In the early 1970's a rocket company by the name of Model Rocket Industries started producings some pretty cool kits. Soon, Model Products Corp. bought them out and launched their bold plan of marketing the kits through regular retail outlets. In fact, the kits were packaged in shrink wrapped boxes and sold by the pallet load to K-Mart stores. This marked the first time model rockets had been sold in a general merchandise store!
All seemed great for the future of MPC rockets. They had none other than G. Harry Stine as a consultant and promoter of the brand. Their products were high quality, using plenty of plastic parts as well as traditional model rocket materials. And their designs were eye-catching on the shelf and on the pad. What could go wrong?
The law.
You see in the early 1970's the fire codes were not as uniform as they are now. Cities right next to each other might have totally different regulations on buying and flying model rockets. This spelled big trouble for K-Mart, since some of their inventories were seized and some stores were fined. They turned around and returned everything to MPC, which took a Pacific Ocean splashdown sized bath on the whole deal, and before you know it, MPC rockets were no more...
Except that they were.
You see, thousands of kits were stored in warehouses. In the late 1980's a lot of these (and I mean a LOT) showed up at discount stores for almost nothing. Rocket geeks gobbled them up! Here are a few that I have:
I also have a RTF Yankee and an Asp that I didn't take pictures of.
Anyway, as you can see, they are pretty handsome birds. They even had some neat ideas (although I suspect the Martian Patrol saucers flew rather like soft drink lids). The really cool thing is that since so many were dumped on the market, you can still get them at low, LOW prices! A quick search on eBay will prove that you can buy some of these almost 50 year old beauties for less than a new Estes kit!
So, there you have it! Retro at an affordable price! Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!
