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Estes Green Motors
I'm pretty sure that I saw a thread about green colored motors on YORF some time back.
Anyways, on Christmas day, my sister in-law gave me 4 packs of Estes motors that had belonged to her late husband. They were in the blue diamond tubes and there was one tube of A8-3's, two tubes of B6-4's and one tube of C6-3's. When I took them out of the tubes, I was surprised to find that they were the green colored motors. The nozzles on these are smaller than current motors of the same type. When I asked how they were stored, I was told they had been in an unheated attic up here in the northeast for probably the last 30+ years. I assume that they are CATO's waiting to happen. I was thinking that I could build a few Midnight Express paper rockets to see what happens since they have had severe temperature cycling but them decided to see if anyone wanted them. I am not a motor collector so they don't have any more value to me than a current motor, but I understand that there are a few collectors out there. I am planning to attend NARCON in Connecticut this year so I can bring them with me if there is any interest. Pictures: 1. Blue diamond tubes. 2. One each of green A8-3, B6-4, C63. 3. Nozzle comparison with current motors. L - R: A8-3, B6-4, C6-3 4. Nozzles with a scale in the picture just because Terry Dean is going to ask for one. L - R: A8-3, B6-4, C6-3 |
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? ....
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Leo My rocket fleet and more @ Leo's Leisure Site and on YouTube - My latest project: ALTDuino |
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NARCON is the annual national NAR Convention.
It is held in different parts of the country and ususlly too far away for me to attend but this year it's supposed to be held in Connecticut so it's going to be less than 2 hours drive for me. |
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thanks Bob1 and great pics too!
terry dean
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"Old Rocketeer's don't die; they just go OOP".....unless you 3D print them. |
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so you're saying you'll be attending the event tomorrow on the 31st?
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Leo My rocket fleet and more @ Leo's Leisure Site and on YouTube - My latest project: ALTDuino |
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Where in Connecticut is it???
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Bo, I wouldn't recommend burning these. The Blue and Green papered motors are VERY rare. Back in 1971 or so, the motor department ran out of the brown motor paper and there was some delay in the replacement shipment. They happened to have Green and Blue rolls laying around that were used for some other project. So being the resourceful bunch they were, they used the Blue and Green paper until the brown arrived. Needless to say, the Green and Blue motors are very rare and I recommend that you send me one of each to pay for the information I just provided you, and save the rest. You can always find old motors with the brown paper and prove your CATO-theories with them. Bob |
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Blue paper Centuri B14-7 motors?
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*I think I'm going to colic in my stall* In 1972 or 1973, my father and I burned through dozens of these green motors. We thought they were 'just' the latest innovation from Estes. Had we known "the rest of the story," we would have salted some away as collectors' items! I do, however, have one Centuri B14-7 motor that is made of blue paper with black lettering on it. The nozzle is dark gray like pumice soap (it looks like the nozzle material in the German-made MRC 18 mm motors of the early 1990s). I'm fairly familiar with Centuri's motors, and I've never seen one of these before.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
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Centuri used the scrap graphite that was produced when machining the nozzles and delay housings of the Enerjet composite motors by mixing it in with the clay for the black powder motors, so that is why some of them are grey. Cato is not "CATO". It is not an acronym, it is an abbreviation of Catastrophic Failure, semi-similar to "combo" as an abbreviation for combination. The nozzle sizes are definitely different today than in the past as they had different black powder suppliers and the different powders had different performance. The current nozzle plugs will not fit the older motors from the early 1970's. I have flown a LOT of older B6-0 motors with the tiny nozzles and they worked fine. They were stored in a warehouse/attic in SoCal for decades. I saved the Astron Igniters for use with D12 motors since they are a perfect fit and are virtually misfire-proof when held in with a wadding ball.
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-Fred Shecter NAR 20117 (L2) Southern California Rocket Association, NAR Section 430 |
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