MPC Minirocs brochure
 

For those who may be interested, the following is a pdf scan of the MPC Minirocs brochure for reference. I've not seen this one posted anywhere else. It is 11" x 17" size format. There is no issue date on it, but I believe this brochure was published sometime around 1971-1972, before the MPC model rocket lines were acquired by Myke Bergenske of AVI. I would be glad to know if anyone has any other knowledge about it and can share with us.

Kind regards,
Jeff Jenkins
aka: Faithwalker
NAR #46879 SR

I am definitely interested, and I thank you for posting this brochure! I like the way that MPC got into the "hows" and "whys" of producing the Minijet motors, and the kits that used them (such as the 36% decrease in frontal drag over a equivalent 19 mm minimum-diameter rockets, the greater strength provided by the smaller, more sharply-curving 13 mm Minijet motor casings, which permitted them to be thinner-walled, etc.). Aesthetically, it is also a beautiful example of commercial art, with its combination of colors, its image framing, and its smooth combination with actual photographs of the Miniroc models. It even has a little "inside baseball"-type information, with its kit carton pricing (I imagine the brochure was intended for model rocket vendors).

Cool, thanks for posting!

I want a Delta Katt! And some of those B3 motors!

Oh yeah, would love to get my hands on some of those 'B' mini engines too!

Beware '26 JUL 71' ! ;) :eek:

I used to have a ton of those B3 minijets and Centuri B4 mini motors.
Never had a problem with any of them.
I still have a few of each.

I have a few B4 minis left along with a lot of Centuri A4 and 1/2 A4's. The only problem I ever had with them is that sometimes the ejection charge would not pop and the rocket would try to core sample the asphalt parking lot.....

I can't help with the 13 mm B3 Minijet motors, but here (see: http://plans.rocketshoppe.com/mpc/m...0/mpc3-0930.htm ) are the Delta Katt plans. Semroc made me some of the 5:1 tangent ogive and the shorter elliptical (for the Pipsqueak) 15 mm diameter nose cones, and Quest sells the 15 mm diameter body tubes (inside which a BT-5 motor mount tube "sleeve-fits" perfectly). Just that slight diameter increase from BT-5 to T15 makes a surprisingly large difference; several of the 15 mm diameter Miniroc kits used 10" parachutes, and the others--including the pop-pod of the Delta Katt--had plenty of room for their recovery streamers! Also:

Centuri, like MPC, at one time offered 13 mm "A" and "B" motors (that's why the motor mount section--the 2-1/2" long #5 [BT-5 size] tube, with a stage coupler thrust ring--of the Centuri Star Trooper [see: http://plans.rocketshoppe.com/centu...M-3/cenKM-3.htm ] is so long, compared with the later, shorter 1-3/4" long Centuri--and Estes--mini motors). If someone would make (or import) such "long" black powder 13 mm "A" and "B" motors today (Quest? Estes? U.S. Rockets? Apogee Rockets [from Sky Model Rockets]?), I think they would be popular.

Those must have been the ones that were stored for years in the semi trailers on the lot, exposed to the alternating heat, cold, humidity, and dry spells... (If a lot of the Minijets from that batch are left, they could be sold as fireworks. :-) ) I wonder--if the existing Estes 13 mm motor casings were treated on the inside with something (a thin, "wicking-in" resin, maybe)--if they could be made in the Minijet lengths and packed to higher "A" and "B" total impulse levels, enabling reliable operation like the (non-temperature-cycled) Minijet motors?