Model Rocket News - the missing pdfs?

[Tramper Al]

I think I've figured it out, nevermind. Thanks!

 

[Kruegon]

Well fill me in. I've been trying to find the full set myself.

 

[dhbarr]

+1, what's the skinny?

 

[Tramper Al]

Sorry, deleted my lengthy inquiry but for some reason could not delete the thread.

Publicly available, we have the incredibly useful MRN pdf files from the early 1960s to 1972 (Volume 12). Then we have two 1981 issues (Volume 22), then another big gap to 1992-1994 (Volumes 32-34, one issue each), then finally a single Volume 37. My post was about all the missing volumes 13-21, etc. from 20+ years of MRN publication that were not available to us as pdfs - and couldn't we fix that.

In reading the 1992 issue, I found that the first article was something to the effect that MRN was back - after 20 years, that gap having to do with management, priorities, etc. So I started to think that many of the gaps in MRN availability may be in fact due to non-publication rather than lack of anyone coming forward with paper copies, scanning and uploading, etc. It never occurred to me that MRN would keep advancing the Volume number for years it was not published!

But yes, there may be other gaps that can be filled, in the 1960s-1972 period, or later on. I'm just not sure.

 

[samb]

When this question was asked in 2015, Mary Roberts of Estes replied this way:

Model Rocket News continued to be published until sometime in 1990s.

It was sometimes published inside seasonal sales catalogs in small 5 ½” x 8 ½” format. And the name was lengthened a bit during that time to Model Rocket News Magazine.

I have printed copies of most of the MRNs. Unfortunately we do not have electronic versions or PDFs of the MRNs at this time.

That is something I would like to scan and have put on the Estes web site.

At this time, we have nearly all Estes catalogs if you’d like to see those.

Visit www.estesrockets.com and click on catalog. There you can view pdfs back to the catalog that Gleda Estes stitched together on her sewing machine.

Kind Regards,

Mary Roberts

Previous Assistant Editor, MRN

(Vern Estes was listed as the Editor J )

Estes​

source: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?124068-Estes-Model-Rocket-News


I guess any and all of these conditions have to be met to get a complete archive online:

-someone has the paper copies
-someone has the scanner
-someone digitizes the pages
-someone hosts the digital copies on the web

Here are the locations of MRNs that I know about:

https://www.oldrocketplans.com/publications.htm

https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/mrn.htm

https://www.accur8.com/Estes_Library.html



Anybody have any more ?

 

[Tramper Al]

Anybody have any more ?

From these, the usual publicly available pdfs, I am counting thirty (30) unique individual issues that I have from Vol 1 No 2 "Crickenaut Launch" through Volume 37 No 1 Issue 92.

So yikes, I at least am missing some 62 (!) issues, assuming that Volume 37 tally listed by Estes is correct. Can that be right? Or did Estes also continue to count issue numbers for years it did not produce any? It looks as if they did not include the overall issue # until the last few.

Let's at least make available in this thread any that we have that are not currently available. But it does look like there is a huge resource out there somewhere which needs to be dug up and properly curated for posterity.

 

[Tramper Al]

Here are the locations of MRNs that I know about:

https://wwww.oldrocketplans.com/publications.htm
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/mrn.htm
https://www.accur8.com/Estes_Library.html

Here is what I believe is the sum total of what is available in combination from the 3 sites above:

1961 - Vol 1 No 2
1962 - Vol 2 No 1
1963 - Vol 3 No 1,2,3,4
1964 - Vol 4 No 1,2,3
1965 - Vol 5 No 1,2,3
1966 - Vol 6 No 1,2
1967 - Vol 7 No 1
1968 - Vol 8 No 1,2
1969 - Vol 9 No 1,2,3
1970 - Vol 10 No 1,2
1971 - Vol 11 No 1
1972 - Vol 12 No 4

1981 - Vol 21 No 2
1982 - Vol 22 No 1

1992 - Vol 32 No 1
1993 - Vol 33 No 1 (Issue 90)
1994 - Vol 34 No 1 (Issue 91)
1997 - Vol 37 No 1 (Issue 92)

Then there is also a Best of Vols 1 and 2, plus a couple of cover sheets.

At minimum, we seem to be missing some issues like Vol 1 No 1 and 3 (mentioned in Best of), Vol 2 No 2 and 3 (also mentioned), Vol 12 No 1-3, and Vol 21 No 1.
It seems clear that in some years, there was only one issue, like 1993 and 1994. Vol 7 No 1 was dated December 1967, so likely the only one for that year.

I honestly don't see how there could be 89 issues prior Vol 33 (1993) and more than two thirds of them are unaccounted for.

Anyone out there have more than this? Can you please scan and upload?

 

[Tramper Al]

I just noticed that a single eBay seller has a fairly large number of Model Rocket News issues for sale right now which are NOT in the scanned pdf library that we have available to us. Just in case anyone out there likes to collect these, please scan and post them for the great good once they are yours!

At the moment they are all $5 each with no competition.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=&_ssn=mojo1986&item=262900533925&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xmodel+rocket+news.TRS1&_nkw=model+rocket+news&_sacat=0