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  #51  
Old 02-18-2017, 09:52 PM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Default NCRBE Orbit Motor

The press release announcing the Orbit launch set contained a second paragraph:

"As a companion piece for the Orbit(tm), North Coast Rocketry(R) is also announcing a new Dark Star(tm) motor, the F62-9. The long delay of this motor allows the Orbit(tm) to coast to maximum altitude before ejection."

The F62-9 motor was produced in limited numbers for the purpose of testing with the Orbit rocket kit. The F62-9 motor never entered mass production for sale to the general public.

A few of the F62-9 motors reached the hands of collectors.

At NARAM-42 I flew my slightly modified Estes Maniac kit with a F62-9 motor. I was warned before the flight that the performance of the F62 motor could exceed the structural limits of the one-piece molded plastic fincan.

My Maniac was launched and promptly came apart several hundred feet in the air.

Here is a picture of a loaded F62-9 motor.
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Name:  NCRBE DS F62-9.jpg
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  #52  
Old 02-18-2017, 11:43 PM
ManofSteele ManofSteele is offline
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Occasionally, the manufacturer's recommendations mean something, as I told him that's what would happen....<g>

Matt
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  #53  
Old 02-19-2017, 12:10 AM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ManofSteele
Occasionally, the manufacturer's recommendations mean something, as I told him that's what would happen....<g>

Matt


Yeah, I know.

I mean, it's not like it's rocket science or something.

Oh, wait, it is.
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  #54  
Old 02-19-2017, 12:28 AM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Default NCRBE Dark Star Motors

Before I move on to another topic, I would like to spend some more time discussing the NCRBE Dark Star motors.

These were some of the finest model rocket motors ever made. Everything from the molded case to performance and packaging was excellent.

But, not many were made.

There were, perhaps, three production runs of these motors. The first was the largest run which filled the distributor/hobby shop pipeline and made folks aware of these motors.

The second run was much smaller to fill some additional orders.

The final run as I recall used remaining material stocks to fill a few orders.

That was it.

The only Dark Star motors released for sale were the F62-4 and F62-6 motors. Other motors were planned and even announced but never made it into mass production.

Here are pictures of packaged F62-4 and F62-6 Dark Star motors. I have been told that the F62-4 motor in the picture is from one of the later production batches because the packing crew later on didn't know to package the motor with the nozzle pointed down.
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Name:  NCRBE DS F62-4 Packaged.jpg
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Name:  NCRBE DS F62-6 Packaged.jpg
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  #55  
Old 02-19-2017, 12:46 AM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Default G70 Motors

Announced at the same time as the F62 motor was a G70 motor.

The G70 was listed as being available in late 1998 but this never happened.

While the F62 motors were rated as full performance 'F' motors with a total impulse of 80n-sec, the G70 motors were rated at 100n-sec. This was due to reaching the maximum amount of propellant in the same case size as the F62 motors.

The G70 motors would be available in -5 and -7 second delays along with a -10 second delay motor for use with th Orbit kit.

Attached are pictures of the three different delay G70 motors. The G70-5 motors was photographed inside a sealed plastic bag.
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Name:  NCRBE DS G70-10.jpg
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Name:  NCRBE DS G70-7.jpg
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Name:  NCRBE DS G70-5.jpg
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  #56  
Old 02-19-2017, 12:58 AM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Default Other possible Dark Star motors?

My collection contains a molded Dark Star motor case that is longer than the ones used for the F62/G70 motors.

While the F62/G70 case length is 103mm this 'long' case is 139mm.

I do not recall if the 'long' case is the actual size of the molded product and later cut down for the F62/G70 motors or was an entirely new case for perhaps a higher total impulse 'G' motor.

Another possible motor was an 'E' using a single propellant grain in the same F62/G70 motor case. I know it was discussed but how far along towards becomming an actual product I do not know.

Here's a picture of the 'long' case along with a comparison picture of the 'long' case with a F62 and G70 motor.
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Name:  NCRBE DS Long Case.jpg
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Name:  NCRBE DS F62-9 and G70-10 with Long Case.jpg
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  #57  
Old 02-19-2017, 01:42 AM
ManofSteele ManofSteele is offline
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We tested over 17,000 motors to be sure we had a safe and reliable product that could be sold to the public.

On a good day, we could test about 1,000 motors. That's a lot of zinc flavored smoke to chew on, let me tell you.

We started with the "Dark Star" formulation for the motors. We had also planned a "Dragon Fire" propellant formulation, similar to Aerotech's current "White Lightning" propellant. The longer cases were needed for those motors, as the propellant was not as dense.

Matt
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  #58  
Old 02-19-2017, 12:15 PM
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5x7 5x7 is offline
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Default

Matt, I agree these were very fine single use motors, especially memorable because the other single use smokey available was the AT F14, so the F62 was a wonderful alternative, plus I recall the delays being spot on. I only have four left

17,000 fired in testing staggers the imagination. Can you divulge total number produced?
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  #59  
Old 08-24-2019, 01:02 AM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Default Estes Prototype Motors Part 1

This thread has been quiet for awhile so I thought it time to bring out some more items to show.

When I worked at AeroTech we were often designing new motors.
Not all made it into production but most of them did at some point.

Estes has also made prototype motors throughout its' existence.
A few have made it into production but most were just experiments by Ed Brown and Mike Dorffler.

During the 1990s, as a result of competition from AeroTech, Quest and other companies, Estes worked on a variety of new motor ideas. Almost all did not see production.

These Estes prototype motors usually ended up in someone's desk or personal collection.
Even if the motors were never to see production, they represented interesting historical pieces of the hobby and Estes.

There was concern over twenty years ago that these prototype motors could be ordered disposed of due to the management running Estes at the time.

Some of these prototype motors made it out of Penrose and were sold to collectors.
Other motors were given to folks for safe keeping until such time that these motors could be acknowledged.

That time is now.

The following entries by me will show and discuss some of these prototype Estes motors.
Again, I ask that no comments be posted to this thread as it will take awhile to get through all the motors I have.

Enjoy this look back at what might have been.
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  #60  
Old 08-24-2019, 01:09 AM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Default Estes Prototype Motors Part 2

With the change of ownership at Estes, there has been discussion about possible new motors.

Higher thrust 'D' motors have been mentioned and variously referred to 'D40' or 'D48'.

Well, some were made and I expected they were tested.

My collection contains D48-0 and D48-6 black powder motors.

They are 24mm in diameter and 89mm long (Same as the CATO plagued E15 motors).

I don't have any other information on the motors.

Pictures below are the D48-0 and D48-6 motors along with a D12-3 motor for comparison.
The picture of the nozzle ends of the motors is pretty impressive.
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Name:  EPM 001  D12-3  D48-0  D48-6.jpg
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Name:  EPM 002  D12-3  D48-0  D48-6  Nozzles.jpg
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