National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection Blog
 

Hello Fellow Rocket Enthusiasts,

My name is Pat Fitzpatrick and I've been mostly a lurker on YORF for a number of years. As a volunteer at the Seattle Museum of Flight I have been involved with the "care and feeding" of the National Collection of Model and Sport Rocketry" since before its inception.

If you haven't seen the latest issue of NAR's Sport Rocketry magazine it contains an excellent article written by the MOF Adjunct Curator for Spaceflight Geoff Nunn (NAR #99220) about the collection. Geoff's article covers how the collection started, generally what it contains, and a few pictures of the "Inspiring Rockets" permanent exhibit at MOF.

MOF is like all museums in that it can only exhibit a small fraction of its collections. That is also true when it comes to the Stine portion of the National Collection which is undergoing a laborious process of cataloging and archival storage that will take years to complete.
YORF seems like an ideal place place to find an audience that care about artifacts from the dawn of model rocketry. I will attempt to answer any questions about the collection that might be floating around, and this thread might be a good place to start.
I do not profess to have all the answers; the level of knowledge of rocketry history on regular display here is quite astounding and I will frequently refer to you guys for help with my own questions. The community knowledge contained here can be of great benefit to further developing the world's best collection of model rocketry artifacts, images, and documentation.

Best,
Pat Fitzpatrick
NAR/MOF Special Committee
MOF Spaceflight Committee

Follow the National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection on Twitter: @Natl_ModRoc_Col

Thank-you Pat. I read the article in Sport Rocketry with great interest. I'm certain your presence here will be much appreciated.
-W

Thank you for offering to do this for the model rocketry community, Pat!

Here's an image from an early edition of the Handbook of Model Rocketry:
https://db.tt/ADFShM3ItO
Here's an image of the same half century old model during processing:
https://db.tt/lDzVKjSpgx
Typically models aren't repaired until right before exhibit, so the fin will be stored with the model for the time being.

Follow the National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection on Twitter: @Natl_ModRoc_Col

Why is the museum located on the West Coast?
It seems it would serve better being located more centrally in the US.
I think Denver would have been a better choice.

Because the Museum of Flight worked with - first - Bill Stine - and later Vern and Gleda and then Lee and Betty to secure these artifacts.

What museum in Denver did you have in mind? And was anyone there even interested? There would have been some symmetry since MMI and Estes Industries both began in Denver, but no one there made any effort. Pat and Geoff and Dan Hagedorn and others at the Museum of Flight did with support from Trip and others in the NAR.

Seattle Museum of Flight accessions
 

Hi Pat,

Thanks for your comments and introduction! We look forward to your updates!

Yesterday, I spoke with Lee Piester, former president of Centuri Engineering Company, and he informed me that the Seattle MOF is seeking to obtain all of the Smithsonian's NASM current model rocket collections, as well, in order to become "the" model rocketry repository. Do you have any additional news to report about the progress/prospects of negotiations with the Smithsonian and that coming true?

Lee Piester said that the Seattle MOF should be receiving shipments from him and from Vern Estes sometime this year. Lee said that the collections would include such things as model rocket engine production notes as well as one of each of Centuri's model rocket launch pads they produced. For us old time model rocketeers, it would be like being a kid in a candy store to have access to all these artifacts. Lee added that the Seattle MOF already has quite a bit of material in their basement below the museum's exhibition floor.

Any idea of how soon these items may be available for research/inspection?

Thanks again!

Kind regards,
Jeff Jenkins
aka: Faithwalker
NAR #46879 SR

Thanks for your question. There are a lot of considerations when two organizations like the NAR and Museum of Flight enter into an agreement which encompasses not only collections, but also exhibits, and educational outreach. It's a lot like a marriage where there must be mutual goals and the will to work together to execute them.
Geography is a consideration, but it's well down the list when selecting a partner in any enterprise.

For the specific details on how the NAR and MOF partnership evolved Geoff Nunn's article in the latest Sport Rocketry has many of the details.

Follow the National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection on Twitter: @Natl_ModRoc_Col

Hello Jeff,
Sounds like you had a good chat with Lee! It's fair to say that the NAR would like to consolidate the holdings of the National Collection under one roof which would necessarily include the entire collections of G. Harry Stine, Vern Estes, Lee Piester, and others. That effort is in its very early stages, but is moving forward.
The NAR was very happy to partner with MOF to create the world's first permanent exhibit of historic model rocketry artifacts at MOF in the "Inspiring Rockets" exhibit. There are some incredible artifacts in that exhibit.
Over time more and more of the collection will become accessible for researchers, enthusiasts, and the general public. The time scale of that processing effort could be significant and will be determined by the resources available to complete the task. It is a non trivial consideration which is under review by all concerned parties.

