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-   -   Did You Ever Win A Rocket Manufacturer Contest? (http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=20669)

Flash 06-09-2022 09:55 PM

I won a Apogee Model Rocketry contest some time ago.

See News Letter 185 page 10.

https://www.apogeerockets.com/educa...wsletter185.pdf

I already had Rocsim, so they give me $100 of their 1/70th Saturn 1B model.

It was fun to win:)

Earl 06-09-2022 09:58 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Bill-

It was a series of videos I did throughout the 90s and into the early 2000s, primarily on the annual LDRS high power rocketry event. I had a few other 'big' rocketry event videos along the way in addition to those.

Attached is the DVD case 'insert' for one of the last videos I was able to do before dependent care issues at home required that I highly curtail any extended, overnight travel. Most of the videos I sold over the years were VHS, but in the last couple years in operation I was beginning to produce titles in DVD format too, fully authored with multi-level menus and such.

The business was a part-time after-hours endeavor (as many of these things are), but it grew much bigger over the years than I ever dreamed really and I wound up selling thousands and thousands of videos all over the US, Canada, and something like 13 foreign countries. Vern even bought some videos one year!

Earl

Earl 06-10-2022 05:55 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash
I won a Apogee Model Rocketry contest some time ago.

See News Letter 185 page 10.

https://www.apogeerockets.com/educa...wsletter185.pdf

I already had Rocsim, so they give me $100 of their 1/70th Saturn 1B model.

It was fun to win:)


Neat payload and neat story to go along with! I saved the Apogee newsletter too after reading your story; I want to go back and their their info on glues.

I always was interested in camera payloads also and in 1989 as I was moving into high power, I converted the then-available Fisher-Price PXL2000 video camera to an on-board camera payload. It was a neat little digital camera for its time, as it recorded video to what was essentially an audio cassette for playback after flight. This was well before the little digital cameras like yours, but was an advancement over film cameras certainly.

I flew mine on a LOC Mini Viper to which I had added a payload section and flew it a number of times on clusters of three G80s and then three H70s. Got some neat videos with sound. I built another booster for it to fly on 54mm motors and flew it on single J220s and K500s. I have not watched those videos in a long time. They would be somewhat antiquated by today’s standards, but like you, I was thrilled at the time to convert it for flight and have it work.

Thanks again for your story! Did you build the Saturn 1b?

Earl

hcmbanjo 06-10-2022 08:52 AM

2 Attachment(s)
I won the Centuri Photo Contest in 1972.
First Prize was a Rupp Scrambler Mini Bike, retail price was $149.00.
We had to drive about 40 minutes to the Rupp dealer to pick it up.

I rode it around my Grandparents ranch a few times, but it was pretty small
considering my 6' 2" height.
It had a Tecumseh engine on it, not very reliable.
I sold it for $125.00 and probably bought rocket kits and engines with the money.

My entry was called the Starship Epsilon.
I remember spending too much time drawing up the swept wings.
Beside the rudder are two "engines", made up from a split nose cone and half body tube.
We visited Centuri one Summer and I gave the model to Larry Brown.
The model was on display in their company store for a few years.

hcmbanjo 06-10-2022 09:07 AM

1 Attachment(s)
Here's my favorite contest entry -
EMRR had a contest in tribute to the Apollo 11 Mission.
How many Elevens can you incorporate into a rocket design?

http://archive.rocketreviews.com/re...levate_11.shtml

https://www.rocketreviews.com/image..._11_drawing.pdf

georgegassaway 06-10-2022 11:00 AM

Around 1971 or so, Centuri had a promotion at local hobby shops. Enter a built model to be judged on craftsmanship, originality etc., by the shop staff. At my shop, there were just two entries, and I won. That was the first trophy I won (albeit a small inexpensive one), and I still have it.

Then, around 1984, I entered the Estes DOM, with a twin D12 model, all BT-80, about 6 feet tall. Named "Star Spangled D Bird", because of the paint/markings (A lot of rockets have had the same sort of pattern since, but not before then, IIRC). It won. And I STILL have it, even flew it a couple of years ago.
BTW - North Coast Rocketry made a kit of it, using 2.6" HPR parts, "Star Spangled G Bird".
I made an alternative 36" lower body (still BT-80) with a 29mm mount, sharing the same original BT-80 upper 36" section. My 29mm mount model flew higher on an F, than the NCR kit did on a 120 N-sec G, because mine was so light. I did not fly it on a dumb high thrust engine like an F50, which would have shredded it. Used engines like F25. Once, even used a "G15" engine (8 or 9 second burn), which was the best it ever flew.


ghrocketman 06-10-2022 01:17 PM

It was an Estes DOM contest my buddy won back in the early 80's.

Earl 06-10-2022 07:17 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmbanjo
I won the Centuri Photo Contest in 1972.
First Prize was a Rupp Scrambler Mini Bike, retail price was $149.00.
We had to drive about 40 minutes to the Rupp dealer to pick it up.

I rode it around my Grandparents ranch a few times, but it was pretty small
considering my 6' 2" height.
It had a Tecumseh engine on it, not very reliable.
I sold it for $125.00 and probably bought rocket kits and engines with the money.

My entry was called the Starship Epsilon.
I remember spending too much time drawing up the swept wings.
Beside the rudder are two "engines", made up from a split nose cone and half body tube.
We visited Centuri one Summer and I gave the model to Larry Brown.
The model was on display in their company store for a few years.


Chris-

Thanks for your post. I recall us talking about this contest in some PMs a handful of years ago. And I have that issue of Centuri’s American Rocketeer with the contest cover. That looked to be a pretty big contest back in the day! And a nice grand prize, too!

I know Bob Sanford has talked about his visit to Centuri back in the day and has posted a few photos he had from that trip. Any photos exist of your visit? What was your impression of visiting a ‘rocket company’ back as a ‘kid’?

Earl

Earl 06-10-2022 07:20 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by georgegassaway
Around 1971 or so, Centuri had a promotion at local hobby shops. Enter a built model to be judged on craftsmanship, originality etc., by the shop staff. At my shop, there were just two entries, and I won. That was the first trophy I won (albeit a small inexpensive one), and I still have it.

Then, around 1984, I entered the Estes DOM, with a twin D12 model, all BT-80, about 6 feet tall. Named "Star Spangled D Bird", because of the paint/markings (A lot of rockets have had the same sort of pattern since, but not before then, IIRC). It won. And I STILL have it, even flew it a couple of years ago.
BTW - North Coast Rocketry made a kit of it, using 2.6" HPR parts, "Star Spangled G Bird".
I made an alternative 36" lower body (still BT-80) with a 29mm mount, sharing the same original BT-80 upper 36" section. My 29mm mount model flew higher on an F, than the NCR kit did on a 120 N-sec G, because mine was so light. I did not fly it on a dumb high thrust engine like an F50, which would have shredded it. Used engines like F25. Once, even used a "G15" engine (8 or 9 second burn), which was the best it ever flew.



I recall when NCR carried the kit modeled after yours. You had a couple kits you helped them develop, no? Juno-1 and maybe another? It is great you hung on to the rocket all these years.

Earl

Ez2cDave 06-12-2022 11:39 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by lawndart
I won an Estes DOM contest with a boost glider design. Never got it published or anything. Don’t remember any prize or certificate. Of course that was 50 years ago.

Earl, I love your video series. I have them all.



Post it up in the Glider Section !

Dave F.


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