What rocket company was in Mineral Point, WI?
 

Back in my teens when I was into rocketry there was a rocket company in Mineral Point, WI. I lived in northern Illinois and it wasn't too far away. A friend of mine was a pilot and was actually flying to Mineral Point to pick up a friend of his to fly to Missouri. I hitched a ride and we spent part of the day in Mineral Point, with me going through the phone book to see where the company was located. Never found it, and found out later that the company went out of business.

My memories are a little fuzzy- I know Flight Systems was in Missouri, but did they ever move to WI? If I remember correctly, this company had quite an extensive tabloid-sized catalog. They had a very wide variety of engine sizes and impulses. I was always designing rockets on paper during class at school to use these engines, but never quite had the money to buy everything I needed.

I'm sure the company is probably well know by most of you, but I just can't remember the name. Thanks!

A quick Google search of Mineral Point and Model Rocketry shows that AVI is the company you are looking for. Check out the address in the bottom corner of the catalog.

Centuri had a couple of tabloid catalogs. Maybe your memories of the two have merged over time.

The original company was a Model Rocket Industries. Model Product Corp. bought them in the mid-60s (IIRC) to add a model rocket line to their plastic model line. G. Harry Stine was hired as a consultant to MPC. Later, when MPC dropped the line, Myke Berzenske (probably mispelled the last name), the origianl MRI guy, bought out the stock from MPC and formed AVI (Aerospace Vehicles, Inc.). Among model rocketry they offered many other hobby items. They did print a newsprint catalog called the "Encyclog" that had about ten sections to it. My copy is worn and torn and in the botton of a storage container.
I had met Myke on a few occasions, including helping to certifiy the 13mm Micro-jets while assisting Dr. Gregorek with the NAR Standards and Testing back in the late '60s/early '70s.
There was a warehouse of MPC rocket kits that someone purchased and has been trying to sell on the ROL auction and eBay. He even offered the entire remaining stock recently, but did not find a buyer.
Some of the designs and plastic moulds ended up at Quest.
I am still flying an original MPC Nike Patriot I built in the '70s. I also built a a Quest Nike K (upgraded by them with kevlar, etc.) that I finished like a sounding rocket that I call the Nike Something.
Check out www.ninfinger.org for more on MPC catalogs. It would be too prohibative to put the Encylalog on line. Too big a format and too many pages.

Chas
NAR 9790

Just an added comment: AVI offered seveal kits and composite motors that were never actually in production by them. High hopes and not enough funding.
They did make some non-standard black powder motors that had a limited sales period. Loved the E11.8 in a modified Ested Honest John back in the late '70s.

Chas

I got AVI catalogs right up to the end. They actually owed me a little money.

AVI never promised composites; they did actively sell some unusual BP motors. Some of my first F flights were on their chunky 35mm motors. I flew them in a minimum diameter (T-35 tube) with a plastic Nike Smoke nose cone. Man, did that thing move!

Here is the sell sheet:

http://www.oldrocketplans.com/pubs/.../avi_motors.htm

AVI did offer lots of vaporware. I won one of their design contests in 1977 or so. I bought a hell of a lot of old MPC and MRI and AVI stuff, but some of the fascinating stuff I really wanted never actually shipped:

One item was a line of nesting tubes which could be used to form cones, boat tails, transitions, and so on. A special filler would be used to smooth out the "jaggies."

Another cute item was a mail rocket, the ANTARQUI as I recall, which would have adhesive stamps and envelopes and stuff.

They also promised some interesting "alien" space fantasy rockets.

Stefanj wrote: They actually owed me a little money.


Yes, AVI owed a lot of us some money. You would place an order and the product would not be available. When they folded I threw out the credit slips. Should have kept them for nostalgic reasons.

Just a correction - the 13mm MPC motors were Minijets, not Micro-jets as I wrote earlier. Amazing what you realize at oh-dark-thirty. Must have had the current Quest Micro-Maxx on the brain as I saw Bill Stine at the National Sports Launch last month.

Chas

I'm NOt 100% sure, but I beleive the Model Rocket Industries company was orginally called Central Rocket Company. I saw a 1965 catalog for this central rocket company once or twive in the past few years and CRC dates to the very late 50's if not the early 60's as they advertised in the old American Modeler mag.

Well, they promised me some composites - they were called "Delta Vee motors" the designstions were very close to the early Enerjets of the time and the catalog pictures looked like re-labeled Enerjets

Edit - just found them on ninfinger http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rock...ia/73avi16.html

Dale Greene