Mike Dorffler Replicas™ ...any one had dealings with him ?..new catalogue included..

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Silverleaf

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Hello,

This might belong in the vendor's section - if so, my apologies in advance - but I've not dealt with him as of yet, so I'm wondering if anyone has bought any of Mike Dorffler's Cd collection on Rocketry/Space/missile imagery and some videos ?

I just recieved an email back from him in answer to my query about his products - with an new pdf catalogue attached, so he's still in business. The last catalogue I got was from Marh of 03, and the price for everything was 250 bucks. Now its dropped a full 100.

As a scale fan, I must admit that this collection has had my attention ever since I found out about him through Jim Balls's site a few years back, and well the chance to have this much scale data is quite appealing to me - although the price tag still seems awfully high and is out of my league. So if anyone has dealt with him, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Many thanks in advance,

Cheers,

R.S.

P.S. For those of you not familiar with him, here is the catalogue I just copied from the PDF - no pics this time, but the quality is outstanding from what I've seen in prior catalogues.
_______________


Mike Dorffler Replicas CD Archive Collection Listing

The entire set of 33 disks listed below is priced at $150 post paid. All CDs come fully labeled and in windowed sleeves.

Russian Rocket and Missile Data Collection

Disk 1 contains a collection of drawings for the Russian R-7 series of launch vehicles. Included are Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, Sputnik 3,
Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz. CAD drawings by Vladimir Minakov and a CAD drawing viewer are included.

Disk 2 contains a great series of detailed photos for the Kosmos-3M mid-lift satellite launch vehicle as well as the smaller Kosmos R-12 booster. Drawings of both vehicles by Vladimir Minakov and Alex Schlyadinsky are included.

Disk 3 displays a collection of data for the Russian Proton heavy lift booster. Vladimir’s magnificent six-sheet Proton drawing set are simply awesome, and include the Zond lunar flight stage. A set of close-up ‘rivets’ photos and various vehicle assembly views round out this fine scale data reference source.

Disk 4 is the Russian N-1 Lunar launch vehicle data collection. Alex’s N-1 drawings on this disk are recognized around the world as the benchmark reference for this vehicle, shielded in secrecy for many years. A collection of photos, videos, and illustrations help the viewer understand this complex vehicle.

Disk 5 contains a great set of data and drawings for the Russian Buran Space Shuttle. Several short videos are included which show the only Buran launch and landing, and a sequence of jet engine powered test flights.

Disk 6 is the Russian missiles data set. Included are drawings for the SA-2 Guideline and the GOA anti-aircraft SAMS, and several
Russian sounding rockets. Also included is a good set of photos and drawings for the Polish Meteor sounding rocket.

The Saturn History Collection

Disk 1 has several detailed NASA drawings of both rockets scanned at 600 or 1200 dpi. in progressive sections. Use your graphics program and printer to print and then tape these sections together for drawings up to five feet in length with standard 8-1/2” X 11” paper. Scale them up with little loss in detail.

Disk 2 has a set of informative historic NASA *.pdf files, including the complete SA-503 and SA-504 flight manuals. Many of these files are filled with illustrations and information for both Saturn vehicles you probably have never seen before, and are quite insightful.

Disk 3 has a fantastic set of high-resolution scans of close-up photos taken of the Saturn V on display at the Kennedy Space Center. Many of these photos show exterior details many of you didn’t know existed and don’t show up on any NASA drawing. These are truly a great set of ‘rivet’ photos.

Disk 4 is a concentration of Saturn V reference details using photos and illustrations.

Disk 5 is a concentration of Saturn IB reference details using photos and illustrations, and a glimpse of the development of the various flight versions.

The John Pursley Saturn Photo Collection

Disk 1 SATURN I – 34 Hi-Res Images
Disk 2 SATURN IB – 35 Hi-Res Images
Disk 3 SATURN IB – 20 Hi-Res Images
Disk 4 SATURN V – 35 Hi-Res Images
Disk 5 SATURN V – 33 Hi-Res Images
Disk 6 SATURN V Disk 3 – 33 Hi-Res Images
Disk 7 SATURN V Display at JSC Disk - 129 Hi-Res Images
Disk 8 Apollo 11 Flight Disk - 130 Hi-Res Images

The V-2 and Project Bumper Data Collection

This set includes the popular primary data disk, and TWO Hi-Resolution photo disks. These detailed ‘rivet’ photos were
taken of V-2s by Ed Straten of the Netherlands on display at the Military Museum in Delft Holland, the London Imperial
War Museum, the London Science Museum, the London RAF Hendon Museum, and the Wizernes France La Coupole
Museum. If you are a fan of the V-2, then you should seriously consider ordering this great reference set.

Scale Data Collection

Disk 1 - Drawing and photo set of Nike Hercules and Nike Ajax. Illustrations and drawings included.

Disk 2 - Pictorial and video review of Thor through the Thor-Delta series satellite and planetary launch vehicles. Included are a set of super Hi-Res Delta II images and drawings form the personal collection of Delta launch coordinator Marc Lavigne.

Disk 3 - Great pictorial and documentation set of the US Army Honest John field artillery missile. A Hi-Res photo set shows rivets,
markings, and assembly in sharp detail.

