Polecat Kits

I'm looking to buy a large diameter rocket (at least 10 inch)

does anyone know if Polecat is still in business?
who sells their kits?
and more importantly - any vendor that will sell to the UK

also, are there any other vendors of 10 inch diameter or higher kits?

cheers

Matt

What's Up Hobbies carry the line. Really great kits and outstanding customer service.

https://www.whatsuphobby.com

SSenesy said:

What's Up Hobbies carry the line. Really great kits and outstanding customer service.

https://www.whatsuphobby.com

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Thanks, i found that vendor when i was searching for polecat kits.
bit worried as they say they can't ship large kits abroard on the web site.
will have to contact them and ask - thinking about the 10 inch goblin.

SSenesy said:

What's Up Hobbies carry the line. Really great kits and outstanding customer service.

https://www.whatsuphobby.com

Click to expand...

I second this comment.I`ve built two kits so far ,Jayhawk and Nike Smoke (both 4") and was very pleased with them both.I have their 5.5" Pershing II in the pile.

I suspect shipping will be a bugger though.

Jack is a very good fellow to deal with.

Paul

I would contact Jack at What's Up Hobbies. I wouldn't think that the box for the 10 inch goblin is very large. Another thing is that Jack carries many more items than that are on the website. Just ask him and he can take care of most of your rocket needs.

I'm under the impression that What's Up Hobbies now owns Polecat. Yes?

Madcow Rocketry has a 2.6" Goblin that I like and I've been thinking about the 3" Goblin, too.

What's Up Hobbies has always owned Polecat. Andy Woerner sold What's Up Hobbies and Polecat to Jack Garibaldi a while back.

Thanks. I obviously didn't have the whole story.

10" goblin? Whoa...

karlbaum said:

I would contact Jack at What's Up Hobbies. I wouldn't think that the box for the 10 inch goblin is very large. Another thing is that Jack carries many more items than that are on the website. Just ask him and he can take care of most of your rocket needs.

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I don`t know ,the box for my 5.5 Pershing II is a good size

He used to ship UPS (maybe still does) but I told Jack I wanted USPS ,as UPS always rapes me when they ship from the US to Canada.Good old Jack fixed me up big time !!
As mentioned ,contact Jack via telephone for a shipping quote.

Paul

Jack tried his best.
first shipping quote was just under $500.
by splitting the box into two smaller boxes shipping went down to $300.

but that's still to much to spend on shipping a $300 kit.

drat

looks like i'm going to have to scratch build.

Ask him to calculate USPS International Priority Mail. Common carriers are very expensive.

:y:....I thought it may be a tad pricey ,but my gosh !!!

You would think there is a better way ?

Paul T

sodmeister said:

I suspect shipping will be a bugger though.

Jack is a very good fellow to deal with.

Paul

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I have built 6 Polecat kits, (and quite a few scratch-builts from Polecat components), and whole heartedly agree that they are fine kits, and that Andy and Jack have both offered outstanding support. Wow, that shipping was a shock, though! Sorry it didn't work out.

rcktnut said:

Ask him to calculate USPS International Priority Mail. Common carriers are very expensive.

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Jack tried UPS and USPS.

Large shipments of light weight items occupy significant amounts of space and restrict the amount other paying cargo that can be carried by a truck, train, boat or plane. Low density stuff is not billed by the actual weight but rather by the dimensional weight, or the volume of the shipment to make up for the lost revenue.

For example the 10" PoleCat Nike Smoke has a physical weight of 29 pound, but will probably occupy a volume of 10 cubic feet which would have a dimensional weight of ~90 pound if the dimensional weight billing is 9 pounds per cubic foot.

Bob

Gillard said:

Jack tried UPS and USPS.

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The only reason I wish to reply back is that a few years ago I shipped to the UK and elsewere internationally many times USPS,(e-Bay sales). Prices for shipping have jumped quite a bit since then.

Right now,I can ship 35lbs total weight with boxes etc. in 2 boxes to you for $157.00 USPS priority postage. Price of boxes/shipping materials/ handling not included. Boxes are 60"x12"x12" -20lbs and 24"x24"x12" -15lbs. This is assuming the nosecone/ body tube/MMT will fit in a 60" box, and the fins will fit in a 24" square box. Adding inches to the 24"x24" box if the fins would not fit adds very little cost. If the weight is less over all, (should be) the price drops substantially.

I don't have the dimensions of the kit, (Goblin) besides total length, I could be way off just by looking at the picture of it/limited info, and by no means want to determine what a vendor charges for handling/shipping materials, that is up to them.

I just thought that $300.00 for USPS shipping was high.


Regardless, to me even $150.00 for shipping is too much. Scratch building something similar should be much cheaper, if you don't have to have major components shipped to you

The USPS international priority mail rate calculator is located here. https://ircalc.usps.gov/

If the box is not longer than 60" and the girth does not exceed 108'' you can use international priority mail to the UK.

A 60"x12"x12" box has a girth of 60 + 4*12 = 108" is ok dimensionally, and if it weighs 20 pound, the bill is about $85.

There is some customs paperwork that also needs to be filled out.

Bob

bobkrech said:

The USPS international priority mail rate calculator is located here. https://ircalc.usps.gov/

If the box is not longer than 60" and the girth does not exceed 108'' you can use international priority mail to the UK.

A 60"x12"x12" box has a girth of 60 + 4*12 = 108" is ok dimensionally, and if it weighs 20 pound, the bill is about $85.

There is some customs paperwork that also needs to be filled out.

Bob

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Correct, 108" is the max dimension that they will ship. Also when I was shipping at that time parcel post was possible for international. The USPS dropped that option.

Although it could have taken up to six weeks for that type of shipment to arrive, none of the shipments took more than 2 weeks. One parcel to Germany shipped parcel post arrived 2 days after I shipped it. How that happened is beyond me.

rcktnut said:

Correct, 108" is the max dimension that they will ship. Also when I was shipping at that time parcel post was possible for international. The USPS dropped that option.

Although it could have taken up to six weeks for that type of shipment to arrive, none of the shipments took more than 2 weeks. One parcel to Germany shipped parcel post arrived 2 days after I shipped it. How that happened is beyond me.

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It easy to explain how it got shipped to Germany in 2 day... By air.

You don't get a guarantee, but many parcel post shipments are shipped by air. If there is space left on an airplane that the USPS has already paid for, and the parcel post material is not restricted, it will be shipped by air.

I'll guess that the international parcel post option was dropped because the expense of shipping items overseas in less than full container quantities by ship is more expensive than the much smaller consolidated air containers costs, and folks won't pay more for a slower service.

Bob