Estes model rockets: a brief history

[shortchange]

Spent my summers mowing yards and delivering papers on bicycle. We had all the money a 10 year old ever needed to survive the late 60s. We spent so much time and money at the Decatur Hobby Shop in Decatur Georgia on slot cars, plastic models, balsa models, Cox .049 cars and you guessed it, Estes rockets. Thanks Pops for letting us be kids.

[dwp]

As a young kid in the late 70's I would study every page of the Estes Catalog from our local hobby store. Thanks for the great video and for bringing back some fun childhood memories.

[darikdatta]

I spent a lot of hours staring longingly at Estes catalogs when I was a kid. This was great.

[cogoid]

Since this documentary came out, Gleda May Estes has passed away at an age of 92. What a legend!

[DavidS]

I just discovered that Gleda passed away March 30, 2024 at the age of 92. I loved my Estes rockets in the mid-1960s, launching them many weekends if the weather allowed. Scout, Sprite, Honest John, Apogee II, Big Bertha, such good memories. Thank you Vern and Gleda.

[TerryB]

I'm nearly 67 now. Back when I was about 10, my friends and I fired off these Estes rockets. It was always a challenge finding a big enough area to keep the rocket from landing in trees or rooftops. Also, just putting in enough wadding to keep the parachute from being burnt was a challenge.

[ericrickert]

As a 62-year-old man, I still like model rocketry. NAR member and participated in NARTREK. In jr High school, I participated in the "Estes Aerospace club (EAC) and had those iron transfer colors for each skill level. Cannot find the jacket I ironed them all on (won't fit anyway), but I still fondly remember those days. I even got Harry Stine's handbook. Thanks, Vern, Gleda, and Harry!

[JayVBear]

My brothers and I were avid model rocket enthusiasts back in the middle 60s to early 70s as well as science "nuts" who poured over Estes and Edmunds Scientific catalogs for hours on end. My brothers, both professional scientists now and I, a retired high school teacher will always have fond memories of our hobbyist pasts.

[mikemoore]

I'm 75 years old and I played with them. They went higher than I expected, and I lost a couple of them because I used a parachute instead of a streamer. That good old Kansas wind could blow one into the next county! I still have two of them with all of the accessories that I am passing on to my grandchildren. God bless the Estes clan for entertaining and educating our youth safely.

[RedDogForge]

i miss you so much grandpa, its been 44 long years.
i wish we could fly just one more rocket together.
ill see you again some day.

[davidgreen]

I remember filling out an order form, putting real cash money in the envelope, and waiting eagerly for my kit, motors or whatever to come. Estes was great! Used to order from Centuri too.

[danielmatthews]

That was awesome! I built dozens of Estes rockets as a kid. I used to pour over the Estes catalog and dream of which one to build next.
One Christmas, I think I was in 3rd or 4th grade, I got the big V2, powered by the D engines. I stayed up all night to build it. It took a little longer to paint. Our class at school was doing a section on rockets, and we all built the mosquito for class, but the teacher let me bring my V2 in to launch for the grand finale. Every body was counting down, 10, 9... 3, 2, 1 I pressed the launch button and it blew up on the pad. A fireball went straight up through to rocket. I must have had a faulty engine. I still remember being so shocked. I think I might have even cried. But I rebuilt it over the next few months and then it blew up again. (same pack of D engines). That didn't stop me from building dozens more over my life time.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[alanheadrick]

Every tree around our house had a lost rocket in them somewhere.

[donaldvincent]

I am 53 years old and still enjoy building and launching model rockets. I just adopted 3 kids last year and they got me back into my old hobby after seeing one of my old rockets. I am glad they did. They are learning a lot about building techniques and even some math to figure how high they go. I have really enjoyed building and flying the Saturn V & Saturn 1-B that I always wanted but could not afford as a kid. I guess you could say these affordable rockets, along with my children have made ME feel like a kid again! Thanks Estes for the fun and memories, old, and the new ones we are making now.

[Inanotherwurld]

Makes me want to go out and start buying them again. Last one I bought was 50 yrs ago. I googled Vern and Gleda and just found out that Gleda passed away 3 days ago 4/3/2024. RIP Gleda.

[cudathehawgjetfixer]

I met Vern Estates at his factory back around 72 - 73ish, my father worked for Martin Marietta and his team and Vern Estates was working on a program for Martin back then but my pop never disclosed their professional relationship but every so often Vern would call my pop at the house and they would talk for hours, every Christmas and around our birthdays my brother and I would get a package from Penrose, CO up until 1975ish, and my pop would get Christmas cards from the Estates' until my pop passed back in 1994. My personal experience with Vern was great, he would send us updates on their newest kits and supplies and sometimes we'd get one of the first runs in the mail, he was amazing and he knew my brother and I back in the day but wouldn't put it past him that he'd still remember us today. Vern is one of those people that he'd give you his shirt off his back if you needed one, very personal and approachable, just great people the Estates' are.

[Vegaslocal]

I started as a 13 year old working part time in the mail room at Centuri Engineering in Phoenix for a buck an hour -- and worked there until I finished college at ASU. My mother worked there until the very end of the Phoenix operation. At 16 I became a model maker and eventually a designer. I left in 1978 to join Boeing and a year later Mattel toys. I knew Vern, Gleda, and G Harry and of course Lee and Betty Piester, the owners of Centuri. As a model maker there I probably made more Saturn V models than anyone else in the world. We would send completed models to hobby shops and gift stores, including the gift shop at the Smithsonian where I saw one I had made on display. Centuri did have its own engine making plant in Chandler Az for a time. I worked out there one summer in the machine shop making injection molds. One of last designs was the Eagle for Space 1999 as the industry moved to licensing following Star Wars. Model rocketry started my life long career in toys and games, which I still do today.

[bumpedhishead]

I built my first Estes kit (an Alpha of course!) in a summer school class in 1969. It changed my life. Over the next 10+ years I built dozens of rockets, both from Estes and of my own design using Estes body tubes, nose cones & balsa sheets. I made my own launchers from acetylene welding rods and aluminum pie pans. I made an ignition system from lamp cord, alligator clips, jumper cables and a horn button. I learned trigonometry when I was 12 years old by using the Estes Altitude Finder (the old wood one with the kerosene bubble). I introduced model rocketry to the California 4-H clubs and successfully got it recognized as a project category available to all 4-H'ers. I went to college and got a degree in aeronautical engineering and worked at several aerospace companies including Lockheed & Northrop. I owe EVERYTHING to Vern & Gleda Estes!!

[wwggmedia]

We are good friends of Vern and Glenda. Thanks for putting this together.

[glennsammon]

kids and their cell phones. they don't know what they are missing. this video is bringing back memories of a better time. times spent with the family doing projects and having fun. something lost on the new generations. we need to bring these things back.