Older Motors Questions
 

Wrong forum? Where should it go?

I came into a few older motors.
I am not really a collector (tho with the number of motors and kits I have, I'd be hard pressed in court to convince a jury).
So I have some

Estes A8-0
Estes B.8-0 (thats what it looks like to me)
Estes B8-0 (thats what it looks like to me)
Estes B.3-0
MPC B3-3
Estes B14-0
Estes B14-7
Estes A5-4S
Estes A5-2S
MPC 1/2A3-3m
MPC A3-4m
AVI B3-5m
Centuri A4-4

So looking at them, I am confused about the B.8 vs B8. I know the point is when things were in pounds. But do any of you know more. The nozzles are not all the same. Not being a collector I intend to fly these using the NAR Expired Motor program as all of them were NAR certified at one point or another. I have no issue building cheap unfinished rockets for the chances of a CATO. And the history of AVI vs MPC? They all seemed to come from Wisconsin. ?

The B14-0 might be fun in my Farside X clone.

The B.3-0 was the predecessor of the famous B14.
The B.8 became the B6.
The B8 was a later high thrust version. 80's I think.
The 1st two are from the circa
59-67 time frame approximately. They are classic collectibles. To me,worth a small fortune.

See this thread for MPC/AVI history and background.

Link: https://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=16731


Earl

The B8-x is a "cousin" of the current C5-3S. It is a larger-cored motor, with a larger nozzle. Replaced the B14-x; it didn't require a deeper core to be drilled. The C5-x has more propellant on top, but same core and nozzle.

The A5-x motors are interesting. They are the metric equivalent of the old A.8- motors, and related to the current B4-x motors. Longer burn than the A8-x motors, which were introduced when the thinner cases were made possible by a new motor making machine. They were available in full length and shorty casings.

A5-x haven't been made in 50 years or so, but I would guess they had the same nozzle as the B4, and similar grain.

I used to fly the A5-2 motors in my Estes K-31 Star Blazer model (Original version).

The A5s were 'S' or 'Shorty' motors used in several models before the 'T' / 13mm motors were developed.

I flew the Star Blazer many times with A5 motors until one motor had no ejection and the model hit pavement nose first.

I kept the remains and rebuilt/repainted it ten year later.

As the folks posted above, these are older out of production motors.
The NAR went from English weight and measures to Metric in around 1970. The B.8 motor became the B6. The B3 motor became the B14, etc. www.ninfinger.org has the older Estes, Centuri, MPC, et al catalogs and you can see the switch from the 1960's to the '70s and beyond.
I have many, far too many, of the motors on your list.

Chas

I have no idea. I'll try an 18mm B3-3 in a 'who cares' rocket. I have a bunch of them
Others tell me the B3-3 is gonna go BOOM. Hence the don't care rocket.
I remember 13mm Centuri motors. But I never knew about AVI.

I don't think I see date code before the early 70's so I doubt they are 'collectable'

I think I am indeed confused about the high initial thrust motors.
I 'get' the B14 (I am a child of the 60s/70s). The three stage farside-x and what?

BTW, I made an error. The MPC B3-3 is a metric motor and is not equivalent to a B14. The B3-3 was originally a MRI motor before MPC took over their line. I had a model that I flew around 1969 with an MRI B3-3. Got past the top of the rod and just fell to the ground. So good luck if you fly the MPC.

Chas

None of those motors are any good at all.
Please send them to me for proper disposal.

Any idea how those motors have been stored?
When I became a BAR around 2001, I had a large collection of early 1970 vintage Estes motors. But they'd not been well stored - basically left in an unheated garage for most of the previous 30 years with lots of temperature and freeze/thaw cycles..
I flew a few of them as a BAR, but the failure rate was horrid - about 50% CATO rate (with more than one case rupture). I simply couldn't accept that sort of failure rate and ended up disposing of the rest.