Musing some 1964 Roots
 

In 1964 I saw Centuri advertised in the ad section of a science magazine. I still have the catalog and the first box Centuri Engineering sent me my Lil Hercules and 3 engines in . My Lil Hercules took off so fast that my friend and I heard the sound but never saw the rocket after ignition. I found it after looking for 2 or 3 days. It was red.
Today I wished there was a much larger Lil Hercules upsized the way they did with the Estes Astron Streak and other models. With some effort it would be possible to clone it and up size it.. Included here is a picture of our launch field I took in the early 60s from up in a pine tree where we had made a little observation platform with some boards. The white spots , if visible here, were our launch areas where we had cleared weeds away. Today the area is covered with buildings and roads and what little field is left is posted because people tried to set up a little "tent city" there.
I can remember one day launching my Estes Astron X-Ray from this field. The wind caught it when the parachute opened and it drifted away never to be seen again by us. It is also the field from which we launched my Enerjet Aero Dart and I still have that to this day.

Those are some great memories and photos; thanks for sharing them with us!

I have a couple of LOC 5.5 inch diameter tubes and 'stubby' LOC nose cones for them that I have had for years. I always thought they'd make a great Lil' Herc upscale. That would be almost a 7x upscale. Many people have done Estes Alpha upscales over the years, but I don't think I have ever seen anyone do a Lil' Herc upscale.

Any other vintage photos you can share?

Earl

I haven't seen or heard of a Lil' Herc upscale either
A 5.5" one would be really cool. G/H power would probably still result in a fairly low flight too.

I’ve got a 4’ piece of LOC 5.5 tubing, and the stubby nose cone, that I bought at our club swap meet for $10! I have been wondering what upscale would be worthy of consideration. I have another piece of the same LOC tube, about the same length, so there are plenty of possibilities.

Cool. :cool:

A real Enerjet Aero Dart. :D

Earl
 

I will post some pictures later today. They are old and maybe a little faded. Thanks.

I will post a few old pictures later today. Thanks,

Please forgive my awkwardness as I am learning how to navigate this site. I will post some old pictures later today. Thanks for responding to my post.

1971 in Florida sod field surrounded by sugar cane fields
 

Great launch site east of Lake Okeechobee back in 1971.

Great pics! Any way you can make them larger? Looks like, I guess, you are making 'photos' of photos. Do you have a scanner? I suppose not. It would be great to see them in more detail.

The sod farm sites are WONDERFUL launch sites. Had one in south Georgia for a number of years that was just rocket flying heaven!

Which is you in that one photo?


Earl