Follow the National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection on Twitter: @Natl_ModRoc_Col

I would be extremely happy if there were far more enthusiasts and general rocketeers to enjoy it. We are currently highly crippled on new entrants to the hobby and that could use " fixin' "

Jerry,
The decreasing number of young entrants to the hobby combined with the its aging demographic is of concern to many. The Museum of Flight, with its over 100k young people ages 5-18 who participate annually in its aerospace education programs, provides a unique laboratory to examine what could work to expand youth involvement.
I believe that the answer exists, we just need to figure it out!

Follow the National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection on Twitter: @Natl_ModRoc_Col

TARC and SLI are important programs. Historically local recreation programs and after school and PTA programs have provided FAR more model rocketry introductions. Not everyone becomes a rocket scientist of course or even a STEM person, but exposure to model rocketry gives craft skills, pyro and physics exposure, team building and even exposure to multi-gender in an active outdoor sport. I have seen it. It rocks.

I RECOMMEND IT.

You might have heard that there's a new Apollo exhibit at the MOF. Not all the rockets in the exhibit are the big boys.

Note the Leroy Lettering ink "Astron Mark" and "NAR 2" markings. This kit was designed and built by Harry in the pre-decal era of Estes kits. Somebody once said anybody who could use a Leroy Lettering set was a genius. G. Harry did it on a curved body tube!!

I knew I was gifted! I worked for a civil engineering company in high school and used Leroy lettering set to write the legal property descriptions on land plats. The text could take over a day to write (a couple paragraphs), compared to a 1/2 day typically to create the drawing.

At Harry Stine's first meeting with MPC management the "big boss" at the end of the long table said "we're going to have a dollar rocket, and its box is going to be this long" as he held his hands about 8 inches apart.

That "dollar rocket" became the Pioneer. Here is the ID tag, written in won Stine's hand, from the Pioneer prototype in the National Collection. If you take a peek at Waveny Park on Google Maps, you'll find its across the street from the YMCA in New Canaan, CT, the home of the legendary YMCA Space Pioneers NAR Section.

Some familiar faces examined artifacts from the National Collection on exhibit at the Museum of Flight back in 2014. The gentleman on the right is MOF Curator Dan Hagedorn who you might have seen on a few episodes of Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum.



Museum of Flight curator Dan Hagedorn examines a piece of Amelia Earhart's plane.

Hi Pat,

FWIW, I've attached the bibliography of Stine's work that I've been compiling. It's certainly not complete, but it contains items that I've not seen anywhere else in one place. I hope it might be useful.

Gary

Gary, that is just a remarkable piece of work! Well done sir. That list will likely be of great assistance to the library staff at the Museum.
This bibliography provides a valuable insight into G. Harry Stine's indelible legacy as a proponent of rocketry and spaceflight at the dawn of the Space Age.

The Stine Collection has a tremendous early Sixties example of an Astron Ranger built by G. Harry himself. The man had exceptional building skills that really set the standard for that era. Having said that, common practices used today such as filling body tube seams or clear coating are not in evidence likely due to a lack of modeling materials of the type easily available to today's builders. The decorative "Astron Ranger" has been flawlessly applied with Letraset dry transfer lettering which was pretty high tech stuff in the early 1960's. A technical advance over the Leroy Lettering option we saw earlier!
By any measure its a beautiful model build by "The Old Rocketeer". So who shall be the first among us to replicate this fine model?



For more on the history of the Astron Ranger, I highly recommend Eric Higgins excellent site on early Estes kits: http://vintageestesrockets.com/k-ki...tron-ranger.htm

Follow the National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection on Twitter: @Natl_ModRoc_Col

Happy Father's Day
 

For Fathers Day 2017, here's a 1959 design from the "father of model rocketry", G. Harry Stine, in the Handbook of Model Rocketry from 1965.

Thanks for sharing GH's old 'Birds'.....I started out in model rocketry in 62, great being able to reminisce about that time.

Glad you're enjoying the look back. With over a thousand models, built and unbuilt, in the Stine Collection we're going to be here awhile.

