North Coast Rocketry

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, Ohio, 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 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 that would produce a pink flame during the burn.

North Coast Rocketry was subsequently purchased by Estes Industries' 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-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 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

Estes era