[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Estes Model Rockets? (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 2/15/2005 12:50:46 PM EDT
Do we have any rocket scientists here? I was wondering... I used to have a white Estes rocket that kind of resembled a US Navy SAM, and it even had 'NAVY' markings on it. It flew many perfect flights and ad many perfect recoveries. However, I didn't assemble the fin/engine mount assembly properly when I first got it, and the fins were loose ( spelled correctly ) for every flight thereafter. I don't have it anymore, but I am looking for another one just like it. The problem, is that I can't remember the name of it, and most Estes retailers don't seem to stock it anymore. Does anybody know what model I'm talking about? While we're at it... rocketeers sound off! Anyone enjoy this hobby? |
Zakk_Wylde, I got PLENTY of rocket horror stories. I'll post a few of them later.... Ah, the stupidity of youth. A-nus, the AIM-54 wasn't it. The rocket I'm talking about was an E2X model, maybe 13" long. I did have the Phoenix though, and did 'experiement' with multiple engines and aysermetric thrust.  Come on 50CAL, [waterboy]YOU CAN DO IT![/waterboy] I remember I once had that small Viking rocket. On its last flight, I CRAMMED a C engine inside of it, plugged it with a whole bunch o' explosive shit, and launched it at twilight. It shot off normally, and then the engine conked out as normal. The small flame in the air was no more, until a BIG one shot horizontally across the horizon. I witnessed sparks in the air, and then a tremenous bang shook the earth... ... Strangely, it never came down... |
My boys have that one. It's pretty sweet actually. Takes an 'E' engine. |
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rockets wer cool!!!!!! i had one that would actually take a picture with a small 110 camera when it reached a certain height, (god, do they even MAKE 110 film anymore). The engine ignitors were pretty cool too for making improvised trip flares with. (we used to have day long paint ball wars in the woods, these were the days of the .50 cal plastic splatmasters that you had to cock manually) We'd take a 9 volt battery, wire it to a clothespin for a switch, stick the ignitor in one of those big bottle rockets, and when the tripwire pulled the block out of the clothespin, the circuiy would complete, launching the bottle rocket. They actually worked about 99% of the time. |
ohhhhhhhh, instant woody!!!!!!!! i'm a "amateur cold war historan", my primary area of interest is the Nike Ajax/Hercules Air defense system, (supersonic rings of steel) god, what i'd give for one of those. 
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Heh, PVC pipe launchers with lantern batteries for power. We had some serious bazoka wars in my neighborhood. Ever try any of the big, heavy Star Wars rockets? I don't think Estes ever checked the CG on those. I have vivd memories of a Y-Wing fighter doing low-level spins and loops while we ran for cover. |
Was it plastic? I had one as well! It had two stages. The first stage was 4 engines, the second stage was two. Never launched it. My older brother destroyed it to get back at me for something trivial. I've always thought that was a crap thing to do. -LS |
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Nah, A-nus. That site doesn't have it. But it does have the AGM-57X Heatseeker. A great rocket, that was. I had 50+ good flights on one of those, and it never got destroyed, even when the parachute failed to deploy. Krazny13, that ain't it either!  It kind of resembles it, but it was an E2X rocket. Dammit.photokirk, that bazooka thing works like a charm, but we never used the rocket [ body . Just the engine and fins on it. Very cool stuff until you hit something. Effective range of 200 yards.
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AH I have found it! The MK-109 Stingray! http://www.happyhobby.com/hobb_html/estes/estes16-17.htm I shall begin the hunt! That was my favorite one, bar none. On a day with no clouds, this thing was visible ( easily, just with your eyes ) all the way up to its apogee, and it was very stable. |
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I was the rocketry counsellor at a sleepaway camp (Camp Akiba, Reeders, PA for the Pocono crowd) when i was 18. I must have built hundreds of those puppies from the mosquito to the saturnV. I used to do a demonstration on visiting day for the campers and their parents. I would put m80's fuse end down on top of the engines so they would light and detonate when they popped the chute, and link about twenty models at a time to serial launching pads all lined up. My own personal "July 4". The complete estes catalog for 2005 is HERE |
Thanks for promoting safe model rocketry. 
