They don't make this anymore
 

While looking through boxes of rocket stuff I came upon some old Estes products.

One is a sealed bottle of Estes High Heat Aluminum Paint.

The other is a jar of Estes Rocket Wax.

I don't think there are many of these still around. :rolleyes:

Cool. I have an unopened bottle of the Estes High Heat Aluminum Paint as well. I've never seen the Estes Rocket Wax before though.

Honestly, that sounds like one of those products where they never sold off all the bottles from the first batch :)

Doug

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I have never seen a bottle of that high-heat aluminum paint on eBay, but have seen the rocket wax. I'm pretty sure the wax is just relabeled Pactra AeroGloss Dope wax.

Bob,

I love collecting the old Estes and Centuri oddball items. Photo below shows my little office museum. Not quite as impressive as Jurvetson's but more within my budget :rolleyes: .

From left to right:
Centuri Model Rocket Super Bond Glue
Estes knife (X-Acto blade) sharpening stone
Estes Rocket Wax with different colored tops
Estes High Heat Aluinum Paint
Estes Astroseal Balsa Filler (with nice Mars Snooper drawing on the label)
Estes branded Ohaus rocket scale
Centuri 1st generation parachute powder
Centuri Second Generation Rocket powder
Estes 631-PNC-40H rubber nosecone for BT40 tubing, from 1963 catalog
Estes Space Corps Pin
Centuri Engine Spacing Tube

I saw that Estes whetstone, and thought you must want the trailing edge of your fins to be really sharp!

Great collections!

I think I had a bottle of Centuri yellow glue; it came with a parts assembly.

I love the graphic on the aluminum paint label.

* * *

If you have a good finish, automotive wax does wonders.

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.

FWIW, I recall some kits in recent years as including the engine spacing tube, albeit without any marking - certainly without Centuri marking :)

Doug

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Here's one from my blog about the Centuri Super Bond Glue:
http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot...rbond-glue.html

I still have the little rubber containers of contact cement that came in the Centuri Saturn 1B and V kits somewhere around the house. My original X-Acto knife came from Centuri. I've got a few other things that came from Estes and Centuri such as balsa filler, etc., but none were rebranded for rocketry. I didn't get into rocketry until the mid 70's so I didn't see any rebranding from the golden era.

I had a bottle of that high-heat aluminum paint. I used it on the inside of the lower tube on an old Augie II, one of my favorite Designs of the Month — Estes Plan #28.

http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/eirp_28.htm

Chris,

Great story! Also, of note, the photo of the bottle is a different pattern than the one on my bottle. So they must have been successful enough that they went through at least two label printings, LOL.

Steve

Yes....but which Titebond, I wonder (or was there only one then)?

Steve,

Nice collection of 'oddball' model rocketry stuff.

I need to find my Centuri ruler/scale and take a picture of it. ;)

I had some bottles of the Centuri glue, then stumbled across Titebond in a lumber yard while I was out with my dad...I recognized the yellow glue, bought a bottle and stuck with Titebond from then on. I think SIG repackaged Titebond also??

Back when Centuri sold glue, only 'original' Titebond was available.

Very cool little display of vintage items on Steve's shelf.

Right after I posted that I figured "there was only one kind at the time" was the actual answer. Thanks.

And yes, it is a neat collection.

John Boren was handing out Estes Space Corps pins at NSL this year. I wore mine the rest of the weekend :).

Thanks for the anecdotes of olden days, all!

I remember seeing all those exotic supplies in the 1970 Estes & 1971 Centuri catalogs, and being blown away -- intimidated and amazed -- by the depth of stuff available. My friends & I would build a plastic model and if we painted it at all, use whatever paint we could get and use a Q-tip.

I remember ruining a comedy horror-hot rod by using green dope. Paint was paint, right? And I must have gotten the bottle from a hobby store. My father was totally useless when it came to hobby stuff so I had no education or support there.

I do recall reading, in a MRN reprint or maybe the "plan book," that toothpaste could be used as rubbing compound! I'm sure it would work, but my spray finishes were so terrible that this just made the ripply bubbly surfaces minty fresh.