If we had a rocket museum, we could all leave our collections to that, to preserve the hobby. Too many collections are being lost for many reasons and the great historical items are gone forever.

The Smithsonian would be another option, they have a great collection of Orville Carlisle and some G. Harry Stine items in their collection under climate controlled conditions. I was fortunate to see it during the NARAM 50 era.

They need to put up a display and show these items off.

Another option I have suggested in the past , is a museum at Space Camp in Huntsville, the new generation of rocketeers would benefits from such a musaum at that facility.

The museum concept would be great so that many others can benefit from all the great rocketry items out there.

One of the things about leaving all our model rocketry collections to a museum is that you'd probably need two of every "kit", anyway --- one to be carefully constructed for display, the other a pristine example of what the kit looked like. Perhaps examples of all the face card artwork, once that trend started.

Part of the appeal of a "museum" environment is VIEWING something. While most of us here would drool at the sight of an original pre-Damon Estes shipping box, loaded with a selection of that era's kits, the average Joe walking past the display would just see a cardboard box with some paper and balsa in it.

Now, display case after display case filled with colorful rockets (ala the famous Lee Piester "Country Club" photo) would, I think, make for a visually exciting and appealing exhibit (or museum, if we could get enough of them together).

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Dean Fox
NAR #53946SR

---- "Wherever you go, there you are"

I tend to agree with you. The folks who are most interested in acquiring kits from the '60s and '70s are getting older and dying off. These kits don't hold the same meaning for younger rocketeers. Supply and demand will drive the prices down in the not-too-distant future.

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John Buscaglia
NAR 27366
SAM 63
CMASS Member

Yup, I agree. We are the ones who grew up through that magic time when man first ventured into space. The sight of all those larger and larger rockets lifting heavier and heavier payloads was, for me, awe inspiring. Kids today don't seem to care much about rockets, or even space for that matter, unless they are encouraged in that direction by old timers like us. For most kids, it's 'Show me a video game'.

Every time I see an Estes kit with the old yellow hangtag I start to salivate. My kids, understandably so, just don't get the appeal. So, I started selling off my collection a couple of years ago. I'm convinced it made good financial sense. If you are accumulating rocket kits nowadays, do it because you just want to have them, not as part of your investment strategy.

Joe

We all have invested greatly in our collections for our on benefit, so, why should other benefit when we go to the big launch pad in the sky.

It's unfortunale that kids today can't experience what we did growing up in the 60's and knowing about the space program and such.

Oh, did you say the pizza was just delivered, get me the TV controller...........SAD

Heck - I'm hoping my family will strap all my rockets to my casket and launch me into the wild blue yonder

If it weren't for kids growing up on video games, would we ever have seen Mars rovers?

If it weren't for kids spending too much time playing with computers and too little time building models, would we all be chatting amongst ourselves reminiscing about the good old days on this internet thing? Would we be able to quickly find, order, and pay for parts to clone some of our nostalgic designs, then download the plans from Jim Z?

OK, so after the space race generation, we abandoned space exploration, but if we'd stuck with it, would we have mapped the human genome? Would agricultural production have grown exponentially, allowing a smaller and smaller number of farmers to feed a greater number of people, and by the way, developing a strain of wheat that is impervious to the fungus that had sporadically wiped out huge crops and led to roving famine (the miracle of Sr31 gene wheat)?

Lamenting the lack of respect the next generation has for the values of the previous generation has been around since, well, parents. It's also why for just about every hobby-based collectible you'll see a gradual rise in value, followed by a sharp decline, prolonged bottom, then sharp spike back up. First generation uses disposable income to buy back nostalgic mementos of the glory days. Next generation sells off the relics without much interest. Subsequent generations discard or fail to preserve them. 4-6 generations later they become fascinating antiques, and rarity drives up value again. If it doesn't pass through that lack of interest that leads to so many "priceless" collectibles being thrown out, they'd never be cherished or priceless.

You're dead on with the advice to keep for enjoyment, not for investment, unless you want to lock them up in a time capsule/trust that will skip at least 2-3 generations, at which point you might be able to laugh from the grave and prove your financial prowess.

--Chan Stevens

Joe, while I agree with Chan Stevens' reply (#17), for now the old kits will begin to decrease in value. I can give a dramatic example of this:

In the 1960s, my late friend Gary Moore bought an old IBM electric typewriter at a swap meet in Miami. It wasn't functional, but it was in very good condition, and it only required a good cleaning, lubrication, and a few adjustments to get it working again. When Gary couldn't find a ribbon that was specified for it (the local supplier had never heard of an IBM typewriter with its model number), he called IBM's corporate headquarters to inquire if the ribbon product numbers might have changed over the years.

When he gave them the typewriter's model number, they didn't believe him. It turned out that Gary had found the *only* surviving example of just six prototype electric typewriters (the first electric typewriters in the world!) that IBM had built for the War Department, for use at the Pentagon during World War II. The War Department loved the new electric typewriters and ordered IBM's first production model in large quantities. They returned the six prototypes to IBM, who destroyed all of them except for one, which disappeared.

(The destruction of the prototype electric typewriters was likely done for security reasons--the Germans also kept their then-new tape recorder/player technology secret and removed or destroyed taping equipment at their radio stations during the allies' advance through Europe. British intelligence agents eventually captured examples of the German tape recorder/players. They had suspected the existence of the technology years before the war, when they noticed that all of Hitler's regular broadcasts started exactly 15 seconds after the hour. It turned out to be a tape audio-delay system [that allowed "live" elimination of reading errors in Hitler's speeches] like those used at talk radio stations today to "dump" obscene language from telephone callers before it gets out on the air.)

When IBM learned that Gary had the one-and-only first model of the first electric typewriter (they did have a ribbon type that would work with it), they flew company representatives down to Miami to see it. They offered him $50,000 for the typewriter (a lot of money in the 1960s!), which they wanted for their company's museum. To them, it was as if the Ford Motor Company had no Model-T in their museum--they wanted the typewriter *very* badly.

Gary was quite tempted, but he declined their offer, and he actually used the typewriter in his home-based electronic services business until he died in 1996 (he had a computer by that time, but he still used the typewriter for typing up carbon-copy forms and carbon-less multi-copy forms).

Here's the kicker: After Gary died in 1996, his nephew David contacted IBM to see how much they might be willing to pay for it. The new, younger personnel at the company had no interest in the historic machine, even after he informed them about its significance! Perhaps one or two generations hence, someone at IBM will appreciate the one-of-a-kind typewriter's significance and offer David's descendants a large sum for it, but for now it is just another old, obsolete electric typewriter.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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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

Barb's and my will state that (a) the balsa wood goes to someone who knows how to use good contest grade stuff and (b) that the rocket stuff goes to a local guy I trust to "do the right thing" with it.

Next time we connect, remind me to tell you the story of what became of the "Al Neinast" collection.

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A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets. But high above the quiet streets on the 12th floor of the Acme Building, one man is still trying to find the answers to life's persistent questions. Guy Noir, Private Eye.

Fox Valley Rocketeers: http://www.foxvalleyrocketeers.org

And THAT, ladies and germs, is what we call a TEASER. No fair, Mark. I have PDS and making me wait could be harmful to my emotional well being.

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Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc - Starfighter Scorpion Centuri - Mini Dactyl Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Xarconian Cruiser Semroc - Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark