Found my old rockets!

I was at my parents’ house for July 4th and decided to snoop around in the attic. Lo and behold, I found my old rockets! Centuri Phoenix Bird and USS America, Estes Interceptor and Marauder, and one rocket I haven’t identified yet lol.
Also found some old rocket engines. Untouched since the mid 1980s.

So how safe is it to fly these rockets? Phoenix Bird, my old favorite, looks to be in good shape.

How about the rocket engines?

For the rockets check all the glue joints with a good wiggle and re attach anything that falls off. Parachutes and shock cords are probably brittle and/or stuck together and will need replacing. As for the motors, most attics go thru some serious heating and cooling cycles so I wouldn't trust them. Even if you bench test one and it works properly there's no telling what the others will do.

I had an old engine fail on me. It went up just fine but the ejection charge never fired off.

Extreme temperature variations in an attic over cold winters and hot summers might not be good for engines.

The motors are highly questionable. I would hold onto them and get new motors. People in my club launch questionable motors in rockets that are unlikely to be damaged by a malfunction (known as a Cato), or they use them in rockets that are expendable.

ygbsm said:

I was at my parents’ house for July 4th and decided to snoop around in the attic. Lo and behold, I found my old rockets! Centuri Phoenix Bird and USS America, Estes Interceptor and Marauder, and one rocket I haven’t identified yet lol.
Also found some old rocket engines. Untouched since the mid 1980s.

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There are those who would say "Photos! Or it didn't happen".

It also might help us ID your mystery rocket.

Replace the shock cords!

White glue joints and fillets may have dried out and become brittle. As others have suggested, give the joints stress tests and re-glue.
I'd presume the recovery systems: chutes, shock cords and shock cord mounts -- are shot.

Cool, let's see some pics of the old rockets! Agree that BP motors stored in an attic are very likely to CATO, due to temperature cycling.

Found the identity of the mystery rocket- Centuri Python Fighter.

Also found my launch controller- the type that used the Polaroid PolaPulse 6V wafer battery. I doubt they make those batteries anymore, but at the time it was so much cooler than lugging around a latern battery lol.

I've got a couple modern expendable rockets that I can try the old motors on, just because I'm curious.

I'll post pics in a couple of days. Between my 11 year old painting skills and 35 years of neglect, they're not much to look at.

Someone still makes the flat packs for Polaroid Originals. I just got 3 packs of fresh 600 film for my son not to long ago. As for painting skills, some of us (me) have never gotten past 11yo skills.

James Harechmak said:

As for painting skills, some of us (me) have never gotten past 11yo skills.

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They only need to look good from 20 feet away anyway...

Good painting skills are nice but the reality is the paint only has to be good enough to:
• Find it after launch
• WANT to find it after launch.

ygbsm said:

I was at my parents’ house for July 4th and decided to snoop around in the attic. Lo and behold, I found my old rockets! Centuri Phoenix Bird and USS America, Estes Interceptor and Marauder, and one rocket I haven’t identified yet lol.
Also found some old rocket engines. Untouched since the mid 1980s.

So how safe is it to fly these rockets? Phoenix Bird, my old favorite, looks to be in good shape.

How about the rocket engines?

Click to expand...

Let me be the first to say "Welcome Back" to Rocketry !

Dave F.