Estes Patriarch Model Rocket - Part 1

The estes patriarch model rocket - straight out of the box! A demonstration video for assembling the rocket for its maiden voyage.

Part 1 focuses on the assembly. Later in part 2, we will attempt multiple launches.

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Model Rocketry

Model rocketry usually involves commercially-manufactured black powder rocket motors. These motors are tested and certified by the National Association of Rocketry, the Tripoli Rocketry Association or the Canadian Association of Rocketry and come in standardized sizes –most often 10-, 13-, 18- and 24mm diameters.

According to the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) safety code, model rockets are constructed of paper, wood, plastic and other lightweight materials. The code also provides guidelines for motor use, launch site selection, launch methods, launcher placement, recovery system design and deployment and more. Since the early 1960s, a copy of the Model Rocket Safety Code has been provided with most model rocket kits and motors. Model rocketry historically is a very safe hobby and is often credited as the most significant source of inspiration for children who eventually become scientists and engineers. See National Association of Rocketry (NAR).

The model rocket was invented by Robert H. Goddard. Its original purpose was to serve as a prototype for the full-sized rockets used today. Like its full-sized counterparts, the model rocket was propelled by liquid fuel.

The modern model rocket, and more importantly, the model rocket engine, was designed in 1954 by Orville Carlisle, a licensed pyrotechnics expert, and his brother Robert, a model airplane enthusiast. They originally designed the engine and rocket for Robert to use in lectures on the principles of rocket powered flight. But then Orville read articles written in Popular Mechanics by G. Harry Stine about the safety problems associated with young people trying to make their own rocket engines. With the launch of Sputnik, many young people were trying to build their own rocket engines, often with tragic results. Some of these attempts were dramatized in the fact-based movie October Sky. The Carlisles realized their engine design could be marketed and provide a safe outlet for a new hobby. They sent samples to Mr. Stine in January, 1957. Stine, a range safety officer at White Sands Missile Range, built and flew the models, and then devised a safety code for the activity based on his experience at the range.

The National Association of Rocketry was founded in 1957 to help promote not only the hobby, but to promote the safety of the activities related to model rocketry.

Vernon Estes founded Estes Industries in 1958 in Denver, Colorado, and developed a high speed automated machine for manufacturing solid model rocket motors. The machine, nicknamed "Mabel", enabled Estes to market low cost motors with great reliability (est. 1 in 3,000 failed). Subsequently, model rocket kits became very popular, with Estes dominating the market. Estes moved his company to Penrose, Colorado in 1960, and it continues to operate there today.

Competitors like Centuri and Cox came and went during the 60's, 70's and 80's, but Estes continued to control the market, offering discounts to schools and clubs like Boy Scouts of America to help grow the hobby. In recent years, companies like Quest [1] have taken a small portion of the market, but Estes continues to be the main source of rockets, motors, and launch equipment for the low powered rocketry hobby today.

In the high powered arena, which began in the mid-80's with the availability of J, K, and L class motors, a number of companies have shared the market. By the early 1990s, Aerotech International, LOC/Precision, and Public Missiles had taken up leadership positions, while a host of engine manufacturers provided ever larger engines, at much higher costs. Companies like Aerotech, Vulcan, and Kosdon were widely popular at launches during this time as high powered rockets routinely broke Mach 1 and reached heights over 10,000 ft.

Engine reliability became a significant issue though, with "CATO"s, or catastrophic failures, occurring relatively frequently (est. 1 in 20) when motors of L class or higher were fired. At costs exceeding $300 per motor, the need to find an alternative was apparent. In the late 1990s, reusable motors (metal sleeves with screwed on end caps and filled with cast propellant slugs) became a popular way to reduce the price of launches and dominate the market today. At this time (2006) single use motors above G class are quite rare, and many are collectibles. Aerotech, Dr. Rocket, Ellis Mountain, and Loki Motorworks provide the majority of reloadable systems today.

Duration : 0:7:41