North Coast Rocketry
Encyclopedia
Model rocket
A model rocket is a small rocket that is commonly advertised as being able to be launched by anybody, to, in general, low altitudes and recovered by a variety of means....
company founded in Ohio by Chris Pearson and Matt Steele, with Dan Kafun added as a partner in 1989.
History
North Coast Rocketry (NCR) had their own line of unique High Power rockets and introduced some technologies and designs that were "cutting edge" for their time. To augment their product line, NCR was also a dealer for Class "C" Aerotech motors and Class "B" Vulcan motors in the mid to late 1980s. NCR sold a limited selection of disposable motors in 1984 that were called "North Coasters". The North Coaster motors were manufactured by Aerotech under a special agreement with NCR, who had sole distribution rights. The motors were shipped to North Coast Rocketry near Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, with no end caps or labels, and final processing was conducted by North Coast Rocketry.
The North Coasters motor line consisted of the E28 (24mm), F41 (24mm) and G60 (29mm) motors. They were phased out late in 1987 due to supply issues. North Coast planned to make reloadable motors, and a few prototype cases were made, but the propellant
Rocket propellant
Rocket propellant is mass that is stored in some form of propellant tank, prior to being used as the propulsive mass that is ejected from a rocket engine in the form of a fluid jet to produce thrust. A fuel propellant is often burned with an oxidizer propellant to produce large volumes of very hot...
shipping issues of the early 1990s stopped their development. NCR reloadable motor design was said to be so simple, using color coded parts, that assembly could be done by someone who knew nothing about rockets and who hadn't read one word of the instructions. The reloadable motor technology was never actually put into production.
North Coast Rocketry was moved to Colorado and Utah in the early 1990s. During this time, NCR branched out into making composite motors based on potassium perchlorate
Potassium perchlorate
Potassium perchlorate is the inorganic salt with the chemical formula KClO4. Like other perchlorates, this salt is a strong oxidizer and potentially reacts with many organic substances...
that would produce a pink flame during the burn.
North Coast Rocketry was subsequently purchased by Estes Industries
Estes Industries
Estes Industries is a company based in Penrose, Colorado, USA that designs and builds model rocket and model aircraft engines and kits. They were the best known model rocket company during the "golden age of rocketry" in the 1970s and early 1980s, competing primarily with Centuri Engineering and a...
' around 1995-1996 and served as Estes' mid/high power model rocketry division. The NCR motor technology was changed by Estes to the more industry-standard ammonium-perchlorate
Ammonium perchlorate
Ammonium perchlorate is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4ClO4. It is the salt of perchloric acid and ammonia. It is a powerful oxidizer, which is why its main use is in solid propellants...
-based composite propellant. All Estes versions of the NCR models used DarkStar motors, which emitted a dark black smoke trail. These motors were made specifically for NCR rockets and were slightly smaller in diameter than their competitor's motors. The motor was unique in that it had a molded aft thrust ring on the motor.
Estes discontinued the NCR line of rockets and other products in 2000. Since the brand has been discontinued, most people modify the motor mounts to use industry-standard 29 mm size motors.
NCR also sold a heavy duty launch pad
Launch pad
A launch pad is the area and facilities where rockets or spacecraft lift off. A spaceport can contain one or many launch pads. A typical launch pad consists of the service and umbilical structures. The service structure provides an access platform to inspect the launch vehicle prior to launch....
and controller for their rockets.
At NARAM-53 (the National Association of Rocketry's Annual Meet) in Cincinnati in July 2011, Matt Steele (one of the principals of the former North Coast Rocketry) announced that he had sufficient rights to the name and products and that he and his daughter would be bringing the company back to life with a website going live on October 1, 2011. He said the initial kits would be based on 2.6" tubing, and would not be "three fins and a nose cone".
Early models
- Aires XL
- Avatar
- Avatar Arrow
- Big Brute
- Black Hole Betty
- Brighthawk
- Corporal
- D Region Tomahawk
- Eliminator
- Hobgoblin
- Juno 1
- Kickstart Piston
- Korona
- Lance Beta
- Magna
- Mini Katana
- Mini Spoil Sport
- Orion
- OSC Pegasus
- Outlaw (Radio Controlled Boost Glider)
- Patriot
- Patriot Ready to Fly Kit
- Phantom 4000
- Phantom 4000HD
- Quasar NG
- Rotaroc A
- Rotaroc B/C
- Rotaroc D
- SA-14 Archer XL
- Stiletto A
- Stiletto B
- Viking
Estes era
- Big Brute
- Bomarc
- Eliminator
- Interceptor G
- Lance Beta
- Patriot
- Phantom 4000
- SA-14 Archer XL
- Star Wars X-Wing Fighter