In addition to the models there is a large (think massive) quantity of images, files, and documents awaiting processing. Our ability to mitigate the limits of human resources at MOF will determine how quickly we are able to share this treasure trove of material with the rocketry community. There is gold in there.

Thanks Pat...for starting this thread. I'm enjoying each post, comment and picture from you and others. Brings back many memories of the past. Processing the GHS collection is a big undertaking, and we are all thankful for the MOF's work to preserve this important history. Without the work of Harry Stine, model rocketry, as we know it, would not have existed. Keep up the good work. -- Vern

I would love to replicate the Dirty Bird and other models that use those plastic firework fin units, but the pyrotechnic supply places I've seen always seem to be out of stock.

"Big Boris"
 

Hello Vern!
Thanks to you and Gleda for making your collection available to the MOF and allowing the National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection to become a reality. It wouldn't be a "national collection" without the Estes name included!
In your honor I present some recently declassified imagery of a Soviet era model rocket which eventually found its way into the Stine Collection. The design borrows heavily from an American model rocket which will be familiar to many. Sorry for the fuzzy images, but they were taken by an undercover operative at great personal risk.
Dubbed the "Big Boris" by CIA analysts, the rocket seems to represent a copy of a similar American design and is a significant advance over its Soviet predecessor the "Honest Ivan"*.

*Read "The Legend of Honest Ivan" in Model Rocketry Magazine

Lee Piester and Centuri Engineering
 

An important part of the Museum of Flight mission is to record personal history interviews. In May 2016, model rocket pioneer Lee Piester was interviewed by Bill Stine about his early rocketry experiments and the creation of Centuri Engineering. Peder Nelson of MOF recorded the interview in the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery which houses the National Model and Sport Rocketry Collection exhibit "Inspiring Rockets".




Vern Estes and Estes Industries supplied the motive power (or operating system) to get model rocketry off the ground much as Bill Gates and Microsoft provided the software to power the first personal computers. Lee Piester's eye for for both aesthetics and engineering brilliance earns him the title of the "Steve Jobs of Model Rocketry".

Lee shows off some of the incredible original art used in Centuri Engineering kits and catalogs.

Awesome thread!

I agree, my only nit...the photos aren't visible on my work computer because wherever they are hosted is blocked...would it be possible to post photos using YORF's attachments?

and yes, I do look at YORF from work during lunch time :D

ps: and I don't do twitter....

Dave
The images are also on Twitter right now. It was very painless to create an account for that express purpose.

The Flying Saucer
 

On June 24, 1947, seventy years ago this weekend, Kenneth Arnold saw something strange in the skies over Washington State. The Seattle Times reports on the anniversary.

The hobby of model rocketry made its own contributions to flying saucer sightings. It turns out that Area 51 isn't the only place with a saucer in storage. Note the strange alien markings dimly visible.

G. Harry Stine's Estes Camroc and Astron Delta
 

In the 21st Century, an era when HD images and video are commonplace, its easy to forget what the rocketeers of a half century ago had to work with. Overhead imagery wasn't a click away with Google maps and air travel was an expensive and luxurious experience. Consequently a significant segment of the population had never left the surface of the earth, let alone seen how their neighborhoods appeared from above.

Rocket cameras were the exclusive domain of experimenters and space professionals until Estes introduced the Camroc, which made its first catalog appearance in 1966. Today it appears very primitive, but in its day it represented a revolution to the hobby.



This is G. Harry Stine's example of the Estes Camroc atop its Astron Delta two stage carrier rocket as it appears today in the Museum of Flight's Inspiring Rockets exhibit. The model is built to Stine's high standard and features his mid-1960's use of fluorescent paint. There is also a bit of flight damage apparent on one of the fins; intentionally unrepaired in keeping with museum practice to retain relevant evidence of use.



Stine clearly did NOT want to lose this model, an indication of its rarity. Given the urbanized areas he flew during his time in New Canaan, CT he was wont to include return labels such as the one seen on this model.

