Demon seed.... Estes 13mm motors

[4regt4]

Will an Estes A3-4T work as a substitute? With the lower thrust, I'm guessing it'll be a little bit less likely to CATO?

The A3's with date codes H21 were also part of the recall. Best check the lot numbers against the "official" Estes bulletin.

Hans.

 

[mh9162013]

The A3's with date codes H21 were also part of the recall. Best check the lot numbers against the "official" Estes bulletin.

Hans.

I'm just referring to future launches and what engines (not subject to a recall) to use, as the A10s have been known to CATO a lot, even before this recall (if I recall correctly).

 

[Paul Howard]

A few days ago, I sent pictures of all 4 packs of my unused series "H21 _ _ _ _ " motors in the recall to Estes and they promptly made a replacement order and have shipped them out to me already - that was pretty fast. I believe the person at Estes who handled everything is named "Holly" who seems to be pretty on top of it. So, Thanks to Holly & Estes.

 

[Paul Howard]

Will an Estes A3-4T work as a substitute? With the lower thrust, I'm guessing it'll be a little bit less likely to CATO?

I think the A3-4T's will work fine and I'm kinda leaning in that direction anyway since plenty of A10-3T's of other batches have "Roman-Candle'd" my rockets from batches other than the "H21 _ _ _ _" batch that was officially recalled. What I want to do now is figure out a way to make my motor mounts more "Roman-Candle event" resistant.

 

[duckandcover]

I didn't see this before. I have some bad Hobby Lobby retail store A3-4T. They carry the A10-3T also. I'll suggest they pull them if i find
bad code numbers.

 

[Back_at_it]

If it's an Estes kit they will replace both motor and rocket, or offer a comparable replacement.

If it's one of their kits and you are using a motor that is designed for that rocket then they will replace the motors and rocket. However, If you change motor sizes and have an issue they won't replace the rocket. I recently had a C11-5 CATO and completely destroy a Baby Bertha with a 24mm mount. They sent me a pack of motors but they wouldn't cover the rocket as they said I modified their design.

 

[BABAR]

This is here on the forum under Sharknader. It is a scratcher built from scrap Estes parts and a hardware store dowel, not a kit. The head Estes designer likes my builds and the colossal amount of motors they burn (big profits for Estes!), but they will never be kits due to something he calls "The idiot factor."

Always design your clustered rockets to withstand multiple CATOS when using Estes motors. After multiple CATOS I had to retire Whooshing Crane
View attachment 588013
talk about an endangered species!
View attachment 588014
View attachment 588015
You must be brave and strong to fly these low and mid powered BP motors. Like Mamma told me in high school: "STAY AWAY FROM THE BAD DATES!"

 

[BABAR]

If it's one of their kits and you are using a motor that is designed for that rocket then they will replace the motors and rocket. However, If you change motor sizes and have an issue they won't replace the rocket. I recently had a C11-5 CATO and completely destroy a Baby Bertha with a 24mm mount. They sent me a pack of motors but they wouldn't cover the rocket as they said I modified their design.

I still think any Estes rocket that had an outside tube BT-50 or larger should COME stock with a 24mm motor mount, and give option of user adapting down. Too many of their fancier birds are severely underpowered On black powder 18mm motors. Although it IS getting better with the C5-3.

 

[mh9162013]

I still think any Estes rocket that had an outside tube BT-50 or larger should COME stock with a 24mm motor mount, and give option of user adapting down. Too many of their fancier birds are severely underpowered On black powder 18mm motors. Although it IS getting better with the C5-3.

I think Estes wants to sell beginner rockets that might be BT-50 or larger without having to worry (too much) about a rookie strapping a 24mm engine into it while using launch equipment designed for C impulse or lower. Sure, anyone can modify the Big Bertha to 24mm, but someone who is building their first rocket ever is unlikely to do that.

They also might want to continue selling some larger "classic" rockets with the original specs (which could include keeping an 18mm MMT in it ).

 

[BABAR]

I think Estes wants to sell beginner rockets that might be BT-50 or larger without having to worry (too much) about a rookie strapping a 24mm engine into it while using launch equipment designed for C impulse or lower. Sure, anyone can modify the Big Bertha to 24mm, but someone who is building their first rocket ever is unlikely to do that.

They also might want to continue selling some larger "classic" rockets with the original specs (which could include keeping an 18mm MMT in it ).

Some of their “classic” rockets would greatly benefit FROM adding a 24 mm mount.

Outlander
Exoskell (would be hard as has a plastic 18mm mount)
Venus Probe.
MIRV (again, needs a new plastic manifold)
SaturnV 1/200.

since I believe the division between low power and mid power is mostly semantic (no certification required, although clubs may assign pads differently), I guess I wonder if Estes business analysts have decided the slightly lower price of 18 mm motors makes a difference.

on the pro side, it wouldn’t cost that much to throw in the 24-18 adapter, and maybe encourage builders to try the smaller motors and quickly work up to bigger slightly pricier motors.

I am surprised Estes doesn’t seem to do more at the local level (cities and parks and schools) to encourage rocketry By getting the local schools and parks to not only allow but encourage rocket flights. Probably an insurance issue for the schools and parks.

I wonder if the main impediment is a lack of flying fields.

 

[mh9162013]

I wonder if the main impediment is a lack of flying fields.

That's another good reason for Estes to keep 18mm MMTs in many of their rockets.

 

[PDawg]

I still think any Estes rocket that had an outside tube BT-50 or larger should COME stock with a 24mm motor mount, and give option of user adapting down. Too many of their fancier birds are severely underpowered On black powder 18mm motors. Although it IS getting better with the C5-3.

A BT-50 with a 24mm mount is something few would want or should have. I scratch build rockets like that but it would be a little irresponsible of them to sell them to the public or beginning rocketeers. If you want to go bigger it's easy enough to change the mount during the build phase. The C5-3 is my favorite motor along with the E-12s, I have a few rockets that fly much better with them. I only buy c6-3s when I'm low as Hobby Lobby doesn't carry the C5-3.