Anybody have any idea who manufactured this launch tower? (I included the Semroc Mars Lander next to it in the photos to give a sense of size.)

It is similar to the metal towers seen in the first edition of Handbook of Model Rocketry and offered by Estes in the 1961 catalog.

But this tower is not metal, it is wood. It is exceptionally well crafted so I doubt it was home-made or a kit. The fit of the pieces is remarkable. Most of the tower is apparently glued together but on several levels there are small screws. Again, very professionally crafted.

The paint on the tower appears original and does not appear to be a home-built job. Lines are remarkably clean and crisp.

While the tower seems to be very well built, functionally it is unusual in that the rails down the middle are not adjustable and appear to have only been suitable for a four finned rocket of the proper size.

There is a holder in the base for a launch rod as well. It is slightly off-center to accomodate a launch lug on the side of a rocket but, again, only about a BT55 will fit between the rails.

Anyone with knowledge of who might have produced this tower, I'd appreciate what you know.


Steve

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A couple more pictures.

The underside of the base has four rubber footpads which may suggest this was meant to stand on a table, like seen in several of the Handbook photos.

The photo of the internal joints of the tower give an idea of how well crafted this was. Very precise work and very precise painting. Either professionally produced or by a builder with exceptionally high-order skills.

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Model Missiles Inc. had a tower that looked similar to it, but I've never seen any pictures with enough detail to know if that could be one.

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Mark Mayfield emailed me a picture of Bill Stine at the opening of the display of the G. Harry Stine collection at the Seattle Mueseum of Flight (thanks, Mark).

The tower in the case is the metal type sold by MMI. My understanding is that with the demise of MMI, their remaining towers were sold to Estes who included them in the 1961 catalog.

Note how the tower in the case has a square bottom, but the tower pictured on the cover of Mechanix Illustrated has a triangular joint at the base, presumably to adjust the tower launch angle. I presume the one being advertised by Estes is more similar to the one on the MI cover since the ad mentions it is tiltable.

The wood tower I have is 6 levels instead of 7, like the MMI tower, and is not adjustable in any way.

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I have one of the MMI towers. It's slightly adjustable. There were spacers that you could change so that it would work on two different body tube sizes. Mine can be tilted.

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Bill Spadafora
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pics please?

tia

terry dean

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"Old Rocketeer's don't die; they just go OOP".....unless you 3D print them.

This looks like a very nicely made replica of an MMI tower - but it is NOT an MMI tower. I have several of them here in the Museum archives both assembled and in the orginal packaging. One of the nicest condition towers from the collection is currently on display at Museum of Flight in Seattle. If any of you guys want to see the current best display of early MR memorabilia, go see the exhibit. I believe it will be open for another year.

Bill

Bill,

Thanks for responding. By any chance would you have a photo you could post of an unopened kit and/or pics of an open kit?

I didn't think this tower was MMI, and am beginning to lean toward believing it might have been a one of a kind thing, since no one here seems to have ever seen another one like it.

Was the MMI tower designed by your dad? Any idea who actually manufactured it? I know the surplus went to Estes when MMI closed, but I wonder if prior to that they did more than one production run, and how many were made in total.

Of all the early model rocketry stuff it seems like the towers would have been the most durable, yet you rarely see them, and I don't recall ever seeing one go up for sale on eBay.

That's a pretty cool tower made of wood. Can you take some more photos of the blast plate area on the interior?

I was performing some cleanup and stumbled across instruction sheet for that recent "retro" re-release of the Aerobee-Hi and saw the metal tower was shown on the launch drawing.