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.