1980 - That was the year!!

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markschnell

markschnell

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Okay, this might open up a can of worms, but I say that 1980 was one of the coolest years for model rocketry. That being said, I'm not one of those guys that gripes about what we have today, I'm very excited about what Estes and the many other companies are putting out right now. Between that and what's being done with 3D printing, etc. we've got some great stuff today. I'm still buying the new stuff too.

But here's my point: Take a look at the Estes and Centuri catalogs for 1980 and see if you don't agree. They were doing some cool stuff. Putting the big two together, that's my favorite year by far.

What do you think? What's your favorite year or favorite catalog and why?

Rocketry Eye Candy Courtesy of Ninfinger
 
cerving said:
The 1970 Estes catalog had a lot of cool rockets (Trident, Orbital Transport, Mars Lander), and of course the Saturns and Little Joe. Plus, the introduction of the Cineroc/Omega, and the "Mighty D". A banner year, for sure.
Click to expand...

There's so many great scale kits in that one, plus the ones you mention.
 
Having the Space Shuttle Columbia orbiter model on the cover was pretty neat, since the first flight was coming up in 1981 after some delays, and there was not a bunch of manned space flight recently. Engines and kits were easy to find on the hobby toy aisle at the local K-Mart, and I would also mail order from the catalog since they would give you coupons every time to use on your next order.
 
markschnell said:
Okay, this might open up a can of worms, but I say that 1980 was one of the coolest years for model rocketry. That being said, I'm not one of those guys that gripes about what we have today, I'm very excited about what Estes and the many other companies are putting out right now. Between that and what's being done with 3D printing, etc. we've got some great stuff today. I'm still buying the new stuff too.

But here's my point: Take a look at the Estes and Centuri catalogs for 1980 and see if you don't agree. They were doing some cool stuff. Putting the big two together, that's my favorite year by far.

What do you think? What's your favorite year or favorite catalog and why?

Rocketry Eye Candy Courtesy of Ninfinger
Click to expand...


Indeed1980 was at the top of the five best years. 76 year will always have a spot for me as it was my first catalog.

TA
 
markschnell said:
Okay, this might open up a can of worms, but I say that 1980 was one of the coolest years for model rocketry. That being said, I'm not one of those guys that gripes about what we have today, I'm very excited about what Estes and the many other companies are putting out right now. Between that and what's being done with 3D printing, etc. we've got some great stuff today. I'm still buying the new stuff too.

But here's my point: Take a look at the Estes and Centuri catalogs for 1980 and see if you don't agree. They were doing some cool stuff. Putting the big two together, that's my favorite year by far.

What do you think? What's your favorite year or favorite catalog and why?

Rocketry Eye Candy Courtesy of Ninfinger
Click to expand...
As a fan of sci-fi designs, I would say 1980 is definitely up there... but the whole span of 1980 - 1984 is pretty awesome.

I do so wish ninfinger could be modernized. It's an incredible resource, but the web page design and tech are ancient. Also the scans are beautiful but relatively small and low-res; it's hard to read the text on some pages.
 
markschnell said:
Okay, this might open up a can of worms, but I say that 1980 was one of the coolest years for model rocketry.
Click to expand...

Yup - I'm with ya, though '81 was pretty great too. It was a nice period in that a lot of cool, limited release stuff was on shelves AND most of the 70's classics were still in production. I'm not sure I'd trade it for our "now", but I'd sure like to have a time machine and go shopping!
 
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I loved the late 60s-72, since there was still so much excitement about the space age. But for me the 65 catalog will always be 'it'. Not as much stuff to be had, but it was the catalog that realized a dream---you could buy model rockets that would actually fly!
 
Question for you guys a bit older than me. I was born in '69 so growing up in the 70's and 80's was still somewhat close to the race to the moon. In grade school lots of classes had rocket section of science class and in jr. high we scratch built rockets in shop class. What was it like in the late 60's and during Apollo? Was model rocketry a lot more commonplace? Was it even a bit cool?
 
AeroTech said:
For me, the landmark year for model rocketry was 1971. The Centuri 1971 catalog was released which debuted the Enerjet line of composite propellant rocket motors.
Click to expand...

Wow, how did I miss the history of the Enerjet? I had no idea that these ever even existed. Were they unstable, in other words, why did they go away. Looking at page you posted they must have been pretty expensive in 1971.
 
I ran the numbers: that $5 they were asking for an F67 in 1971 is the equivalent of about $34 today. That's about double the typical cost of an Aerotech F67W single use motor today in 2021. So they were expensive indeed. Glad to see the inflation-adjusted cost came down. The greater cost in 1971 probably reflects recouping the R&D cost of bringing the composite fuel to market.
Bob Schultz
 
1980. Ehh. I could have done without. Mt St Helens shunted all the fun in the area. Big grey piles of ash, mudflow onto the property, ect. A dig-out that year. in 81 I put a couple Estes together and flew on the now-dry mudflows. Chased them down on my Yamaha YZ125. Skyraider on a D and something else.
 
There should be a website for all the catalogs. If everyone with a catalog scanned it into a pdf, that website could collect the pdf’s and make them available to all.
 
markschnell said:
Wow, how did I miss the history of the Enerjet? I had no idea that these ever even existed. Were they unstable, in other words, why did they go away. Looking at page you posted they must have been pretty expensive in 1971.
Click to expand...
Good question. It probably had something to do with a risk/reward assessment by Damon after they purchased Centuri. A special catalog and letter was sent to Enerjet customers in 1974 and stated the reason as “material shortages and economic considerations”. Lee Piester may be able to provide a more definitive answer.
 