Disk 4 - Nice set of photos and illustrations of the early US Naval air-defense Terrier system. Images from the personal collection of
Evan Nau are included.

Disk 5 - Pictorial and video review plus illustrations of the Naval Talos and Tartar air-defense systems. Many images are from the
personal collection of Evan Nau.

Disk 6 - A very nice set of images and documentation for the Little Joe I Mercury spacecraft flight test vehicle. Several Hi-Res images
are included which show many of the vehicles fine exterior details.

Disk 7 - The Little Joe II Apollo spacecraft flight test vehicle is featured on this CD. A great reference set of drawings with many Hi- Res photos from the personal collection of Tom Beach.

Disk 8 - The LTV Scout all solid-propellant satellite launch vehicle is shown in great detail complete with detailed drawings.

Disk 9 - The finest Mercury Redstone data reference set found anywhere. Many images and illustrations of both the launch vehicle and Mercury spacecraft are included on this very popular CD. Also included are detailed images of John Pursley's very impressive large contest-winning Mercury Redstone model rocket.

Disk 10 - The Navy's air-defense Standard Missile is featured in this great reference photo set.

Disk 11 - Great photo and drawing reference set of the Taurus-Tomahawk sounding rocket flown the from Wallops Island, Virginia
launch complex.
 
Mike Dorffler's CD collection is AWESOME! I ordered it after NARAM 44 with a regisration packet discount stuffer. That was two summers ago; but I think the special price was also around $150.

He has great scale data, many even have copies of blueprints. He has lots of pictures from different angles. Each CD is well organized with several file folders in them to make finding what you are looking for easier.

Mike was easy to communicate with via e-mail, although I think I only wrote to him twice. They arrived in a timely manner; but it was too long ago to remember exactly. They arrived in one box with plenty of paper packing around the huge ziplock bag; which contained all of the individually paper/plastic window CD envelopes. Each CD has a very professional looking label with a picture of a rocket that's on the CD; as well the name(s) of the rocket(s) and a general content inside.

If you do order this collection, be prepared to spend a lot of time veiwing it all. There's quite a lot of info inside!:cool:
 
My understanding from a post found on another site is that Mike Dorffler is no longer selling his scale data sets.

The email link on Jim Ball's site is not current, emails return "recipient unkown".

Anybody have any dealings with Mike lately, or know how to reach him?
 
A while back, an email addy was provided over at Scaleroc, but it was a dead link, so for the present, it doesn't look like anyone has been able to contact him. Mike hasn't been selling the collection for perhaps a year or so.

Your best bet, though I'm hesitant to mention it here publically, is to find some kind soul whom has the collection, and see if they will make a copy for you.

Owning the set myself has been the single best thing for my Scale Rocketry addiction, and when paired with Peter Alway's masterwork "Rockets of the World" and supplements, well its a winning combination.

I refer to both on a daily basis, and find myself researching more designs because of these two gents fascination with all things scale.

Cheers,
 
I don't think he's selling them anymore. Well over a year ago (some time before I moved) there were postings on RMR, Old Rockets (somewhere) that he was moving out the complete sets for $100. I couldn't pass that up, so I glommed on one of those tout suit. Well worth the trip for the money order!

Al
 
Silverleaf, Al,

Thanks for the input.

I know I could find somebody to let me copy their set but I was trying to do the right thing.

The real shame is that Mike Dorffler spent an immense amount of time compiling these sets and there are still those who would buy them if available. Maybe not enough for Mike to continue with the hassle but it certainly seems a shame to see all that worthwhile effort go to waste.

I was hoping to contact him, if someone knows how, to ask if maybe he would allow NARTS to offer the sets. Seems kind of a natural.
 
That was the problem Gus. They just didn't generate the interest to keep it going for him. I can contact him and ask if he's still selling discs. What sets were you interested in?
 
I'd like to make known my interest as well. Without seeing pictures, it's tough to say exactly, but from the descriptions posted above, I'd probably be interested in obtaining ALL of his offerings.

For those of you who have these CD's already -- are the images printable?
 
I'll have to dig them out and give them a look-see, but if I recall, they were TIF's (rather than highly compressed JPG's) and it didn't seem to take too terribly many to fill up a CD. I'll check and get back to you.

Al
 
Tok a look through several of the disks. Many of the pictures are high resolution TIF's so they're pretty good size (~5 megs or more) that were obviously original photograhs either taken or acquired by somebody specifically for scale reference. Some are obviously scanned pictures from books, particularly some of the period V-2 shots, although he does have several disks of high resolution shots from a V2 in Europe. All in all, a very worthwhile purchase.

Alan
 
Originally posted by Gus
I was hoping to contact him, if someone knows how, to ask if maybe he would allow NARTS to offer the sets. Seems kind of a natural.

If permission is obtained, NARTS would probably combine the multi-CD collections onto a single dvds.

Why have 33 cds when you could have 4 dvds.
The 4 being US Missile & Rockets, Soviet Missiles & Rockets, Saturn 1B and V, and the V2/Bumper.

Oh yeah, I've got the entire set too.
Great stuff! Especially the Soviet drawings.
Take them to a blueprint shop and they'll plot them out at whatever scale you need for a 1:1 drawing to model from.

Kinda what Sandman does with his kits.
 
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