This has been a bit of a scavenger hunt...it all started when somebody on FB posted they had obtained some mini engines and didn't have the igniter plugs for them. They wondered if there was an alternative to using the plugs to keep the wire in place. (Kids these days!) I was going to find an illustration showing the ol' wad of tissue (Estes wadding?!?). I finally found an illustration in the 68 Estes catalog ("OldSchoolIgniterPlug") and posted that. Seems by 69 Estes was recommending a square of masking tape.

This got me to thinking that the instructions packaged with the engines used to show this. I dug through my stash and found I actually had some old instructions in some old motor packages ("20240825_165144MR").

I scanned these and attached them. The "CenturiModelRocketEngineOPInstructions" came out of the orange and black box. The "EnerJetCenturiModelRocketEngineOPInstructions" came out of the blue and red box. I was surprised to find the green tube of D13s still had the instructions rolled up around the engines! "EstesDEngineInsert".

I looked around, and then started looking on the net to see if a scan of the old Estes 18mm instructions were available anyplace. This is the set showing a puzzled (I assume) Chinese gentleman holding a rocket with a warning your rocket could drift a long ways. I did find a low resolution image of this document, but I believe it is only a partial page and I forget if there was a back page. If anybody has this and could scan and post here, I would greatly appreciate it!

Attached Thumbnails

   

Attached Files

	CenturiModelRocketEngineOPInstructions.pdf (1.08 MB, 19 views)
	EnerJetCenturiModelRocketEngineOPInstructions.pdf (666.5 KB, 19 views)
	EstesDEngineInsert.pdf (1.71 MB, 25 views)

__________________
David Stribling
NAR 18402 SR
But it is rocket science!
Get yer Barrowmans here

I don?t think I have ever used one of the little rubber igniter plugs supplied by Estes. Waaaay back when I started to use the tamp method on my (then) Centuri engines (at the time they had the paper dots to stick on the igniter/nozzle to hold in the igniter).

Those paper dots sometimes would not hold all that well. After I started tamping (small piece of crepe paper wadding) never had an igniter pull out.

Earl

__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Sometimes the Estes plugs will crack or break the igniter, so I use wads. I tried masking tape but it pulls loose sometimes. The Centuri dots (from parachutes?!?) didn't stick well to the nozzle if it was "dusty". However my favorite igniter was the Centuri Sure-Shot was sad to find my old ones crumbled to dust.

__________________
David Stribling
NAR 18402 SR
But it is rocket science!
Get yer Barrowmans here

Yes, those paper dots were simply the same self adhesive dots used in their parachutes but printed red with the Centuri logo in the center. It did help some to wipe the clay dust from the nozzle, but even with that the dot still sometimes did not hold completely. Yeah, the old Sure Shots were great! I started tamping with those, but continued tamping after Centuri dropped the old Sure Shots and started using the solar igniter in the very late 70s (Estes by then was back to making motors for Centuri), but Centuri called those igniters Sure Shot II. Tamped them too.

Earl

__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Not sure where I learned it, but I used to wad up a small piece of estes wading, kind of like a spit wad, but without the spit, and tamp it in lightly with the launch key. As I recall I saw this is some Estes publication at some point.

Yes in the old yellow pages of the 1972 catalog, page 72
https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/c...1/711est72.html

Yup, this is how I always did it in the early 70's when I was using Estes vs Centuri engines.

__________________
Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies!
Ye Olde Rocket Forum
WOOSH NAR Section #558

And these days, frustration with both the heat shrink tubing and now Q-Piks has me holding initiators in Q-Jets with the little ball of wadding technique, though I haven?t tamped one in with the safety key of the lauch controller in a long, long time.

For me the plugs work fine in Estes motors.

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

Hi David,

Earl found this October 1978 MRN v18n05 for a different thread on the new 1:18 scale Estes PSII Athena-H, https://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=22435, to show John Langford and his Athena scale models in 1978, but this MRN also has a good Estes igniter section in it on pages 28 and 29: https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/mrn/mrn_v18n05.pdf

Kind regards,
Jeff Jenkins
aka: Faithwalker
NAR #46879 SR

Stopped using the wadding ball (and masking tape) to hold igniters in place when the Estes plugs came out.
The plugs for C5/B8 series engines work with old B14s too.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, AGITATION, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, AGGRAVATION, INSTIGATION, NUISANCE-ACTION, and HAVOC !