My Brother-in-law and I have been going through my Mom's house clearing out cabinets and drawers. She was a "child of the depression" and kept most everything. Mom would have never been featured on the show "Hoarders" but she did keep a lot of crap you and I would have thrown away!
At one time I had a binder full of Model Rocket News and correspondence. I did find that in my old bedroom years ago. But - the kit instructions binders were gone!
Maybe not gone, but misplaced in all places, my Sister's old bedroom. Two binders full of kit instructions were buried high above her clothes closet. There are probably 150 kit instructions here, in two binders. I thought there was only one binder.
I will have to go through them and see what might be missing from JimZs and oldrocketplans.com. I'll scan what might be missing and submit them.
The only drag is there are index holes punched and some pencil and pen notations on the sheets. I'll be able to remove most of that. There are no fin templates or decals, we didn't have scanners back then and a young builder would use all that came with the kits.
In the back of the second binder are all my flight records from the first launch in 1969 through 1977.
I don't remember launching my Estes Saturn V, three times with D12-3 engines. But, it's all there in the records. I'm surprised the D13s didn't blow through like they were known to do. (For all you "kids", that's why Estes downgraded the engine to a D12.)
In one binder was a lone 20/60 centering ring, like one you might find in a Big Bertha or a Goonybird kit. It's die-cut and a bit yellowed.
The ring thickness is about half of what we have today.
I'll have to find a build for it.
Wow, what a treasure trove. 150 instructions? You even might have some that are missing from JimZ's and Oldrocketplans. And maybe some future inspiration for upcoming clone builds? As a BAR I get a kick out of cloning some of my favorite rockets I flew as a kid. Only this time the fins are straighter and the finish is much nicer. Laters!
ReplyDeleteI see the Omega in the binder. I still have my original that I built as a kid so many years ago :)
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about punched holes or missing templates. Sometimes a portion of one set of instructions can help complete someone else's missing page. Every little bit helps.
ReplyDeleteI drew a lot of cartoons as a kid. When my mother passed away we found them in the bottom of her dresser. She never told me she kept them.
Nice find, Chris. I'm happy to hear that you still have all of that material. Back in 1985 when I sold off all of my rocketry stuff and quit the hobby, I held on to similar notebooks of flight logs, photos, fleet inventory, and letter correspondence with other modelers. I even still have the box with all of the contest ribbons I won over the years. I'm really glad to have kept all of this stuff. What I'm very sad about is letting go of my collection of Model Rocket News, Model Rocketeer magazines, and all of my notebooks full of kit instructions, as well as my old copy of the Handbook of Model Rocketry. Live and learn...
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