motors are sitting on the shelves? I remember buying an H70, H45, H95, H145, J90, J415 and K550 over the years out of Ross' truck. I'm pretty sure the motor in the rocket was a J125 single use. Ross set that rocket up at the same time I was out setting up my LOC Hi-Tech.

20140816_165356.jpg
 
All I can say is WOW!!!!That's a mess of $$$$$$ motors.That's way I'll never even get my Level1.I can't afford anything above a G motor.But I do enjoy watching the Highpower rockets.
 
All I can say is WOW!!!!That's a mess of $$$$$$ motors.That's way I'll never even get my Level1.I can't afford anything above a G motor.But I do enjoy watching the Highpower rockets.

Yeah, the choices back in those days were pretty limited compared to now. The typical vendor dwarfs this by a substantial amount. Don't ask how I know.....
 
All I can say is WOW!!!!That's a mess of $$$$$$ motors.That's way I'll never even get my Level1.I can't afford anything above a G motor.But I do enjoy watching the Highpower rockets.

That's less than a day of flights at LDRS, AirFest, Aeronaut, etc.

-Kevin
 
I remember buying G80 Fast White Lightning motors out of that truck...
 
I remember buying G80 Fast White Lightning motors out of that truck...

Yeah, those were my motors of choice for clustering. Gary only produced them once in a while. Bought them by the dozen.
 
Yeah, those were my motors of choice for clustering. Gary only produced them once in a while. Bought them by the dozen.

Oh yes, the G80 Fast White Lightning's! If you guys had to choose, would you go with Blue Thunder or White Lightning in the G80 29mm disposable category?????
 
Oh yes, the G80 Fast White Lightning's! If you guys had to choose, would you go with Blue Thunder or White Lightning in the G80 29mm disposable category?????

I don't know about back in the day, but now I'll take white over about anything. I haven;t had the chance to launch anything sparky yet, but of everything else I'll take white.
 
Bob - Good memories. Wish I had pic as well. Ross was a character, as they say.

All of the aluminum stuff on the 2 and 3 rows is AT. There is also a lot of Vulcan (on the top row and also the bottom). I bought quite a few of each off of Ross when he would come to Black Rock. Also Rocketflite motors of course.

As already noted in this thread, it is easy and fun to get nostalgic about old times, but the motor selection today is better than ever, especially with the addition of all the new-ish AT single use stuff.
 
Oh yes, the G80 Fast White Lightning's! If you guys had to choose, would you go with Blue Thunder or White Lightning in the G80 29mm disposable category?????

Ditto to what Cl(VII) said. I've used all the different types of composite propellants including sparkies up through N power and just have a soft spot for white lightning. Lots of smoke for demos, which I seem to get talked into doing a lot of, and no surprises just a good solid performer. It's all a matter of preference and I have launched a lot of Blue Thunder too. Either would do you well.

What the motor vendor has on hand also plays a large role. ;)
 
All I can say is WOW!!!!That's a mess of $$$$$$ motors.That's way I'll never even get my Level1.I can't afford anything above a G motor.But I do enjoy watching the Highpower rockets.
With the new AT DMS H motors there not much more then a G40W.... (DO IT, DO IT, DO IT). I to have spent many a doller on that truck.
Mr. Bob
Countyline Hobbies
www.countylinehobbies.com
 
I never bought from his truck, but his store was only 15 minutes from work and I would head over there during lunch 2 or 3 times a year. I wasn't into HPR at the time, so I only bought Estes rockets and motors. He had tons of stuff.
 
I never bought from his truck, but his store was only 15 minutes from work and I would head over there during lunch 2 or 3 times a year. I wasn't into HPR at the time, so I only bought Estes rockets and motors. He had tons of stuff.

Around 2002 or 2003 I was in Ohio with some projects in Dayton and Columbus. On a whim I decided to stop by Magnum and take a look around. He had a pretty big setup and I bought some of the first HPR magazines to complete my collection. I hung out with Ross for a while and traded stories, he was a cool guy. What did Ross wind up going with Magnum?
 
From the best of my grey matter, He sold it to a guy in PA who never got it back off the ground. He put up a web site a few years ago but it now sends you to Sunwards site.
I miss burning up Vulcan H100's at $20.00 a wack. With inflation $29.99 for a DMS is a good deal.
Mr. Bob
Countyline Hobbies
Grovertown, IN
www.countylinehobbies.com
 
One of my many regrets from early on is that I never managed to buy any Vulcan or Rocketflite motors. I wish they were easier to come by back then.
 

They weren't end burners, or were they? I'm thinking they didn't have a cylindrical core, but rather a "spindle core" much like large pressed BP motors you would see at a PGI convention. Sound right?
 
