changes in the last decade...

Hello. I was an avid rocketeer in my youth (started in 1976) and got out of the hobby about 10 years later. I got back in to the hobby in a big way around 2000 or so, and then left the hobby a few years later when the local club lost their launch field (just as I was moving into the high end of mpr with large G motors....sigh). Now I'm itching to get back into the hobby again after about a ten year hiatus.

It seems much has changed since then....Estes is offering F motors (the E9 motors were their biggest when I was last in the hobby). Apogee no longer has their own motor line (but nice to see how they've expanded). And Aerotech looks like they no longer make kits, as no one seems to have any in stock save for the odd kit here and there. Is this correct? If so, it's a shame as I was hoping to replace a couple past kits I'd lost (e.g., my Wart Hog that caught the wind along with my 29/100 casing. It also looks like those casings (and many others) are hard to find too....what's up with that?

I certainly hope that the glory days of a decade ago aren't beginning to fade......

Craig
(looking to have some fun with rockets again, beginning with some 13mm 3D printed models I've produced.....)

Welcome back.
I don't know about the changes in the last decade except for a dozen or so companies have closed up shop or changed hands. Can't say much about the status of Aerotech rocket kits either but surely there is a Warthog out there somewhere.

Give Chris a hollar for the motor. , saying he has one in stock.
Though you may have more fun with the 29/40-120 motor.
Some other things that may not have been around back then, well I am pretty sure they weren't:
Good things coming from Jolly Logic, particularly the Chute Release
and visit Eggtimer Rocketry for some altimeter/GPS kits

Good time to be flying rockets.

Welcome back, Craig. I too, came back to the hobby about 3 years ago. Flew Centuri and Estes A to C engines as a kid. Now I'm doing the whole gamut as an adult: Micro Maxx up to AT E to G motors, the highest I can do without an L1 certification.
Seems like the Aerotech vendors have been having a hard time getting resupplied by the company. Don't know the reason behind that.
Apogee still sells a few of their Medalist composite motors . It's a specialty motor, low thrust and long burn times, meant for lightweight rockets and extreme altitudes.
Aerotech's two most popular RMS motors have been out of stock for some time at the big retailers ( 24/40 and 29/40-120 motors). But there are a few of the more obscure vendors who have one or two. I'll send you a PM, if I post them here there'll surely be a run and you might be left out.
How about a pic or two of those 3D printed rockets of yours? Cheers.