WANTED! BMS Gold Medalist Launch Tower
 

I am in the SoCal area.

Would also be interested in other easy to adjust towers as well.

Inbox me at: majordude at gmail dot com

Thanks!

I highly recommend the Apogee Competition Launch Tower which you can see here. Very nicely done and far more portable than a medalist, not to mention the fact that they are actually available.

Thanks.

Actually, I have one.

But I wanted one a bit more sturdy for F-I motors.

I have a medalist tower and I've launched up to an E out of it. I would probably feel comfortable launching an F, but I'd be nervous with a G, and I definitely wouldn't put anything high power in it.

Steve

Really? I thought it was fairly sturdy the last time I saw one. (But it's been years!)

The medalist is made out of aluminum channel stock so it will hold up to low power black powder just fine. But the rail guides are held in place by fairly mild friction which could be easily overpowered by a higher power motor if the rocket got wedged. Likewise, the lightweight channel stock wouldn't hold up very well if directly exposed to a higher power composite flame.

I thought I'd post a couple of pictures to refresh your memory and to show those who don't know what we are discussing.

One of the drawbacks of the Medalist towers is that with many years of use they tend to bend the 6 sheet aluminum sections that maintain their overall shape (the gold colored sections seen in the photos below with the circular holes in them). The reason for this is that the only real way to transport these towers is on their sides and the thin sheet aluminum eventually bends the tower out of true. You can see on my tower that the support sections at the top of the tower (the part with the "Detroit" sticker) have been replaced with similar pieces made out of steel.

Even so, if you can find one I'd still buy it and use it for low power. I really like the Apogee tower, too, but the Medalist is a classic.

My Medalist came second-hand, and came bent out of shape. The soft aluminum used for the upper and lower separators are really easy to bend out of shape, but impossible to bend back into shape. Many years ago I asked Bill Saindon about making some more parts but he had sold out of his original supply and was not eager to make more.

I last spoke to Bill at NARAM-54, and he told me that he had the upper and lower stampings already made. He also told me that he wasn't interested in moving forward with production then, but that he probably will get around to it.... eventually.