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Old 08-12-2013, 09:17 AM
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spacecenturion spacecenturion is offline
2nd time BAR, no longer JAFO!!
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Posts: 67
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Hi all, just to give some more info about the Arrow models, they were 1/8th scale, and used on Nike-Ajax rockets. I have added a pic.

For what it is worth, I used to sit on the board of directors for one of the groups searching for the models. I don't think we will see any of these models any time soon. There are plenty of problems with this project, which I want to share for your amusement, as some of it becomes silly....

There are physical issues:
-exact location in Lake Ontario. They were launched from the Point Petre firing range in Ontario, but what exact direction, etc.
-they will be covered in Zebra muscles
-they were made from magnesium alloy and wood, both do not hold up well long term in water. There may not be much left of them, assuming they even survived water impact.
-they might also be covered/buried in silt.

Here is the funny parts.....(political) red tape.
-ownership, ie who actually owns them now. I won't go into details as my info is outdated.
-physical location, they are in Lake Ontario, a federal body of water, meaning they are regulated under federal rules, but, as the Province of Ontario has pointed out, technically they are in the mud/silt, which is provincial, which means it would then be regulated under Provincial rules.
-Conservation Minister of Canada, who's attitude is pretty much if it is down there, it will stay down there. We had asked permission to pull a Nike booster out of the area to test procedures on how to remove Zebra muscles. He said no. We told him there really was no significant historical value of part of a rocket booster. He still said no. Etc Etc.... Apparently the only thing to ever "really" make it out of the water was a ships bell, I believe from the Edmund Fitzgerald, and this was only released due to government pressure.

We also have to keep in mind that all of the searching costs money.

Back to the model rockets, I have thought for many years of building one of these. Sooo many ideas/projects, so little time. Closest I have done was putting a small Avro Arrow keychain in a clear payload bay. It kept me happy for a while!
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