Just spent a couple hours going through document storage files looking back at how the Camroc came to be. In a mid 1962 Model Rocket News we let our mail order customers know we wanted to develop a camera to take aerial photos from a model rocket. In reviewing these old files I discovered a number of drawings and ideas our customers submitted. Ideas included ways to use an existing small camera manufactured in Japan, cameras that looked out the side of the rocket, one designed to be suspended from a parachute pointing down, etc. One idea had the rocket motor at the top of the rocket, with a tripod of wires suspending the camera below. Another young rocketeer submitted a drawing suggesting something similar to the design we were working on, which eventually became the Camroc. (Note: These, and other Estes files, will eventually end up in the archives at the MOF)

First Camroc Photo http://www.oldrocketforum.com/attac...tid=47324&stc=1

The prototype of the Camroc was first flown in 1964. The round negative for the first picture was hand-cut in the dark, without adequate guides or tooling to get a perfect cut. It was funny shaped, but the picture was clear, and we knew we were on our way. Of course there was still lots to be done. Injection molds had to be made for the plastic parts, equipment made in our machine shop to cut the round film disks, other parts ordered, darkroom processing set up to develop the film and print the photos, assembly instructions written, etc. Unfortunately, we way underestimated the time all of this would take, and as a result started promoting the future availability long before we could deliver. We were relieved when backorders finally went out the door in time for Christmas in 1965. Our policy of opening the morning mail, then shipping the same day had suffered a severe blow.

Later, when I gave Lee Piester some static over one of his products being delay for an extended time, he replied, “Well, we all have our Camroc”. Ouch!!

Mr. Estes, how long did Ms. Gleda process mail orders? I'm just curious if it's possible one of my early orders was filled by her.



.

That was great stuff, Vern!

The Camroc was one of the things that blew my little mind when I found a 1970 catalog at summer camp. I thought the adverts I had seen in Boys Life were bunk. (Mad Magazine had made me cynical.) But it was obvious from the catalog that there was a whole new real world there.


The crude-cut first Camroc photo must have appeared in a magazine. I remember noticing the contrast between the crude cut and the remarkably crisp image.

One thing would be cool to see is a floorplan of the old Estes buildings. I took the tour in 1990, when I think the packing facilities had moved to Canon City. There were still many shops; silk screening, and so on. And a room of local ladies making pre-assembled rockets for a special order.

Vern,
Thanks so much for digging through your old files to share this background information on the Camroc. We are very fortunate to have you as a participant on here.
Pat

Happy Birthday Canada! Canaroc Industries
 

July 1, 2017 is Canada's sesquicentennial, although you don't hear that particular term used much in references to the country's 150th birthday.

Today it seems appropriate to discuss Canada's most successful early model rocket company, Canaroc Industries. Founded by the Lufkin family in Edmonton, Alberta in the early 1970's, the company featured an interesting selection of sport, scale, and competition model rockets.



Canaroc's founder and president Roger Lufkin had a background in industrial processes and brought his talents to bear overseeing the operation, while R&D relied heavily on the model rocket expertise of his eldest son Denis. Like many new companies the entire family got into the act and assisted with many aspects of Canaroc's operation.

Canaroc offered a line of Black Brant scale kits, from the Black Brant III, IV, and V. It's Orion was an efficient parachute and streamer duration competition model and the Nomad was a highly successful competition boost glider. Most of the competition models had their start as parts of Denis Lufkin's formidable competition arsenal which he flew at regional, national and international competitions through most of the first half of the 1970's.

A Canaroc Black Brant IV kit is seen here. Canaroc set the standard for Black Brant scale kits for many years. A complete set of Black Brant kits are found in the National Collection, and likely arrived on G. Harry Stine's doorstep as product samples.



Notably, Canaroc rocket engines were among the first 18mm composite motors available to consumers and featured a molded epoxy nozzle and plastic casing.

Is the light color on the Ranger white, or gray?

Hello Lee,
Thanks for your question. I have not seen the model for a couple of years, but my recollection was that it was flat white with what is likely an age related color change to a subtle off white.

Vern,

One good Camroc photo deserves another. My one and only flight was back in 1968. I flew from the potato field next to our house. The flight path was pretty squirrelly but I sent the canister back in for developing anyway, not expecting a good picture.

Much to my surprise, I'd nailed a perfect picture of our house in Bloxom, VA.

Cheers, Bunny

Thanks! It makes sense that it would have been white, I just wanted to make sure. I built a Ranger ns 1966. Would be fun to do another. Here is a copy of a slide showing part of my collection as a kid. A few kits, some Design of the Month builds, and a couple scratch-builds. I was a big fan of brushed Estes butyrate dope finishes. :)

Sadly, I built that Delta as the carrier for a Camroc. I just never managed to buy one due to lack of funds.

For some reason my copies of this slide got cropped. I cannot find the originals, and I'm sure there were a few more rockets to the right of that green/white Ranger.

Notice that I have almost all the rockets labeled with their names, using the Estes letters decal sheet. :)