Hey KTESH thanks for the tip on the balsa nosecones. That will be cool to try, as the old way sucks trying to get it sealed with CWF and smooth.
I do a combination of CA and CWF. I am never able to sand the CA completely smooth; I don't even try anymore and just use CWF for the last bits.
I'm betting this "cash grab" will mostly affect the flippers. If so, more power to Estes.
The problem with balsa nose cones (for me) isn't the finish. It's the inability to use them as payload bays. There's also the issue that I no longer shop at Radio Shack or Circuit City or use rotary phones, but I digress...
Dropped the ball? The Blue Sapphire sold out quickly, which tells Estes they could have made more money by raising the price with little to no additional effort. Looks like they're doing that with this Red Sapphire release. And plus, it's not likely going to catch the attention of hardcore builders (like us) or the noobies entering this hobby. In other words, it's mostly aimed at the collectors and flippers.
Yes, we want Estes to be successful, but we want the hobby to be successful too. Estes has been great at getting folks into rocketry at reasonable cost with interesting designs. Kids, and their parents will buy $10-20 cool looking rockets all day long. Not so much for $40 rockets. And others will buy an upscale Red Max for $50, but a Leviathan for $90 is a little absurd when you can just get a cheaper Big Daddy and extend the bt. Proof is that the better deals sell out in minutes. The over priced or poor designs, they have to give them away. And it serves no one in the hobby when kids can't afford to get into it, be excited about it, and carry that enthusiasm onward and upward. Without flying an Alpha, few would eventually go on to be flying a 6" high power whatever. Estes has an important place in the hobby and the industry. I understand the points made of squeezing out more revenue per unit shipped and so on, but changing to that model will eventually hurt us all, and I'm afraid Estes themselves in the long term.
I also noticed that there wasn't information about the Red Sapphire's production number. I don't think that's an accident.
This is the Red Sapphire we're talking about, not the Alpha, Athena, Generic E2X, Viking or any other beginner/introductory rocket kit. So as long as Estes is pricing these "intro-rockets" affordably, I don't think they're hurting the hobby or themselves (short-term or long-term).
I alternate until I'm happy with the result. Doing CWF first serves to fill in the larger surface pits. But I still have trouble sanding the CA completely smooth, and usually need another very small round of CWF on top of the CA. Then I apply a very light coat of CA at the end (Q-tip applied) to seal it. Because I use foam-safe CA I can do this at my workbench with no worries.
I put elmer's wood filler on the edges of my fins then sand them. I spray on a coat of primer, sand lightly then put another coat of primer on the fins. Then I sand lightly and I'm ready for paint.
"Gotta keep it cheaper than a boat!"
how about a Doppler Sapphire? Blue when it approaches you and Red when flying away!
Moissanite - second only to diamond in hardness, and natural moissanite is rarer than diamond, being associated with meteor impact craters
.I’ve had a few Crapinites myself. I don’t recommend licking them either.Tanzanite - crapinite
These are what I can think of off the top of my head from what is in our studio. There's a ton more that we don't sell often enough for me to have it all memorized. I'm no gemologist, but I make the rings, pendants, bracelets, earrings and whatnot at the jewelry studio I work at. My boss does all the stone setting, and has been doing this for 20+ years. She's not an "official" gemologist, but if she applied, she'd get the title. Basically, I'm "just" the metal-bender, or bench monkey
