Look what I bought for $25

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Zeus-cat

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My wife's old boss wanted to get rid of his rocket stuff. He loves rockets, but has no time for them right now as he is trying to finish up his PhD. He decided to sell them to me for 50 cents a motor. When I counted up 73 motors he was shocked at how many there were and immediately dropped the price to $25.

1/2A3-4T X 2
A3-4T X 7
A10-3T X 17
A10-0T X 2
A8-0 X 9
A8-3 X 1
A8-5 X 1
B4-4 X 1
B6-0 X 6
B6-4 X 5
B8-5 X 2
C6-3 X 7
C6-5 X 3
C6-7 X 3
D12-5 X 6

He also threw in a 24 inch Estes parachute.

He told us later that he will grab all of his old rockets and drop them off at my wife's office sometime. He said he had a Big Bertha and other stuff, plus an SR-71 kit still in the box.

I don't use 13mm motors so those are all going to work tomorrow for a guy there. If I was a jerk I could actually make a profit on this deal, but I made out like a bandit so I will pass on my good fortune. I'll probably sell all the 13mm's for just $5. He won't be getting a single igniter so the deal isn't quite as great as it first sounds.

All of the motors were in an old toolbox and had been removed from their packages. No wadding and only about 10 igniters in all. I already threw half the igniters away as they were broken. A few of the others look in real bad shape and I doubt they will work. I think I'll be lucky to get three good ones from the bunch. I hope my local Hobby Lobby sells igniters as I certainly need some as I was already running low.
 
Good deal you got there!

As far as igniters go, when I'm launching using my Estes controller, I find that a lot of times the pyrogen burns and ignites the motor without breaking the bridge wire.

In those cases, I just put the igniter in another motor and as long as it's touching the propellant it will light that one also. I have gotten as many as five launches from a single igniter.

This is especially true when the batteries are starting to weaken.

When I use a 12 volt system, the bridge wire burns through every time.

Because of this, and the fact that I buy motors in the Blast-off packs with extra igniters, I now have about 40 more 6-packs of igniters than I have motors.

I usually carry a few of those in my flight box to hand out to anyone that are short on igniters.
 
I don't have a single two stage rocket to use them in - yet. I prefer to scratchbuild my own stuff; cloning something if needed. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good design?
 
that's a great Haul, and i agree with the others on the A8-0, as for a design, with an A8-0 in the booster i'd opt for a small diameter rocket, and build light.
 
You actually have a boss who doesn't equate model rockets with terrorists? :confused:

Lucky guy! :w:

MarkII
 
I don't have a single two stage rocket to use them in - yet. I prefer to scratchbuild my own stuff; cloning something if needed. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good design?

https://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews/all/plan_est_tiger_shark.shtml

This is a nice looking, simple 2-stage. I built this is the 60s (yes, it is an OLD design).

I did not have issues with scaling the plans, as mentioned in this review. The files are TIFs, and Microsoft Document Imaging, which was on my PC. I opened them fine for 100% scaled prints. I have PDFs I could send you if you have issues, just PM me.

BTW -- this was a BT-20 model, and I would not upscale it. The booster glides back -- pretty neat.
 
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He told us later that he will grab all of his old rockets and drop them off at my wife's office sometime. He said he had a Big Bertha and other stuff, plus an SR-71 kit still in the box.

I can just see it: five years from now some guy is going to find this place and post about how he sold all his rocket stuff at bargain basement prices and was seriously regretting it.:)
 
Lol.. I to was once a recipient of such an awesome deal. A box full of E, F, G disposables, and H reloads... $50 for the entire box lol
 
I don't have a single two stage rocket to use them in - yet. I prefer to scratchbuild my own stuff; cloning something if needed. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good design?

An Estes Shrike or Avenger would make a good 2-stage model to use A8-0s with.
 
those A10-0s and B8-5s are out of cert, but still very cool!
 
those A10-0s and B8-5s are out of cert, but still very cool!

They were certified at one time so I assume that makes them legal for use. I suppose I can't fly them at competitions since they are no longer certified, but I don't do that anyway. Right now I do all of my flying at a nearby park on my own so there would be no club restrictions either.

And thanks to everyone who offered suggestions on two stage designs. I think I know what I want to build now.
 
one word lucky. i havent been flying in a while but once i'm done with a few deals i will be again
 
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