They weren't end burners, or were they? I'm thinking they didn't have a cylindrical core, but rather a "spindle core" much like large pressed BP motors you would see at a PGI convention. Sound right?

Still curious about the core geometry of the Rocketflite motors. Anyone remember?
 
Ah, very cool!! I, too, never had the chance to try Vulcans or Rocketflites. I was a kid then, just getting into rocketry and learning of HPR. I ordered a Magnum catalog and just remember going through it, cover to cover, gawking at what I wished I could buy. Happy some of the DMS offerings are bringing some of the old SU motors back. I hope to fly the H45 and I65 this year.

Anybody have a shot of a Vulcan Low Smoke or Hellfire motor in action? I've seen very few--Smoky Sam was their most popular it seems. I've seen plenty of pics/vids of H100's and various other Smokey Sams, but not the other propellants. I believe they did Low Smoke and then transitioned those to Hellfire.

And Bob, somewhere I have a cutaway photo of a Silver Streak. I think "spindle core" is correct. It was most definitely cored out, but it tapered as it went up (if I remember correctly) and didn't go all the way through the top of the BP slug. IRRC the core stops about a 1/2" or so from the top of the BP grain. I used to bug vendors with all kinds of questions in the early email days, and Greg Dyben (that's him, right??) sent me the photo when I inquired about how they were made, etc. As a kid I found these intriguing since they were essentially "overgrown Estes motors".
 
Ah, very cool!! I, too, never had the chance to try Vulcans or Rocketflites. I was a kid then, just getting into rocketry and learning of HPR. I ordered a Magnum catalog and just remember going through it, cover to cover, gawking at what I wished I could buy. Happy some of the DMS offerings are bringing some of the old SU motors back. I hope to fly the H45 and I65 this year.

Anybody have a shot of a Vulcan Low Smoke or Hellfire motor in action? I've seen very few--Smoky Sam was their most popular it seems. I've seen plenty of pics/vids of H100's and various other Smokey Sams, but not the other propellants. I believe they did Low Smoke and then transitioned those to Hellfire.

And Bob, somewhere I have a cutaway photo of a Silver Streak. I think "spindle core" is correct. It was most definitely cored out, but it tapered as it went up (if I remember correctly) and didn't go all the way through the top of the BP slug. IRRC the core stops about a 1/2" or so from the top of the BP grain. I used to bug vendors with all kinds of questions in the early email days, and Greg Dyben (that's him, right??) sent me the photo when I inquired about how they were made, etc. As a kid I found these intriguing since they were essentially "overgrown Estes motors".

Hey Marcus and thanks for the feedback. That pretty much confirms what I thought. Cool that Greg sent you some details of their process. I don't think there are many manufacturers that would do that present day.

I've got some old Earl Cagle videos on VHS with quite a few flights of Vulcan motors. The L750 and H100 Smokey Sams were probably the most popular judging by his videos.

I flew one of the original H45's back in the 90's and have seen 2 of the new H45 DMS motors from AT. They're terrific! I've sold a bunch of I65's but none locally to my dismay!!! On a side note, I special ordered it's cousin K250 which comes in the LMS configuration. Pretty unique and you can check it out here: https://www.buyrocketmotors.com/blog/
 
One of my many regrets from early on is that I never managed to buy any Vulcan or Rocketflite motors. I wish they were easier to come by back then.

Ross did come down here for Floricon '94 and he did have some Vulcan H100's which were cool.

Back in early '93, Mike Platt from Microbrick came down from NY to the TTRA launch, with his car packed with all the 'Class B' motors that were having heck of a time shipping then. A lot of these were the 38mm Rocketflite motors, as well as the 29s, mostly Silver Streaks. Got my grubby mitts on like a half dozen each, should have kept some for nostalgia.... Needless to say, he went back home emptyhanded!
 
Ross did come down here for Floricon '94 and he did have some Vulcan H100's which were cool.

Back in early '93, Mike Platt from Microbrick came down from NY to the TTRA launch, with his car packed with all the 'Class B' motors that were having heck of a time shipping then. A lot of these were the 38mm Rocketflite motors, as well as the 29s, mostly Silver Streaks. Got my grubby mitts on like a half dozen each, should have kept some for nostalgia.... Needless to say, he went back home emptyhanded!

I don't recall how many motor vendors there were back then but it wasn't many. I remember Ross came down to one of the DARS Dallas High Power events. Pretty sure this was in '94. That guy spent a lot of time on the road back then and was pretty dedicated.

Wish I had the opportunity to pick those Silver Streaks and Vulcan motors. Just wasn't in the cards for me I guess.
 
Back
Top