#11
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Quote:
It came unassembled. Lots of pieces of metal, nuts and bolts. I added the square piece of wood on the bottom. I don't think it came with anything for a base.
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Bill Spadafora http://www.billsplumbing.com billspad@comcast.net bill@billsplumbing.com |
#12
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Gus, Looking at your tower, there are two "T" rails for the model, correct? I think yours might have been built "mission specific." Are there any exhaust burn marks on the tower at all?
The workmanship on that tower is just outstanding!
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Enjoy life, it has an expiration date. |
#13
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Gus, I'm wondering if it might be an early MMI tower, perhaps even a prototype, before they went to the commercial metal one. Is yours 6" x 6"?
Joe |
#14
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Quote:
Blast plate looks like the tower was used. I really doubt this was built for a specific rocket, since it has both the rails and a launch rod holder. From what I'm seeing of the MMI towers they weren't a whole lot more flexible than this tower, and wouldn't have accomodated a much bigger rocket. Quote:
Tower is 5 .5" X 5.5". Base is 10.5" square. As for this being a prototype, I've seen photos of early model rocket launch towers and those that I've seen were metal. As for it being a prototype, it's possible. But take a look at the quality of the work on the tower top corners (2nd pic). The corner piece itself looks like corner molding. The cross pieces are mitered and rabbet cut, all on a piece of 1/4" stock. Very high quality joinery work on such tiny pieces. That's what makes me think this was a professionally produced product. Either that, or it was the personal launch tower of a cabinet maker. |
#15
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It's not an MMI tower
Quote:
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 |
#16
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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. |
#17
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That's a pretty cool tower made of wood. Can you take some more photos of the blast plate area on the interior?
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#18
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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.
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#19
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Tower packaging and instructions
Question about MMI towers for Gus, Bill, or anyone else who might know.
The tower I have was purchased already built up as a floor display, but I know they were shipped as kits. What kind of packaging was used for the kits? Was it an illustrated box, a plain corregated carton, or what? And was there an instruction sheet that came with it, or were you on your own to figure it out? If anybody has information about this, or better yet, a picture of an un-assymbled kit, a pic of the packaging, or a copy of instructions, cold you please post them here? I would dearly love to see any of the above. The Fireman |
#20
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Quote:
Sorry, I've never seen one of the kits. Steve |
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