ENERJET NEWS
ENERJET INC. AUG., 1972 NO. 2

Excerpt from:

“Model Rockets In Supersonic Flight” by Lawrence W. Brown

“Standing 36 inches high, this two stage rocket was developed by Centuri Engineering in 1967 at the request of the Atomic Energy Commission. Several of these rockets were positioned directly over a deep shaft leading to an underground nuclear device. The rockets were launched at the instant of detonation. A special payload in each rocket recorded radiation at the surface and the rockets cleared the area just before the shock waves from the blast reached the surface. It was during low angle flight testing of these vehicles that small sonic “booms” were noticed by the research team”.


EnerJet News August 1972, No. 2

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I built the rocket shown in the fall of 2006 with Semroc SLS parts and will post more later about the build and motor combinations that I have used. The new Estes E12-0/E12-8 should be a good motor combo but I haven't had a chance to RockSim that with Craig's motor file just yet .....



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Attached Thumbnails

       

__________________
Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates

That is an interesting story.



Thanks for posting.

Any information on the motors used?

Greg

That's so cool! And nice job unearthing this under-reported story! That looks like a great rocket design.

__________________
SAM # 0011

The article mentions the flights taking place in 1967.

Unless the motors were some custom Irv Wait Enerjet jobbies made for the effort, they'd be Mini-Max. Centuri made high and low thrust F motors; the booster shown in the picture would just about fit one.

The first page of the article does note that the motors were Mini-Max as Stefan mentioned in the "Route 3" scenario. My guess would be the F14-0 to F14-8 combination as those were both PB port burner with the highest offered thrust.

Those were almost 8" in length and with about a 3/4" overhang from the booster would allow the upper stage motor to recess into the top of the booster enough to couple nicely.

The booster in my model is 8" long which works out well to match when scaling the line drawing in the article.

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__________________
Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates

The lift-off shot is AWESOME!!! This would make a great review for rocketreviews.com.

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Centuri Mini Dactyl Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Xarconian Cruiser Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark

Thanks Bill. That's one of the better launch pics that I took last time I launched this past February. I believe that flight was on a D12-0 / E9-8 with a streamer. It's a great flyer.

I found some other build pics that show some of the internals from a back up copy from my old PC. I'm resizing and cropping those some with and will post here later.

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__________________
Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates

Mini-Max motors being 1.125" in diameter fit Centuri LT-115 tubing. I considered the rocket could have been a true minimum diameter eliminating the need for couplers using the Mini-Max sustainer motor overhang to couple the two stages. This would have saved weight and been a better choice overall considering what the original rocket was designed for.

After noticing the fins on the Centuri Scorpion already offered as one of the Large Scale line of kits designed for these motors, I opted to build mine using SEMROC LT-125 and using the slip fit LT-115 for motor mount/couplers in my model. The Scorpion fins are a dead ringer in the line drawing for the booster.

Wanting to fly my model on readily available 24mm motors, but retaining the 29mm basis from the original design I made 24mm removable motor mounts. Bring on the Quest ThunderJet F motors and I'll throw those 24mm mounts away! You can see a 24mm slip fit mount inserted in what became the LT-115 motor mount in the sustainer in the first picture. With a 1" dowel, you can push the entire assembly from the front, out of the rear of the rocket.

All fins are basswood. Booster fins are standard SEMROC Scorpion kit fins and Scorpion airframe cut down to 8" long with LT-115 tubing running the full length of the booster plus about 1-1/2" to serve as the coupler. The entire model is built using 5 minute Devcon epoxy because that's what I have on hand.

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Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates