New Missing Link Unearthed

[shockwaveriderz]

NO, we're not talking about actual Dinosaurs here; though, to be more to the point, model rocket dinosaurs.

Yesterday, I was going through my archives, and I came upon a drawing circa 1960 that made me wonder . First of all, it didn't have a name on the drawing; and it looked vaguely familair, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

SO this being the "Internet Age", I shot off an email to Vern Estes with the attached drawing asking for his comments, not seriously thinking that I would even get a response for days , but Voila! there within an hour or was an email by none other than Vern Estes himself. I mean how often do you get to speak to, well, the model rocket god ?

I had corresponded before with Vern on another project a year or so ago and he was found to be really forthcoming in trying to help me to discover the real past of model rocketry.

So with excitement I opened the email and read :


" Terry -- Good to hear from you. Yes, I did draw the plans for the Orange Bullet. This first appeared in the plan booklet we were offering in early1960 titled Model Rocketry. It was the first tumble recovery rocket.... This was the forerunner of the Astron Scout, which retained its motor. The Orange Bullet set a B altitude record of 1280feet in early 1960 at the Hogback rocket range. -- Vern "

WOW! talk about almost being totally blown away! I have (re)discovered!? a long forgotten drawing(by none other than Vern Estes himself!!) that showed "A Missing Link" between the original Orange Bullet design from the Model Rocketry booklet sold by Vern Estes for 25 cents; AND, a previously unknown drawing of a modified Orange Bullet that had "exhaust holes" in it like the well know Astron Scout.

Then, to find out totally unexpectedly that this modified Orange Bullet drawing was the predecessor of the venrable Astron Scout! I was overwhlemed !

so as Paul Harvey used to say, "now you know the rest of the story" and what a rocket story it is!


hope u enjoy this


Orange Bullet http://www.dars.org/jimz/eirp_03.htm





terry dean
nar 16158

[lessgravity]

Great find Terry! Another link in rocketry evolution found.

[Gus]

Terry,

Very cool find, thanks for sharing it.

Any idea what the thought was behind the "ribs" between the body tube and the fins?

And I don't recall seeing "fin balancing weights" on other models. The original Model Missiles models didn't have them, so I wonder what the thinking was. Seems like an awful lot of needless tail weight.

Perhaps you could ask Vern what the engineering rationale was behind the ribs and weights.

I'd like to clone one of these but where do you think I can find the "asbestos disk". :eek:

[moonzero2]

Truely, three fins and a nose cone! :D
Thanks for sharing.

[Bob H]

Terry,

Very cool find, thanks for sharing it.

Any idea what the thought was behind the "ribs" between the body tube and the fins?

And I don't recall seeing "fin balancing weights" on other models. The original Model Missiles models didn't have them, so I wonder what the thinking was. Seems like an awful lot of needless tail weight.

Perhaps you could ask Vern what the engineering rationale was behind the ribs and weights.

I'd like to clone one of these but where do you think I can find the "asbestos disk". :eek:The weights are there to make it unstable when the motor ejects so it will tumble.

I have no idea why the ribs are there.

The plans for the Orange Bullet from the Design booklet are here:

http://www.dars.org/jimz/eirp_03.htm

[Ltvscout]

The weights are there to make it unstable when the motor ejects so it will tumble.
Doesn't the Lil' Hercules use a method like that?

[Carl@Semroc]

I have no idea why the ribs are there.
The original patent had ribs and no body tube between the nose cone and the top of the engine. It looks like the Orange Bullet was an evolutionary step between the patent design and the final design for the Scout.

[surdumil]

Regarding balancing weights, I recall that the Centuri Li'l Herc had something similar. Washers were glued to the rear-most points of the swept-back fins. That was one of the first model rockets I had ever built.

[Mark II]

I have gotten interested in building some of those designs from that original plan book, as well as some from its follow-up edition. There are some intriguing but long-forgotten plans in them. So far, the only one that I have built is the Li'l Augie, though.

The Orange Bullet: it is just under 6 inches long, it flies to almost 1300 feet on a B motor, and it recovers by tumbling. How would you like to track that in your Altiscope? :eek: ;) :D

That is some pretty heavy-walled tubing - 0.050 inches - specified for the BT in that plan.

What was the asbestos disk for?

Mark