Vehicle 65

Vehicle 65, a minimum-diameter, high-performance sport model rocket intended for 18 mm C6-7 black powder motors.

Vehicle 65 was built in April of 1999, using Centuri (PNC 76 nose cone) and Estes (BT-20 body tube and EB-20A engine block) parts as well as 1.7 mm plywood fins. The rocket measures 306 mm in length, and it is recovered by a Centuri RS-20 streamer.

Given the small size of this rocket and the altitudes attainable with it, it likely wasn't my greatest idea ever to paint it green and thus render it camouflaged after recovery.

Top photo shows Vehicle 65 shortly after completion and on an Estes Porta-Pad II launch pad in Thalwil, Switzerland; bottom photos were taken in Zurich, Switzerland, in August 2016.

Estes Coldpower Convertible Marauder

Estes Coldpower Convertible Marauder, photographed in my backyard in Thalwil, Switzerland, in May of 1999. The Marauder made its first appearance in Estes' 1973 catalogue; it was part of an expansion of the original Vashon Industries cold propellant rocket product line Estes had acquired.

The rockets in the Coldpower Convertible line could be converted from flying on liquid RP-100 cold propellant (i.e., R-12 Freon) to flying with standard Estes black powder rocket motors. This particular Marauder was purchased as an unbuilt kit in the late 1990s and completed as a regular (black powder) model rocket. It is displayed here on an Estes Porta-Pad II launch pad.

Estes #1103 Marauder face card © by Estes Industries, scanned from my actual kit.