What happened to North Coast?

Hello,
North Coast rockets are going for big bucks on ebay. Did Estes kill off the North Coast line? Or did it die on its own?

Brian

Don't quote me on this, and it's been awhile (3+ years) since I've heard anything, but I think the NCR/Estes line died because of some legal troubles between Matt Steele (owner of NCR when it was an independent company) and Estes. I have no idea what the problems were, just that there were problems.

The raw facts are that ESTES bought NCR, and was operating it as a semi independant operation for a certain period of time. Then, ESTES closed down NCR.

There are many stories about the gory details, and here are a few links to RMR posts: (Remember, these are internet postings, and may or may not be true... I am just covering myself here)

Announcement from ESTES:

https://groups.google.com/groups?q=...ts&[email protected]&rnum=4



And some NCR demise posts from RMR:

https://groups.google.com/[email protected]&rnum=1

They get uglier:

https://groups.google.com/groups?q=...rockets&selm=1999Jul24.105038.1@eisner&rnum=4

I think I heard somewhere from an unknown source that they had a fire that destroyed part of their facility.

I guess after that they didn't want to continue making composite motors. Besides their motors were not true 29mm. More like 28.5mm.

They had some nice kits too but if you read the reviews on EMRR, some of them appeared to have durability problems as well as some other issues like motor tubes that are not true 29mm.

IMO, this thread should probably be moved into the MPR forum due to the fact that NCR made F and G motors as well as MPR kits for them.

Just my 2 cents.

Originally posted by Donaldsrockets
I think I heard somewhere from an unknown source that they had a fire that destroyed part of their facility.

Click to expand...

If you mean Estes had a fire, I think I remember reading about it a couple years ago. There was a grass fire that came onto the Estes property and reached a BP motor storage magazine. Something like 750,000 motors burned. (Wouldn't you like to see something like THAT happen)

At the 1991 RCHTA Show in Chicago, Estes displayed a sign in their booth announcing E, F, G rocket motors coming soon.

Here's a picture of that sign. It's somewhat obscured by the PRO Series Impulse kit on display in front of the sign.

See the thread "I'm responsible. Was: What happened to North Coast" for the beginnings of the Estes composite motor effort in the early 1990s.