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-   -   Estes Citation Engine ? (http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=16506)

Dewalt 02-27-2017 11:45 AM

Estes Citation Engine ?
 
I recently bought a collection of old kits and they came with a box of old engines. I have some Estes Citation Engines (B-2) What era are these from, I vaguely remember one of my rocket buddies as a teen having a empty box he kept ignitors in. And a B-2 - I can not find reference to that either in any of my old catalogs. They are in good shape and from a dry climate so they should still work - shouldn't they ? Are these booster engines ?


Jerry Irvine 02-27-2017 11:52 AM

Citation products were sold in traditional department stores. My mom got mine at Broadway. Circa 1972. A B-2 is a B6-2.

ghrocketman 02-27-2017 01:25 PM

Jerry is correct; The Citation line from Estes was designed to be box-marketed in department stores like Sears, Montgomery Ward, and JC Penney back when they carried lots of toy/hobby items.
The era was from ~1971 through about 1977, the kits lasted beyond the "Citation Boxed" time frame, some much longer.
The Citation line of kits consisted of the Quasar, Patriot, Der Red Max, Starship Vega, and Bomarc.
The Citation Engines were labeled A-3, B-2, B-4, and C-6; those corresponded to actual types of A8-3, B4-2, B6-4, and C6-5; it is perplexing why they used incomplete labels on the engines.

After the "Citation Boxed Kit" time frame, the Der Red Max, Patriot, and Starship Vega became bagged kits with no changes.
The Quasar became a bagged kit but the nose cone and fin unit changed from Chrome-finished to simple white plastic parts.

The Bomarc had the most major change when it went from box packaging to bagged packaging. It changed from skill-level-4 boost-glide recovery to traditional yet FAR MORE BORING standard parachute recovery and was downgraded to skill level 2.

stefanj 02-27-2017 01:38 PM

Those are very nice finds. I still have some Centuri-boxed motors, and diamond packs, but never saw (outside of photos) Citation motors.

I can only imagine they "simplified" the engine codes to make them seem more complex, more commercial.

If they were stored well, there's no reason not to try the motors . . . other than the fact that a collector would pay you REALLY WELL for all of those and you can use the money to buy modern motors.

This is assuming you live near a collector, or plan on driving to a national launch where you can meet one.

Dewalt 02-27-2017 03:32 PM

Thank you for the reply's and information.

Jerry - Only available in Traditional Department Stores would of left me out. I grew up in a small town in Colorado and never saw the "city" until I was 17.

Stefanj - I currently live in the middle of nowhere Montana and dont know of anyone in my area that flies rockets.

GH- fantastic bit of info, I passed up a "Citation Patriot" last year as I was not sure of what it was. I did not see the kit was offered it in a model truck forum trade. That is a great bit of information, especially on the Bomarc. One kit I have always wanted (the original)

samb 02-27-2017 04:10 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Had it's own mini catalog back in '71.

http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ca...1/71citcat.html


I miss my chrome Quasar.

Dewalt 02-27-2017 04:19 PM

Now that is cool, my friend also had that chrome launch pad. I was always jealous of it.

Now I know what that stray chrome nosecone goes to. :)

Jerry Irvine 02-27-2017 07:19 PM

I always wondered since they had a vastly simplified kit line (ARTF was popularized with this) why would they have a Skill 4 kit? Answer: intro to the full catalog.

The Patriot fully rocks. John should do an upscale of it in BT-70/80 with 29mm.

Jerry

stefanj 02-27-2017 08:21 PM

I got a Quasar, Citation chrome variety, from a classmate who decided he wasn't into rockets. I launched it in my neighborhood and lost it.

I had a Patriot; don't recall if it was the Citation variety or not. Probably not.

I recall that Fred Schecter or someone else in the NSS had a glider-version BOMARC. It was flown at the first NSS event I went to, a demo at a science museum.

LeeR 02-27-2017 09:29 PM

I'd say they were just dumbing down (OK, "simplifying") the engine info, considering the limited offerings for engines and kits.

This was at at time that I was in college then on to my first job, and all these products were completely unknown to me then. I've since seen Citation rockets, but never knew about the motors.

As Spock would say ... "Fascinating".


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