A History of the Heart of the Thing

Most of the time I try to make my blog posts appeal to a fairly wide audience. So, I tie in science fiction, toys, history, or whatever else jumps out at me that has simething to do with the central model rocket theme. Today, however, I'm going to do a post that probably will only interest the true hard-core rocket geeks out there. Our journey begins with....a box.

This is a box that I happened across in my rocket room closet. When I saw it, I just knew that I had to do this post. You see, inside the box is this:

Yep! It's filled with old "collectible" rocket motors! The motor is truly the heart of any rocket, and the various rocket companies have come up with many entertaining ideas on different motors for different uses. Now, my collection is certainly not huge (a lot of guys in DARS have larger collections) but I think it's interesting...Let's have a look, shall we?

The old Estes tubes (late '70s, after the round ones) These are the ones I loved getting in the mail! The mini engines have never been opened...

Centuri standard and mini engines!

In the late '80s a lot of MPC stuff was found in a warehouse and sold at discount stores. It was a model rocket collector's dream!

The infamous MPC Mini-B! Yes, they do blow up.

The Estes Short. The Birdie and the Beta were two rockets that took these...

One of my prized motors...an original Enerjet E in a never opened baggie!

Here is the actual motor...

I'm not real clear on the history of the Pro-Jet. I think they were kind of replacements for the Enerjet line....but I'm not sure.

Another early composite motor. The Crown Rocketry E.

Near and dear to my heart...Flight Systems Inc. made some of the coolest black powder motors EVER. These are E's.

A strange little motor that I think was by...maybe AVI? I'm not sure...

These I know about! Apogee used to produce motors just for competition. I still mourn the loss of their composite mini-B. These are a bit smaller..1/4 A's

From one extreme to another...How about a 24mm G motor? In the late '80s you could get one! The Aerotech G55-15!

So there you have it! I hope you've enjoyed today's trip down memory lane! ...and if you're not really a model rocket geek, don't worry, I'll get back to the other junk next week!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!