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I had 2 of the X wings and they flew great. I had a TieFighter, but I didn't care for it's long nose to I cut it down. BIG BIG mistake - it was very unstable and it chased several of us around the launch site. After two attempts I gave up and just left it hanging in my parents basement as a model. It now hangs from my son's ceiling. I was serioulsy into rocketry, building and flying. Then we got ideas for 'fun payloads' -heheheh. My buddy and I even made rocket launchers for our bikes for a extra curricular school project. My buddies almost took out the chemistry teacher (he didn't test his rocket's CG) - no matter we didn't like her anyway. We even received school credit for the project. (I'll bet you can't do that today). |
Ever just put an igniter into a naked engine and then launch it? Hint: Don't do it. |
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Never been that crazy. But I HAVE seen an engine go Glock on somebody. Very fun to watch. Anyone ever seen a flying engine with fins launch and then take a 100 degree turn to the right?  Not cool. And we plugged that engine. Sounded like a gun went off.It would seem that my beloved Stingray is no longer made. Drat. |
No, but we bought some toy cars from the dollar store and super glued engines to them. We learned a lot about "line-of-thrust" that day. |
I have that one sitting 10ft away from me. It's gotta be at least 20 years old! |
There used to be a competitor to Estes, a company called FSI. FSI engines were the bad mofos of the model rocket world. A guy in our NAR chapter actually broke the sound barrier with a 2-stage rocket powered with FSI engines. FSI engines were pretty aewsome when they worked. They also were notorious for exploding at launch. The second flight of the supersonic rocket was pretty spectacular. It blasted off the pad like a bat out of hell. First-stage engine burned out, lit the second stage engine, AND THE ROCKET CEASED TO EXIST. Just a ball of smoke from the engine going critical. Little pieces of rocket fluttered to the ground like snow. |
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I did this when I was a boy...14 or so. My buddy Bob and I launched many multi-stage Estes rockets, and even built our own one once with a radio transmitter emitting beeps at 1 second intervals. We tested and poured our own engines and managed to get banned from his basement for mixing fuel on a hot plate. Accidents do happen, and that one cost us a perfectly fine steel table and a linoleum floor. When we turned 16, he and I drove from Ohio out to Estes, Colorado in a VW Beetle and had a tour of the Estes manufacturing facilities. It was a hoot! about 6 single-car garages scattered along a desert road, each garage producing a different rocket engine. I'll never forget it. |
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I almost did the same thing. Had a pile of chopped-up engine core on one side of the picnic table and an unwrapped engine core on the other side of the table. I lit the pile with a fireplace match (safety first  ) and a tiny chunk of burning engire flew across the table onto the unwrapped core. Before I could even say, "Ohshit", the core lit on one end and went whizzing past my face onto the dry grass.By the time I got the fire out, about 25 square feet of the back yard was gone. I raked all of the leaves out of the fron yard and spread them out over the dead spot. Didn't work, I got busted for playing with matches. If they only knew... |
Dude, it was 1984, and it was done in a safe environment, in the middle of multiple acre empty fields. How about some slack? No comments on the shoulder launching tubes? Or the other "fun payloads"? Or the Bazooka wars? Or the igniting finless engines? Or the cutting open and lighting? Or the pyrodex pellets? Now I know you like things that go bang, so why the flame? |
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This is Lil Ops and my summr hobby, we have made dozens of launches with several rockets. We also tried a 'puffer' with an A5 engine with a little charge of Pyrodex on top, strapped to a paint stirring stick. Scared the hell out of the neighbor's dog, lucky for us the neighbor was out for the day.. They are as much fun for as for Lil Ops. Lemme see if I can find a pic. Ops |
| Can't remember who makes em but we used to buy G motors and man let me tell you. Used to tape them to large dowel rods to make king sized bottle rockets. Made all kinds of exploding warheads,time delay with a parachute was cool. Another cool payload are lightsticks with parachutes launched at night. |
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Reading this thread has really got me laughing as these stories are sooo familiar. My high school buddy and I would attach an engine to anything that looked remotely aerodynamic. Some would chase us and others we wouldn't see again. I think I have a project for this summer with the kids. |
OK, fair enough. No argument that reasoning improves with age. Sure was fun though. |
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Was it the rocket that when the engine backfired for recovery, the whole engine mount came out of the rocket and free fell with a streamer. This allowed the wing on the rocket/plane to 'scissor' or delpoy and thus glided back to earth? edited to add: I think it was a Navy A-7 Corsair? |