Paper satellites book

[blackshire]

Hello All,

I recently found a 1969 book (available from used book vendors such as AbeBooks.com [ www.abebooks.com ]) titled "Model Satellites & Spacecraft: Their Stories and How to Make Them" by Frank Ross, Jr. It contains photographs of--and basic information on--spacecraft up to its time, from the simple Tetrahedral and Octahedral Research Satellites to the later Explorer satellites and the Mariner planetary spacecraft.

[Bill]

Before I could get real model rockets, there was a book in the local library I would almost permanently check out: Model Rockets for Beginners. It had you glue two paper discs onto the ends of a dowel, then roll cardstock around that "spool" to make tubes for rocket bodies. Transition sections are made the same way, but with discs of different sizes. I would later buy a copy of that book at one of the "friends of the library" book sales. It is still around here somewhere...


Bill

[blackshire]

Before I could get real model rockets, there was a book in the local library I would almost permanently check out: Model Rockets for Beginners. It had you glue two paper discs onto the ends of a dowel, then roll cardstock around that "spool" to make tubes for rocket bodies. Transition sections are made the same way, but with discs of different sizes. I would later buy a copy of that book at one of the "friends of the library" book sales. It is still around here somewhere...


BillInteresting...were those "stick-flip rockets" (with holes punched through the discs between the centers and edges of the disc bulkheads to accommodate the launching dowel)? My father made simpler ones for me when I was very young--he used a toilet paper tube for the body and added a conical nose and four Little Joe II-type fins. It was launched using a 3' long, 1/2" diameter dowel. It was inserted into the rocket, held sideways, then rapidly flipped upward in an arc until the dowel was vertical. The trick was to accelerate the dowel more during the second half of the "flipping" motion.

[stefanj]

Before I could get real model rockets, there was a book in the local library I would almost permanently check out: Model Rockets for Beginners. It had you glue two paper discs onto the ends of a dowel, then roll cardstock around that "spool" to make tubes for rocket bodies. Transition sections are made the same way, but with discs of different sizes. I would later buy a copy of that book at one of the "friends of the library" book sales. It is still around here somewhere...


Bill

I think my elementary school had that book.

[DeanHFox]

For those who are interested in the book from Blackshire's original post --- I've attached a picture of the book from my library. It's a lot of fun, especially if you like cardstock modeling.

(I especially like the use of "pipe cleaners" as booms and antennas) :D

[Bill]

Interesting...were those "stick-flip rockets" (with holes punched through the discs between the centers and edges of the disc bulkheads to accommodate the launching dowel)? My father made simpler ones for me when I was very young--he used a toilet paper tube for the body and added a conical nose and four Little Joe II-type fins. It was launched using a 3' long, 1/2" diameter dowel. It was inserted into the rocket, held sideways, then rapidly flipped upward in an arc until the dowel was vertical. The trick was to accelerate the dowel more during the second half of the "flipping" motion.


No, these were not flying models, though I did make some smaller ones hollow and sent them into the air by blowing through a soda straw. If I had a bellows, I could have done stomp rockets.


Bill

[blackshire]

For those who are interested in the book from Blackshire's original post --- I've attached a picture of the book from my library. It's a lot of fun, especially if you like cardstock modeling.

(I especially like the use of "pipe cleaners" as booms and antennas) :DThank you! Yes, the plans in it make abundant use of that time-honored hobby/art/craft material... :-) The part patterns are a bit "thick-lined," being intended for tracing--nowadays, one can just lay the book down on a scanner/printer and photocopy the part patterns onto 110# cardstock, then cut them out and assemble them.

[blackshire]

No, these were not flying models, though I did make some smaller ones hollow and sent them into the air by blowing through a soda straw. If I had a bellows, I could have done stomp rockets.


BillThose sound like the "straw blow" rockets and jets that were available in the 1960s. They had thin-walled plastic tube fuselages (about 5/16" in diameter) that were made of the same plastic as drinking straws--they had short, rounded-tip conical nose cones that fit over their front ends, and thin sheet plastic wings or fins that were stapled to the tubes with very small staples. The "launch tube" was a white plastic straw (nearly the same diameter as the models' body tubes) that was slid into them; they were launched with a sharp puff of breath.

[blackshire]

Here on eBay (see: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRW-ORS-PRISM-TRS-SATELLITE-MODEL-KITS-ENVIRONMENTAL-RESEARCH-SATELLITES-UNUSED-/150893652798?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2321f66b3e ) are several unassembled, vintage TRW-made cardstock models of their TRS (Tetrahedral Research Satellite), ORS (Octahedral Research Satellite), and prism-shaped ERS (Environmental Research Satellite [ERS was the "family name" of all of these small TRW-built satellites]). Also:

Below are links to material on the ERS satellites, which had simple, easy-to-manufacture polygonal shapes and used steel tape measure-type deployable dipole antennas. The smallest of the TRS series satellites weighed just 1.5 pounds! Here are the links:

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ors_mk2.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/trs-2.htm
www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app3/ers.html
http://mdkenny.customer.netspace.net.au/ERS-20.pdf
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ov5.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/trs-1.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ors_mk3.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/tts.htm

I hope this information will be helpful.

[LW Bercini]

Hello All,

I recently found a 1969 book (available from used book vendors such as AbeBooks.com [ www.abebooks.com ]) titled "Model Satellites & Spacecraft: Their Stories and How to Make Them" by Frank Ross, Jr. It contains photographs of--and basic information on--spacecraft up to its time, from the simple Tetrahedral and Octahedral Research Satellites to the later Explorer satellites and the Mariner planetary spacecraft.


In my grade school days, I toyed a lot with origami and 3D models of crystals and other multi-faceted structures using folded cardstock. I discovered model rocketry just before that book came out. I built a flying version of the Relay satellite pictured on the cover. This was the beginning of my experimentation of using folded cardstock for building rockets. I built a bunch of different original designs.

My first really successful folded model was a flying pyramid, circa 1970. Plans for the pyramid were published some time around 1982 and the design has been a staple in sport rocketry ever since.

Another successful, but less ubiquitous folded design, was an all square rocket I named Infinite Square. It was a reference to a then-popular tube stabilized design called the Infinite Loop. that was some time around 1970 or 1971.