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Old 12-27-2017, 01:22 PM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
Too Many Initiators is Never Enough
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 2,394
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pterodactyl
Here is an MPC offering which could qualify as the first RTF model rocket ever widely available to the public.



I bought four of those Yankee-1 models at a hobby shop which 'suddenly' had a large selection of MPC products in the late 1980s.

I noticed that with many of the Yankee-1 models at the hobby shop the nose cone had fallen off down into the bottom of the box. Most the boxes had some water damage.

At the time Scott Pearce and I had been working to create some 18mm 'E' and 'F' motors (Scott did the development and design work. I was just the 'assistant' ).

This resulted in the E45 and F55 motors.

LDRS-8 was coming up in Hartsel, Colorado.
I decided to demo fly the E45 and F55 motors there.

What rocket to use?

I opened one of the MPC Yankee-1 model boxes and prepared the model for use.
I removed the two motor hooks so I could use longer motors in the model.

At LDRS-8, I flew the Yankee-1 first with the E45 motor. That was a fast flight and the ejection broke the round elastic shock cord. I located all the parts and decided to use the F55 motor later in the launch.

A few days later the Yankee-1 was loaded with the F55 motor. The motor ignited and disappeared. I had no idea where it went.

A little searching found the sustainer. Three of the four fins had come off in flight at some point and the nose cone with parachute were gone and not found.

After videotaping the model post-landing I tossed the model in the trash.

Hmmm, I still have three more Yankee-1 models here somewhere...
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