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MPC Lunar-Lectric launch controller - dates?
This afternoon I assembled an MPC Lunar-Lectric launch controller I have had for some time (and I don't currently recall when or where I got it). I was going to add it to the "classic GSE" I plan to use at a classic model-themed club launch early next month.
I thought it would be easy to establish when it was made, or at least the date range during which it was available, but after searching here, looking at stuff on JimZ and Ninfinger, and seeing almost nothing in a DuckDuckGo web search but Worthpoint listings, I'm a little stymied. An odd thing about this particular example is that even though the illustration on the box is of a red and white controller, the actual unit is yellow with a sort of brown top. So far I've assembled it per instructions except for using one of my LED-based lamps from Pinball Life for the continuity indication. I'm going to have to lengthen the leads that go to the pad and add micro clips because these are only about 11 feet long and just end in bare wires, since they were supposed to be attached to terminals at the pad (not unlike Centuri LIA-77/-100 pads) according to the instructions. I also noticed in taking the attached picture that the box illustration shows a square launch button, but the actual hardware has, and the instructions show, a round one. So....after all that...does anyone have a good idea of when this thing was actually sold? I'm guessing approximately 1969 to whenever AVI went away (1976?) based on reading other threads here. I've no idea if the ones sold by AVI were in MPC boxes.
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Bernard Cawley NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member SAM 0061 AMA 42160 KG7AIE Last edited by BEC : 09-23-2023 at 01:39 AM. |
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You may have located this (link below) past thread that lists a number of scanned MPC documents and literature pages. I had to do a search myself to find it, and I started the thread! But, if you have not seen it yet, there is some info there on the first release dates of the MPC line, which goes back to about mid-October, 1969.
Link: https://www.oldrocketforum.com/show...iterature+scans I am not sure exactly how much longer AVI actively sold leftover MPC stock, but I think that by about 1978, AVI was pretty much about kaput. And I may be wrong, but I want to say that Canaroc may have sold a revived version of either the old MPC launch pad or this controller in the early 80s or so. I recall a handful of years ago of seeing some photos of a Canaroc launch pad or controller in its product packaging (eBay listing or such…I can’t rightly recall) and I remember thinking “Well, geez, that is the old MPC stuff”, but it was in Canaroc packaging. Again, I can’t recall if it was the pad, the controller, or both. And it is my experience also the plastic color could vary. I have several of these controllers in the box and while most are solid red, I think I have one that is somewhat different colored than that. Earl
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Earl L. Cagle, Jr. NAR# 29523 TRA# 962 SAM# 73 Owner/Producer Point 39 Productions Rocket-Brained Since 1970 |
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You are correct on that Earl. I have a Canaroc (MPC) pad in my collection. I'm not sure if they bought the molds or just the old stock. It doesn't have the cool ceramic exhaust deflector that the original had though.
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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! Ye Olde Rocket Forum WOOSH NAR Section #558 |
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Thanks, Earl. I either didn't catch that thread last night or just didn't read through it. I searched on "Lunar-Lectric".
It seems to me I should scan the instructions for the controller and add them to that thread. I'm going to assume for my purposes that the controller I have was a late MPC (so early AVI) unit since it was iii an MPC box but is colored like the one in the 1973 AVI catalog that's on Ninfinger. I just want to be able to give a rough idea of its age for the combination display and functional GSE for that October launch. Since I don't have an MPC pad it'll have to be paired with an Estes pad of some sort....maybe a first-generation Porta-Pad. That can go alongside the Centuri Powr-Tower that is also part of this little collection. Some of the stuff I skimmed through last night makes me think that Canaroc sold the MPC pad but used the MRC controller. I have one of those in a box that might get assembled, too. It's essentially a very nice looking interpretation of an Estes Solar Launch Controller morphing into the Electron Beam.
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Bernard Cawley NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member SAM 0061 AMA 42160 KG7AIE |
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I thought I had the controller instructions scanned already, but turns out I did not. Post those if you can, in time. I just posted the pad instructions in that older thread. Earl
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Earl L. Cagle, Jr. NAR# 29523 TRA# 962 SAM# 73 Owner/Producer Point 39 Productions Rocket-Brained Since 1970 |
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Aerospace Vehicles Incorporated (AVI) acquired the MPC model rocketry products in mid-late 1972 and they started selling the MPC launch pad and the MPC launch controller with AVI branding by December 1972. https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/n...ia/73avi08.html Canaroc acquired rights to use the MPC launch pad after AVI did. Canaroc re-tooled the molds and added the Canaroc logo on their version of the pad. Afterwards, SMI was next in line to use the MPC launch pad design after Canaroc. Canaroc did not ever use the MRC launch controller, but they did use the Cox launch controller, and so did SMI. AVI used the MPC Lunar-Lectric launch controller as can be seen in the 1973 AVI catalog. Space Models International, Inc. (SMI) used the exact same launch pad after MPC, AVI and Canaroc did. The SMI version did not have the ceramic blast deflector either, nor did it have the spring stand-offs on the mast. Kind regards, Jeff Jenkins aka: Faithwalker NAR #46879 SR Last edited by Faithwalker : 09-23-2023 at 09:26 PM. |
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Hmmmm....I wonder what I was looking at last night that made me think that the MRC controller was mixed into the Canaroc stuff. That's clearly the Cox one in all those Canaroc and SMI pictures.
Maybe I'll look again later. Can't do it right now.
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Bernard Cawley NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member SAM 0061 AMA 42160 KG7AIE |
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Here's photos of the MRC Electro Launcher Controller for comparison. This one is on eBay right now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3144847802...%3Avlp_homepage Not my listing, nor do I know the seller. Kind regards, Jeff Jenkins aka: Faithwalker NAR #46879 SR |
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Here's photos of the Cox Launch Controller for comparison. Kind regards, Jeff Jenkins aka: Faithwalker NAR #46879 SR |
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I just posted the instructions from this in Earl's MPC literature thread.
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Bernard Cawley NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member SAM 0061 AMA 42160 KG7AIE |
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