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Old 02-18-2016, 02:28 PM
ManofSteele ManofSteele is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Sandy, UT
Posts: 206
Default Rare Rocket Technology CorporationV-2 Plastic Flying Model Rocket Kit

Manufactured in the late 1960s, this 1/50th scale V-2 kit was far ahead of it’s time. The use of two part, injection molded body halves, fins, and nose cone was well before Estes/Damon used them in kits. Molded in light yellow plastic, this unique design did not use a paper body tubes for motor mount, either – the only paper tube in the whole kit is the launch lug (which almost appears to have been forgotten when the molded parts were made and added afterwards). Packaged in a colorful 9’ x 5.5” x 1.5” box, the model stands about 10.375” tall and is 1.5” in diameter. The shock cord is the standard 1/8” wide rubber strip that was popular at that time in the hobby. A 15” red and white plastic parachute completes the kit. It looks like is would fly great on the recommended 1/2A-6-4, A6-4, B6-4, and B6-6 motors, while a C6-5 motor would send it clean out of sight.

These kits are very rare, and I was surprised to come into a few of them lately. I have one up for sale on eBay now.

The V-2 kits were an offshoot of Rocket Technology Corporation, which had plans to compete with Vern Estes in the early 1960s. Founded by John Rahkonen, the company ran into production problems making black powder A, B, & C motors.

John Rahkonen worked professionally at Morton-Thiokol in Utah, where he directed research and development of their rocket propellant development laboratory. He is credited with work on developing the solid rocket motor propellant used in the detachable boosters of the NASA Space Shuttle.

Rahkonen's work with ammonium perchlorate composite propellant would eventually trickle down into the hobby rocketry community. G. Harry Stine introduced the hobby community to Rahkonen in a 1963 issue of American Modeler magazine with the mention of a new model rocket company called Scientific Amateur Supply Company (SASCO), located in Ogden, Utah.
SASCO would go on become Propulsion Dynamics, more commonly known in the hobby as Prodyne, which would bring three model rockets to the market; the Swift, Swallow and Skylark. In addition to the three kits were three black power rocket motors; a D2, an E2 and an F2, called "Cyclone" motors, utilizing plastic cases and ceramic nozzles. Rahkonen and Prodyne would eventually go on to develop and market a K700 composite high power rocket motor that was available in the early 90's.

Rahkonen's history with rocket propellant and the ties to other model rocketry luminaries from the past were a direct result of his employment at Thiokol's solid rocket propellant plant in Brigham City, Utah, where he worked with Irving S. Wait and George Roos, creating composite rocket motors used in the United States' intercontinental ballistic missile program. Wait was the founder of Rocket Development Corporation (RDC), the creator of the Enerjet composite model rocket motors, and Roos founded Flight Systems, Inc. (FSI).
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