Funkworks said:
There should be a website for all the catalogs. If everyone with a catalog scanned it into a pdf, that website could collect the pdf’s and make them available to all.
Click to expand...
A worthy project. In the meantime we have Sven Knudson's site. As Neil mentioned it's state-of-the-art-in-the-90s graphic technology but where else can you find a 1966 Rocket Development Corporation catalog.

http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/rockets.html
 
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markschnell said:
Question for you guys a bit older than me. I was born in '69 so growing up in the 70's and 80's was still somewhat close to the race to the moon. In grade school lots of classes had rocket section of science class and in jr. high we scratch built rockets in shop class. What was it like in the late 60's and during Apollo? Was model rocketry a lot more commonplace? Was it even a bit cool?
Click to expand...
I don't know. I don't think anybody at our high school scratch built anything in shop class. I certainly ate up all the manned space activity going on then but alot of my friends could have cared less. I think the general public still thought we were "shootin' off fireworks" which hasn't changed much to this day. Don't know what else to say, it was the wonder years.
 
markschnell said:
Question for you guys a bit older than me. I was born in '69 so growing up in the 70's and 80's was still somewhat close to the race to the moon. In grade school lots of classes had rocket section of science class and in jr. high we scratch built rockets in shop class. What was it like in the late 60's and during Apollo? Was model rocketry a lot more commonplace? Was it even a bit cool?
Click to expand...
I was eight when NASA selected the Mercury 7 astronauts. I'd been following that whole process, clipping newspaper articles and pasting them in a scrapbook. I remember my fourth-grade teacher wheeling a TV on a cart into the classroom so we could watch Alan Shepard's flight, but other than that, there was nothing going on in grade school with regard to model rocketry.

I think I was 10 when I stumbled onto model rocketry, most likely through an advertisement for Estes in Boys' Life magazine. I don't recall what my first rocket was, but I remember building and flying a Wac Corporal. I would have been 10 or 11.

High school science class had no offerings for model rocketry, nor did shop class (1966-69). Fact is, nobody I knew was interested in rockets, much less in flying them. I flew alone, and that never bothered me.

My last two rockets during my first rocketry phase were a Gemini/Titan and a Saturn 1B, both Estes kits, and both clustered motors. I can't remember why I quit model rocketry, but I suspect it was due to a growing interest in cars and girls.

Fast forward 55 years to my rekindled interest, and the discovery that model rocketry is a whole new ballgame. I'm presently on the tail end of a scratch build for 29mm motors, and can't wait to get out on the dry lake bed for the first launch.
 
As far as the pre-Enerjet time, the Cineroc made a huge impression on me, which debuted in the 1970 Estes catalog:
1640836653174.png
Beginning with the stock 2-stage Omega, I added two booster pods to the first stage and eventually flew up to 4-stage clustered and staged modified Omega rockets with D12 motors and Cinerocs.
1640837102410.png
1640837938909.png
1640837689552.png
One Enerjets arrived on the scene, I was flying stock and modified Cinerocs in single, two and three-stage (and clustered and staged) rockets powered by Enerjet motors.
1640837319954.jpeg
1640836842298.png
1640837502815.png
 
For me, while I got into the hobby in 1983, the catalog that I reach for the most is the first 1971 Estes Catalog. There was a 2nd but I didn't find out about that until decades later. It was the catalog that introduced me to the Cineroc.

1640839762874.png

I got my hands on the catalog thanks to my band teacher Mr. D. (Rudy Domitrovich), who was selling off his collection (unknown to me at the time) to liquidate the things that he was going to lose in his divorce. I got his 1/100 scale Centuri Saturn V (KS-12), V2 (KS-19), Mach 10 (KA-4), and Estes Trident (K-33), along with the Estes 1971 catalog, and a Centuri 1971 catalog for $10. Had I had more money, I'd have been able to pick up his Saturn 1B. The skills displayed were from absolute beginner (the Trident) to mastery (the Saturn V). I have flown the V2 and the Trident, both, the Mach 10 was damaged and modified, I haven't flown it, but am looking to clone it. The Saturn V was built as a permanent triple engine cluster. It was flown, but the fins were damaged, and I don't trust clusters... Especially with a rocket that looks as good as it does at its age.
 
markschnell said:
Wow, how did I miss the history of the Enerjet? I had no idea that these ever even existed. Were they unstable, in other words, why did they go away. Looking at page you posted they must have been pretty expensive in 1971.
Click to expand...

Over ten years ago in LAUNCH Magazine 'some guy' wrote an article about the history of Enerjet. ;)
 
AeroTech said:
Pretty accurate and comprehensive history, too!
Click to expand...
I was that 'some guy', I think, if you are referring to my interview of Irv Wait that appeared in LAUNCH. Mr. Wait (no matter how old I got, I never could call him 'Irv') was the tech advisor for a club I belonged to in Indiana...and a good friend of mine worked for him at RDC the summer before his senior year in High School.

The photos in the article were provided by Mario Perdue - I took a bunch of pictures but they were not magazine-quality; I do have some shots of the RDC/Enerjet reloadable motors from about 1968. At the time, NAR S&T wouldn't go for a metal motor case...but times did change!
 
Mark,

I enjoyed your article about Irv Wait and his development of the 'Enerjet' motor.

Gary and I were alluding to the Launch article I wrote titled "The Enerjet Story".
 

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