But around that same time I fell in love with the parabolic ceramic deflector put out by MPC. (and I still have one!)
I still remember one faithful afternoon back in 72' when my older brother was trying to launch his first rocket. He had tried several times in the past and never could get it to work. Shaking the Estes controller in frustration - failed again. He walked into the garage speaking choice words, came out on the tractor with some wire cutters. Cut the controller off, stripped the wires, and hit the tractor's battery. Whoosh! Wow!! We both yelled. And... I was hooked...
Wait... Was that a safety violation. Oh, well - he did it...
I was born the day John Glenn Returned to the Moon.
So I was born the day before...
My first rocket is described on page 161 of Bertand R. Brinley's _Rocket Manual For Amateurs_, available here:
https://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/t...R. Brinley (Ballantine Books - 1960) 385s.pdf
I always thought that curved deflector was a Model Missiles item acquired by Estes when they bought up MM inventory.
I remember these !!!!!
I think Estes was just transitioning to the flat blast deflector
when me and my buddies were flying ......
Teddy
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-3-R...=100013&prg=11184&rk=5&rkt=30&sd=261626889483
Definitely have never seen those before.
I don't recall ever seeing an Estes launch pad with a deflector like that.
Mine had leaky cells in it when I rediscovered it getting back into rockets but a brass wire brush on a Dremel tool can do wonders cleaning things up.
The first Estes catalog I really remember having is the 1967 version. I also remember getting motors in those blue tubes mailed to our post office box in Shiprock, NM.
Do you remember when Estes sold a special NC for those blue tubes? I prolly used a dozen of them.
Yes, I remember those nose cones, my dad was an accomplished machinist so he made a lot of nose cone on the lathe. I spent hours watching him make them.
I got a couple of blue tubes with B14's in them and a couple of the green ones with D13's in them.We didn't have that advantage back in the day. Now I own a lathe, but I have no blue tubes........:cry:
... If we only had a resoarce for more centuri catelogs!
The Dremel?.....You just about can't be without one of those anymore. Hope you bought the flex snake attachment with the pencil type grip on it. I never take it off.
Do you remember when Estes sold a special NC for those blue tubes? I prolly used a dozen of them.
BTW, the safety key for my Solar Launch controller is made of 5/64 inch diameter steel wire. The straight section is 1 inch long. It should be fairly easy to make something to replace the lost one that will work.
I've seen that happen before,,
I don't understand that at all..
I just clicked the link and it worked fine..
Maybe Matt knows why that happens..
66 huh..
You've got me beat..
I wasn't flying rockets that young... lol
What year did Estes come out with the Alpha ???
That's the one rocket each and everyone I know had,,
put it up on A-8-3's many times,,,
then for high flights put it up on the occasional B-6-4...
Then put a C-6-5 in it and never saw it again... lol...
Teddy
Placed my first order from an ad in Popular Mechanics Magazine 61. The Scout was delivered in a red shipping tube. The Scout found the top of a tree and the shipping tube became first scratch build.
I can't remember what publication I saw my first Estes ad in but it had to be around 1961-62.
I still have my original Astron Scout and several other rockets I built including an original twin engine Gemini Titan.
We didn't have a lot of money so I think my first launch pad was a section of 2X6 lumber with a launch rod stuck in the middle. Launch controller was home made too, probably a 6 volt lantern battery, zip cord, Estes igniter clips and some type of switch.
I launched LP until fall of '68. My last flight was a two stage rocket, scratch built with Centuri parts and those "Huge" E and F motors. :smile:
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