New to the forum, what was that old (Freon?) gas rocket from the early 70's?

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Hello,

Title says it... thought I would try this section?

When I was a kid my Dad bought our first rocket kit... and as I remember it was some kind of gas - maybe Freon? I think it had an aluminum body, but remember very little about it since shortly after several disappointing flights (the chute did not open once and it was damaged) we got into solid fuel Centuri rockets.

Anyone know what those were?

Thanks from a Newbie :)
 
A couple more threads:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/coldpower-using-r134a-vs-r12.156160/

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/estes-coldpower-land-rocket.111716/

A relevant page from Sven's wonderful old catalog scans:

73est44.jpg
 
Wow, I did not know there were that many (apparently called "cold power") rockets like that out there back then. These look very painted up from what I remember.... I remember ours being very plain looking... then again, I was 10 or 11 years old at the time... or maybe you had to paint them and we just did not take the time to do so? ;-)
 
So you're thinking of the original Vashon Rockets Valkyries then.....before Damon bought the company and folded it into Estes the parachute compartments were silver just like the actual freon ("RP-100") tanks were.

This is the Vashon Industries catalog I remember. https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/nostalgia/3vshcat.html I had a Valkyrie 2 which I lost on a hot day flying it out of a park that wasn't quite big enough :eek:
 
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Wow, this brings memories back from the cobwebbed section of my brain :)

I completely forgot about these!
 
I was 11-12 years old when the "cold power" rockets were introduced to the Estes catalogs for which we waited eagerly every year. For some reason, my friends and I all believed they were powered by CO₂. I never had a cold-power rocket (or knew anybody that did), and we all thought they somehow weren't quite "real rockets".
 
I was 11-12 years old when the "cold power" rockets were introduced to the Estes catalogs for which we waited eagerly every year. For some reason, my friends and I all believed they were powered by CO₂. I never had a cold-power rocket (or knew anybody that did), and we all thought they somehow weren't quite "real rockets".

Funny, as a 11 year old, I thought the same, of course when we finally got our first Centuri Rocket kit (Little Hercules I think?!) we were blown away by the difference!
 
I’ve seen some quite impressive stuff online with water rockets. Been mildly tempted from time to time.
 
WOW!... I think that might have been the one?! Sure wish I still had it, just... well... because??! ;-)

"Just because" is a fine reason!

I've had this one for a very long time, looks like the important bits are still there. The paper discs always seemed an odd way to achieve a delay.


tSmith1315... BTW, love your avatar photo!

😁

 
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My first model rockets were the original Vashon Valkyrie's with the aluminum payload tube and balsa nose cone, before Damon/Estes bought them. They came in a plain white box with a b/w label stuck on them, no fancy 4-color printing. Sadly, I don't have them anymore... they were all lost in some moves over the years, and none of them worked anyway because either the valves leaked or the nozzle-tank joints had failed. The Estes design with the filler in the nozzle plug was a better design than the original rubber fill valve... although the fill and venting valves made it feel like you were prepping a "real" rocket.
 
I had the cold power dragsters that used the same system. You staked a string into the ground to act as a guide for the dragster. It had a very light vacuum-formed body if I remember correctly. I only ran it a couple of times because it was hard to the cold power 'fuel'. I kept the rocket engine for years though, it was just one of those cool pieces of '70s toy technology.


Tony
 
The Estes design with the filler in the nozzle plug was a better design than the original rubber fill valve... although the fill and venting valves made it feel like you were prepping a "real" rocket.

Cool first rocket!

'73 or so Estes models still had the side fill, vent valve, and aluminum payload -see photos above. Maybe they were leftover Vashon stock that hadn't sold through yet?
 
Cool first rocket!

'73 or so Estes models still had the side fill, vent valve, and aluminum payload -see photos above. Maybe they were leftover Vashon stock that hadn't sold through yet?
The Coldpower motors weren't the same as the Vashon motors, they were a bit skinnier as I recall (probably so they'd fit a BT50 motor mount).
 
Don't forget the ESTES "Land Rockets" . . . Mine were quickly converted to "BP Power" ( I was a teenager then ) - LOL !

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/estes-coldpower-land-rocket.111716

https://forum.ausrocketry.com/viewtopic.php?t=475


Dave F.
Couldn't afford the land rocket, but had a couple of .049 CL planes so I took the motor off of one (crashed, go figure :D) and mounted it on a little plastic pickup truck in pusher mode. Running it on a string got boring so I went free running in the street. Had to put weight in the nose to counter balance the motor so it would get going to a certain speed and do a U turn and go back the way it came. What a blast! Never did figure out exactly why it was so consistent.
Edit: Sorry, just remembered the OP thing. Way out of that realm.
 
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