I was recently able to photograph all the parts of MMI's first kit, produced in April 1958. I have posted some of the pics to Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/500326...57624314354881/

Unfortunately there was a limit to how many pics I could upload so I will post others as I get a chance.

Enjoy,

Steve

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I was also able to make scans of all the paperwork in the box. Very interesting reading.

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More paperwork from the kit.

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So, who owns the kit? Bill Stine?

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Scott D. Hansen
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WOOSH NAR Section #558

No, it wasn't Bill. Although I very much enjoyed his company at the recent Great Lakes Cup in Chicago. Did you know Bill built most of the rocket models which still hang from the ceiling of Lee Piester's Hobby Bench store on 17th Avenue in Phoenix? Bill was Hobby Bench's first employee!

As for the MMI kit, the owner has asked to remain anonymous. But I've never seen any pics from one of these kits so I did my best to document every piece.

Thanks for sharing, both of you!

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Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
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WOOSH NAR Section #558

Motors in the kit are the Brown Manufacturing motors which preceded the motors produced by Vern Estes. Very different nozzles.

Contents of the motor box included 6 motors, instructions, 6 disposable body tube liners, and 6 paper parachute protectors. Interestingly, in the kit box are small square pieces of brown paper which the instructions indicate were to be placed over the end of the parachute protector to further shield the parachute from the hot ejection charge.

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Typical fireworks sky rocket nozzle without the fuse installed.

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Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies!
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WOOSH NAR Section #558

Scott,

The instructions clearly show electrical igniters. The igniters in the box are packaged in foil and only the ends are visible (really hard to see in the photo below). I can't tell if what's in the package is really short strips of wire covered with pyrogen, like the instructions seem to indicate or if these are short pieces of fuse. My impression is that they are really electrical igniters as shown in the instructions because if they were fuses they're really, really short. Also, the stickers to hold the igniters in place, as shown in the instructions, are included in the box.

Another interesting aspect of reading the instructions is that they have directions on how to build your own electical ignition system, the only significant part not included in what was obviously meant to be a starter kit.

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I have made and used copies of the cross-shaped typing paper body tube liners that Stine illustrated in the early editions of his "Handbook of Model Rocketry," and they work very well. To ensure that a possibly-smoldering one didn't reach the ground hot, the liners could also be made using two or three plies of flame-proofed art tissue. The nice thing about the liners is that since they completely encapsulate the bottom and sides of the folded parachute or streamer, melted spots on 'chutes and streamers (and singed shroud lines and streamer attachment lines) almost never occur when the liners are used.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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