Who's is your favorite rocket kit manufacturer?

Onebadhawk
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I grew up with Estes and Centuri. I did not know anything else existed back then (late 70s, early 80s). When I came back to rocketry in 2006, I was delighted to see many rocket companies are in existence today. I like Semroc for their retro-repro rockets and excellent customer service. I like the direction that Estes is going now. I also like Custom Rockets for their value.

Over the past 5 years, I have built rockets from Estes, Quest, Fliskits, Custom, Sunward, Semroc and Edmonds. I have also cloned some Estes and Centuri kits with help from Semroc.
 
Dr. Zooch hands down...

Simply the best value in rocketry...

You won't find better designed semiscale kits at a more reasonable price with as good a quality and customer service anywhere in the model rocket world, BAR NONE!

Later! OL JR :)
 
As I look over the fleet I am overcome by Christmas Spirit and I am finding love for some of those rockets I have built and flown that are last on the manufacturer's dial but first in my heart:

Das Model - Noris, Vostok, Soyuz and Ariane.
The Launch Pad, over twenty now.
USR, nothing screamed off the pad like the Banshee,
Estes Space Ship One E, maybe they won't all be banned at the club.
Hostile Projectiles V-23, V2 and X-15 Delta - RIP
The Leduc from somewhere in France,

Sheri's Hot Rockets Mercury Redstone . . . ummmm . . .bah humbug!

Who's that knocking on my door? The Ghost of Rockets Past.
 
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QUOTE=Che;230861]BTW - does anyone know if anybody makes a rocket that looks like a mortar shell?

Something like this:

220px-81mm_mortar_rounds.png


image from Wikipedia[/QUOTE]

I scratch built something like this. It's a BT101 model that tapers to a minimum diameter 38 mm mount, using the ACE fugue shroud method to make the transition from the BT101 tube. Here it is on an I59 WN:

071343-heavynovan52i59.jpg
[

My fav. manufacter was Centuri, is Semroc.
 
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Well we’ve written a lot about our favorite manufactures so now it is time to reminisce about some of those manufactures we’d all like to forget.

Two in particular comes to mind; “Nothing to Lose Rocketry” and “Duck and Cover Missile Works” formerly “Run For Your Life Missile Works” but the owner decided that was just a bit too blatant.

“Nothing to Lose” was infamous for its use of Buckminsterfullerene (Buckyballs) fin stock which at 16 angstroms thick had a nasty tendency to slice off the appendages of anyone who came near the model.

“Run For Your Life” did incredible things with. . .Well, just about anything they could lay their hands on, but mostly with their notorious and proprietary, tubing which they called “BlewTube” whose ingredients were reputed to include HubbaBubba Bubble Gum (Blueberry), Dawn Dish Soap, Shredded Newspaper and Yak Dung. But only Yaks that had been fed a special diet of newly sprouted Chinese Green Bamboo Shoots. Fiber at its most resilient!!

We all long for the days when we could purchase rocket kits with such names as “Hammer Fall” or “Catastrophe in the Making” or the singularly descriptive “Anvil”.

We laugh now but nobody was laughing back when we were launching these companies’ kits.

We didn’t have the breath.

We were too busy running!!
 
This is a really hard question to answer as I try to check out the kits from everyone when I'm looking for something to build. Most of my stuff ends up being scratch built but a large portion of my collection came from SEMROC. Mind you, a lot of those are Estes and Centuri designs that I really liked when I was younger but only SEMROC makes them available today. Plus their quality is second to none.
 
boomtube said:
Well we’ve written a lot about our favorite manufactures so now it is time to reminisce about some of those manufactures we’d all like to forget.

Two in particular comes to mind; “Nothing to Lose Rocketry” and “Duck and Cover Missile Works” formerly “Run For Your Life Missile Works” but the owner decided that was just a bit too blatant.

“Nothing to Lose” was infamous for its use of Buckminsterfullerene (Buckyballs) fin stock which at 16 angstroms thick had a nasty tendency to slice off the appendages of anyone who came near the model.

“Run For Your Life” did incredible things with. . .Well, just about anything they could lay their hands on, but mostly with their notorious and proprietary, tubing which they called “BlewTube” whose ingredients were reputed to include HubbaBubba Bubble Gum (Blueberry), Dawn Dish Soap, Shredded Newspaper and Yak Dung. But only Yaks that had been fed a special diet of newly sprouted Chinese Green Bamboo Shoots. Fiber at its most resilient!!

We all long for the days when we could purchase rocket kits with such names as “Hammer Fall” or “Catastrophe in the Making” or the singularly descriptive “Anvil”.

We laugh now but nobody was laughing back when we were launching these companies’ kits.

We didn’t have the breath.

We were too busy running!!
Click to expand...

There are rockets I would like to forget: The Dude, The Porta Potty, Pop Fly and anything made of styrofoam coffee cups (sorry Fliskits, but I love everything else) just to name a few.
 
Love the mortar shell idea.....nice one MarkH!
 
LPR- Estes
MPR- Aerotech- Love the variety they have , easy to assemble, and fly great!
HPR- PML - Did both of my certfications with PML kits. L-1 with a Callisto on a CTI H-143, and L2 with an Intruder on a CTI J-400. Excellent flyers and I like the piston ejection systems!
 
Right now I'm awfully fond of Fliskits.
I just downloaded and built a Nebula in about an hour last night.
 

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