Old Estes Parts, Part 1

Lonnie Buchanon let me borrow some old Estes parts he found in a Craig's List buy.

Below is a BT-30 tube.

Mark II wrote in YORF:

https://www.rocketshoppe.com/info/Estes_Body_Tube_List_3.1.pdf

"BT-30 is a recreation of the very first body tubes that the fledgling Estes Industries sold in 1960. Yes, these were the legendary tubes that Gleda Estes hand-rolled from mimeograph stencil backing using a slotted aluminum mandrel. BT-30 was used in most of the early Estes Industries kits, including the Scout, Mark, Space Plane, Sky Hook and Sprite (K-1, -2, -3, -8 and -15). The somewhat loose fit of their 18mm motors in it is what makes the tumble recovery-inducing weight shift easier and more controllable in the Scout and Sprite. Other kits that used it were the TK-4 Hornet Mini Brute, the Scout II and Scout III, the Mark II and a number of MRN plans. There is an extended discussion of this tube in John Brohm's Estes Body Tube/Kit Reference v3.1." CLICK HERE

  

I don't think this is a Gleda Estes rolled tube but a manufactured recreation as mentioned above.

Estes probably had BT-30 tubes made for them when the kit demand got too high to hand roll the tubes.

This one is rolled very tight and clean, I would assume the hand rolled tubes weren't as taut. I can't say for sure as I've never seen a Gleda Estes hand rolled tube in person.

 

This shows the fit of a current engine slid into the BT-30 tube. There is plenty of space for a few tape wraps to get a good friction fit.

The loose fit reminds me of the old Model Missiles instructions that mention you could use rubber bands wrapped around the motor for a friction fit.