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  #1  
Old 03-20-2013, 04:22 PM
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mojo1986 mojo1986 is offline
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Default Mystery Rocket From My Youth

When I was a kid growing up in Canada, the only place you could buy rocket kits and engines across the counter was at a store in Toronto called Edmund (or maybe Efton) Scientific. One day my brother, who lived in Toronto, brought home (small town called Napanee) a larger rocket kit. It was not Estes. The body tube was about a BT-55 to BT-60 size, and it had a soft white vinyl nose cone about 8" long. It was powered by a large diameter engine (probably an F). We launched it just once..........in a field near an old set of abandoned railway tracks...........and it catoed at about 100 feet. The rocket was pulverized, the nose cone took off to places unknown, and the engine casing came back down with terrific force and struck one of the steel tracks, severely denting it (the casing, of course).

I have often wondered who made that kit. The vinyl nose cone is key in trying to identify it. This all took place approximately circa 1970. Any suggestions as to what that kit might have been?

Joe
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  #2  
Old 03-20-2013, 06:05 PM
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sandman sandman is offline
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Joe, go here

http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/rockets.html

Scroll down to the "catalogs" then you'll have to go through the individual pages of each catalog.

I was first thinking CANAROC but the CATO makes me think FSI.

You should be able to find it if you remember roughly what the model looked like.

You didn't give us much to work with but you may have luck leafing through.

It's fun to look anyway!
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Old 03-20-2013, 09:16 PM
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mojo1986 mojo1986 is offline
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Thanks, Gordy. I went through those with no success. I can rule out a bunch of suppliers that didn't have engines larger than 18 mm. I know it wasn't Estes and pretty sure it wasn't Centuri. Anyone remember a Centuri kit with a vinyl nose cone? I remember that cone really well because it was soft and slightly curved (warped). I kept trying to straighten it, but it would just revert to the curved shape as soon as I let go. Affected the (only) flight too...........just as you might expect, the rocket's flight path described a slow arc due to the unbalanced force on the nose cone caused by the warpage.

I was just hoping someone here would remember having a kit with a soft vinyl nose cone. Would have to be an oldtimer because I'm 66.

Joe
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  #4  
Old 03-20-2013, 09:27 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Was it this place?
http://www.escience.ca/
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  #5  
Old 03-20-2013, 10:09 PM
soopirV soopirV is offline
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I thought maybe these guys: http://edmondsaerospace.com/

But- they're mostly (all?) gliders, but maybe that wasn't always the case? Didn't look through too far, have to put the kiddos to bed. Good luck friend!
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Old 03-20-2013, 10:49 PM
stefanj stefanj is offline
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What a mystery!

Estes had a soft vinyl cone for its BT-40 tube, but that is nowhere near large enough for an F.

Was the model otherwise model-rocket-like? Not an adapted toy your brother assembled?

Besides FSI, Coaster and Centuri made big motors. As far as I know the kits for these were all heavy balsa.
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  #7  
Old 03-21-2013, 09:31 AM
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mojo1986 mojo1986 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by A Fish Named Wallyum
Was it this place?
http://www.escience.ca/


You betcha!
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  #8  
Old 03-21-2013, 09:37 AM
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mojo1986 mojo1986 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stefanj
What a mystery!

Estes had a soft vinyl cone for its BT-40 tube, but that is nowhere near large enough for an F.

Was the model otherwise model-rocket-like? Not an adapted toy your brother assembled?

Besides FSI, Coaster and Centuri made big motors. As far as I know the kits for these were all heavy balsa.


Yes, I believe that vinyl cone was the same two-piece one that was used in the Model Missiles kit. My brother wasn't into model rocketry, but he knew that I was. So he would occasionally come home with a few engines or something that we could launch, but he would never have put various pieces together to come up with something new on his own. So, no, it was definitely a kit, large and with a soft white vinyl nose cone. Canaroc was not in business at the time, so it wasn't from a Canadian company...........besides, Canaroc never had anything larger than a 'D' engine. It had to have been from an American enterprise.

Joe
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  #9  
Old 03-21-2013, 09:39 AM
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Chas Russell Chas Russell is offline
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Could it have been an Enerjet Nike-Smoke from Centuri?

http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ca...72/72ejet8.html

It had a vinyl nosecone which would not be real soft but would pliable. Powered either by an Enerjet composite motor or even a Mini-Max black powder motor if the same store sold those. An FSI F motor would fit if wrapped with enough tape (27mm vs 29mm).

Just a thought.

Chas
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  #10  
Old 03-21-2013, 10:43 AM
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How about AVI ? They had some large diameter stubby F engines back in the 70's
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