Estes Shark #1111, Build, Part 1, Background

In the early 1970s, Damon bought out Vashon (Freon propelled "cold power" rockets) 

and production moved to Estes in Penrose, CO. CLICK HERE

Initially, the Vashon line remained unchanged. 

In 1973, Estes started producing their own branded Freon propelled  kits, the "Cold power Convertible" line. CLICK HERE

All six designs were BT-50 based. The initial kits included RP-100 (freon based liquid propellant), a simple wooden based launcher and a conversion kit. I don't remember my kit including the launcher and conversion kit.

I bought and built the Shark, my favorite of the six choices.

I launched it using the Freon motor. It seemed to be the equivalent of a B6-4.

You had to be careful with these - cold weather could effect the performance of the self-refrigerant fuel. After two anemic launches, I converted it to 18mm black powder using a 20/50 adapter.

Here's the back view of an unopened Shark kit, picture courtesy of launchlabrocketry.com.

On the right side is the black plastic hand held launch button, cable and nozzle release.

Ejection was provided by a compressed spring, held in place during boost while the motor was pressurized. On display, the extended spring made the rocket look like a broken toy.

In 1976, the cold power rocket line was reduced to the three kits shown at the top of this post. The original aluminum bodied Vashon "Valkyrie" models were gone. The Freon propellant was contributing to ozone layer depletion and global warming

In  the 1977 catalog, some original cold power convertible designs were reintroduced with 20/50 black powder motor mounts. The Scamp and Teros were back in the "NEW" kit lineup.

A close reissue of the Shark appeared as the Stiletto in 1979 (Kit #1323) using a plastic nose cone and display nozzle (type PNC-50BB) The original Shark had four fins, the Stilletto has three. This kit run lasted through 1983. My build will be a combination of the two.