Vern Estes home museum

[Stymye]

I stumbled onto this page showing a peek of Vern's personel collection
I thought it was worth passing along to anyone who hasn't seen it before.....wow ....


https://home.pcisys.net/~gelder/estes/estes.htm

 

[sandman]

WOW! Thanks for finding a great bunch of pics!

I did notice on the first pic on the left in the third row of pics...second rocket from the left.

A Centuri LASER-X!

Cool!

I guess Vern just builds what he likes! I think I saw at least 3 or 4 Big Bertha's.

sandman

 

[Stones]

Followed some links and found this pic. A broadsword launching on a motor with....magnesium as part of it's makeup? Kewl looking pic, either way.

 

[eugenefl]

Great find. It's neat to see some personal favorites of a great rocketry pioneer. I know as a kid I always enjoyed reading articles by some of the original rocketry icons. It's nice to see their personal involvement in the hobby - or at least memories of their experiences.

 

[Micromeister]

Great Link! wow what a neat bunch of models. It's really wonderful to see someone in the business who actually "Likes" the hobby. We really need more like him.

 

[tbzep]

Originally posted by Stones
Followed some links and found this pic. A broadsword launching on a motor with....magnesium as part of it's makeup? Kewl looking pic, either way.

That's most likely a Rocketflite SilverStreak motor. They made black powder F, G, and H motors. I loved those motors.

Here is a quick video of my old Cherokee-D upscale on an F50 Silverstreak. This was at a Rocket City Classic launch in Huntsville probably over a decade ago.

https://bellsouthpwp.net/t/b/tbzep/RocketPics/Cherokee-G SilverStreak2.mpg

 

[Stones]

Originally posted by tbzep
That's most likely a Rocketflite SilverStreak motor. They made black powder F, G, and H motors. I loved those motors.
...

Tnx for posting the vid. Must have always been a crowd pleaser burning those motors.

 

[BlueNinja]

I dunno... SS motors I've seen are a lot brighter than that.

 

[tbzep]

Originally posted by Blue_Ninja_150
I dunno... SS motors I've seen are a lot brighter than that.

It doesn't look very bright, but it's hard to tell in photos. It is right at liftoff and the motors do get brighter as they progress into the short burn. If it is a SS, I'm sure it's only an F50, not a G or H. It does look a lot like some pictures I have taken of some of my SS powered models. I'll try to dig some out and compare them.

I don't know of any sparky motors other than the Silver Streaks that have white smoke. All the commercial composite motors that I know of have dark smoke and use titanium for a yellowish spark. Are there any commercially made sparky motors out now that have white smoke?