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  #61  
Old 04-15-2009, 09:54 AM
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Royatl Royatl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Initiator001
Mike,

I have been curious about what happened to these two models for nearly thirty years. Were any prototypes made? How close did they get to production? What stopped their release?

I look forward to your reply and thank you for your time.

Bob Sanford


Dag nab it!! You stole my ideas for today's question!
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  #62  
Old 04-15-2009, 10:51 AM
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Wow! This is a nice surprise. Mike, another voice of thanks for joining our little madhouse and sharing your thoughts. It is greatly appreciated!

As most folks around here know, I'm the resident sci-fi/exotic design nut. The more tubes / fins / antennae / laser cannon / etc., the better. In regards to these designs, I have two questions;

1) What would be your 2 or 3 favorite sci-fi/fantasy designs, and what were their inspirations?

2) How well do the sci-fi kits sell compared to standard designs (1 out of every 10, 1 out of every 50, etc.)?

Thanks a ton,
Eric
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  #63  
Old 04-15-2009, 02:51 PM
shockwaveriderz shockwaveriderz is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MDorffler
This is a great question. This sould make for interesting excahnges with the engine guys here.

Many of you may not realize that there has never been two like batches of black powder ever made. That includes the one that may have been made yesterday, and the batch made today on the same equipment, and from materials from the same bags or sacks.

Terry - feel welcome to jump in on this if you think I miss something----

While potassium nitrate stays relatively constant, both the sulfer and charcoal change ever so slightly from lot to lot. The charcoal is the ingredient that has the greatest overall control over the burn rate of a particular batch. Hickory has historically been the preferred source of charcoal, but woods such as pine can in a pinch be uased as well.

Trees as a species morph over time, which side of the hill they were grown on and where they were harvested changes, the ingrediants in the soil changes, and so does the temperature while they were growing. The variables are staggering that affect the tree before the wood is harvested. And do you use the branches or the truck, or both? Then there is the process of heating the wood to produce the charcoal. Getting to repeatable charcoal for black powder is a serious issue.

To get to your essential question - yes, black powder made today is 'slower' than it was ten years ago, and it's getting slower. That changes the burn rate of our motors just as it does everyone else's motors. We do burn rate tests on every single lot of powder we buy to characterize it. We press and burn a lot of motors in this process. We have to know how many clicks to adjust engine manufacturing equipment in order to maintain the NAR impulse standards we have always adhered to.

Does this help?



Mike, I'm stunned that you would even consider asking me that. Or that you even know who I am. All my knowledge about BP motors is book knowledge. You and Ed actually did it. If I had my life to live over again I think I could have spent 40 years happily working as Mabel operator at Estes.....

First let me congratulate you on almost 40 years of service with Estes Industries and to the model rocketry industry as a whole.
Its a rarity these days that a person gets to work for a single company their entire carer anymore.

Since you are one of the all time, if not all time, prolific model rocket designers of all time
I can't help but wonder if it had something to do with your childhood in Hastings, NB; a mere 135 miles from where Orv Carlisle invented model rocketry.


So what ever happened to your 1963/4 4th place Design Contest entry, the Rodini??



terry dean
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  #64  
Old 04-15-2009, 04:01 PM
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Jerry Irvine Jerry Irvine is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by starstruk
First let me congratulate you on almost 40 years of service with Estes Industries and to the model rocketry industry as a whole.

Since you are one of the all time, if not all time, prolific model rocket designers of all time
I can't help but wonder if it had something to do with your childhood in Hastings, NB.

terry dean


I concur. Your service is appreciated even from the non star struck among us. God bless you for the Cineroc.

How about that D20?

Jerry

In my 5-6 grade classes I used Comet, Sizzler, Alpha 1, Centurion, Maxi-alpha 3.
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  #65  
Old 04-15-2009, 04:36 PM
marslndr marslndr is offline
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Wow, This is great stuff!

Thanks Mr. Dorffler, first for what you have done for the hobby and second for taking the time to be here and share the history.

My first question is can you shed any light on the history of the Mars Lander? What was the inspiration? Is it true that Martin Marrietta was involved in the design?

Ok that was 3 questions. Sorry.


Mark
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  #66  
Old 04-15-2009, 05:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MDorffler
Be a little more specific - what part of R&D do you feel takes so long?


Well, not just R&D alone. When Barry Tunick answered some questions, he said some rockets took 12 to 14 months from idea to packages out the back door. So, I thought I would ask about it from your point of view.

Do you guys take that long? Or is that through a whole process of deciding and marketing stuff you don't mess with?
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  #67  
Old 04-15-2009, 05:10 PM
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Mark II Mark II is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
Did the ladies that filled our mail orders really keep up with what we owed?

It seems like every time I ordered there was a price increase or I miss added and I owed them a nickel, or a quarter. I always added that to my next order, but I bet Estes ate a considerable amount of profit by being kind to us kids and shipping our orders anyway.

BTW, I don't know if it was the Colorado air or what, but I absolutely loved and will forever remember the smell that wafted out of the boxes shipped from Penrose. To me, that is the true scent of rocketry instead of spent BP motors.

Holy cow - you remember that too?!?! I thought that I was the only one who noticed it! I was always afraid to bring it up, because I assumed that no one would know what I was talking about. Wow, that was the scent of rocket power!

MarkII
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  #68  
Old 04-15-2009, 05:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark II
Holy cow - you remember that too?!?! I thought that I was the only one who noticed it! I was always afraid to bring it up, because I assumed that no one would know what I was talking about. Wow, that was the scent of rocket power!

MarkII


I have an extremely strong memory connection of rocketry due to that that smell. Every now and then I'll smell something that is similar, but not exactly like the smell I got when I opened those boxes from Penrose, and the memories absolutely flood into my head.

I also have a strong memory connection to rocketry with the smell of fresh mowed grass. I was mowing when my first ever box from Penrose arrived. Every single time I mow the lawn, I can close my eyes and remember the exact moment my mailman pulled into the driveway instead of stopping at the mailbox. I can remember the time of day, weather, temperature, were I was in the yard, the fact that my mother made me go back outside and finish mowing without letting me open the box, what the mailman said to me, etc. Every time I mow today, I get an extreme urge to go inside and look at a rocketry catalog, build, or fly a rocket. Maybe this should be a new thread.
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  #69  
Old 04-15-2009, 06:25 PM
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Doug Sams Doug Sams is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
Every time I mow today, I get an extreme urge to go inside and look at a rocketry catalog, build, or fly a rocket. Maybe this should be a new thread.
Ever consider changing your name to Pavlov?

Doug

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  #70  
Old 04-15-2009, 06:37 PM
mperdue mperdue is offline
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I don't recall ever sniffing the boxes I got from Estes - you guys need to get out more often...

Mario
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