i think estes should....

[les]

I have no issue with the trifold. After a few hundred launches across all my rockets I think only had 2 failures. Although I agree I typically change to sewing elastic and a longer length.

In terms of what I would like - more sci-fi/fantasy like the new Xarconian Cruiser, Black Star Voyager, Asteroid Hunter, etc.

Bring back some of the old ones, like Strike Fighter, Starship Excalibur, Manta Bomber, etc

Some more upscales would be good as well

 

[Gary Byrum]

I agree with your comments here...

There's nothing wrong with the trifold method if you do it right... the key is to clamp the thing up tight with clothespins or smooth jawed hemostats or some other type of clamp to ensure it is tightly compressed and stays that way until the glue dries... once it's dry, unclamp it and wrap it around your finger to gently induce a curl in it to match the interior surface of the body tube. Apply a thin layer of white or yellow glue, and then install it down into the tube as far as you can.

I don't even go that distance and I still get great results. Once I have the elastic glued into the tri-fold, I wait till it's about 1/2 dry and then I glue it in the tube using my thumb to conform with the tube and sorta keep smushing as flat as I can. This allows the tri-fold to mount really tight to the tube because it's still quite workable. No hard edges for chutes to hang up on.

 

[skybuster]

I actually like their old style chutes...it seems they were well made. I think the ones they have out now have weird shroud lines? Not sure, but does anyone else out there think the same on this. I always liked there orange/white/black or blue logo design chutes. It says ESTES in the middle of the chute.

Same here, the old colors. My dad showed me a few of his old rockets, and that orange/black is such a nice combonation

 

[Bubba02STi]

Im not saying the tri fold method doest work... because it clearly does... im also not saying to recall all their kits just to put kevlar in it either... but seeing them add it to newer kits here and there would be nice...

 

[chadrog]

Im not saying the tri fold method doest work... because it clearly does... im also not saying to recall all their kits just to put kevlar in it either... but seeing them add it to newer kits here and there would be nice...

I find the tri-fold to be fine for the smaller models, the larger models they're bringing to the table and the pro series should have something a bit more significant.

 

[TALON]

I would like to see a 1.8 boat tail ARCAS in the Pro Series (29MM), W/plastic fins & fin can like the DRT. I am anal when it comes to scale detail, but sanding the ARCAS fin profile is way beyond my skill level.

 

[hcmbanjo]

There's nothing wrong with the trifold method if you do it right...
I don't use the silly rubber bands, either. For one thing, they're too short, and secondly, their life expectancy isn't much up to snuff, IMHO. I much prefer regular sewing elastic.
I've used kevlar loops around the engine mount in kits from other manufacturers, and while its a good method, I don't think it's that much superior to the trifold method when done as I suggested.
Estes uses the materials and methods they do because they're mass producing kits. If they started making wholesale changes to materials and methods, modifying those kits and obtaining new materials would add costs to those kits...
If someone wants to modify their own kit, it's not expensive or difficult to do... But for the company to modify hundreds of thousands of kits, would be neither...
Later! OL JR

Ditto!
I think Estes is on the right track -
But, if you don't like the tri-fold mounts, don't install them!

 

[cruzsergio]

Ditto!
I think Estes is on the right track -
But, if you don't like the tri-fold mounts, don't install them!

+1
Agree !

 

[goldlizard]

I agree, bring back made in the USA, and let me buy what I need, not a bag of stuff that I may only use one piece of and give the rest away. Why is it, they move manufacturing over seas and the price goes up? Please!

 

[luke strawwalker]

I would like to see more stuff paper cases like on LPR? Wouldn't mind seeing those. Don't know why, but that's just me.

Depends on the casing size, propellant type, and motor operating pressure.

BP motors operate at fairly low pressure (about 70-100 PSI IIRC) and that's within the capabilities of a paper casing to handle. As you move up in size, the surface area on the inside of the casing increases rapidly with size, meaning stronger materials are needed. IIRC a 29 mm casing is probably around the upper limit for a paper casing, without going to rediculous casing thicknesses (thus increasing weight).

When you start getting into composite propellants versus black powder, the operating pressures increase, and thus the reason why they go to a composite casing instead of the paper casings, since the composite materials can handle the pressure. It's simply a stronger and better material for that job.

Later! OL JR

 

[luke strawwalker]

I don't even go that distance and I still get great results. Once I have the elastic glued into the tri-fold, I wait till it's about 1/2 dry and then I glue it in the tube using my thumb to conform with the tube and sorta keep smushing as flat as I can. This allows the tri-fold to mount really tight to the tube because it's still quite workable. No hard edges for chutes to hang up on.

Yeah, I've done that too... I usually wait until the glue has pretty well 'set up' but it's still "pliable" to conform it to the tube.

It doesn't take but a few seconds to curl the thing to exactly the right curvature to get it lay perfectly flat against the inside of the tube, with no sharp edges at all, and VERY flat if you clamp it up after you apply the glue and fold it up... once you have it perfectly pre-curled, just apply the glue to the back and smear it around evenly to the edges, install it in the tube, hold it a second to make sure it "takes" (I press it down pretty hard to ensure that the entire thing is glued down TIGHT against the wall of the tube, and squeeze any excess glue out, which can be wiped away with a finger at that point). Let go and set it aside to dry...

Works for me! OL JR

 

[Marc_G]

I want them to do whatever they need to WRT the mass market so that they can preserve their business model for producing black powder engines.

Once that requirement is settled, my next request would be to make their plastic nose cones individually available. Sell bags of several of the same type or distribute through SEMROC or whoever for individual pieces. I like that they are bringing the Scifi nosecone collection as a bagged set this year. But I want lots of the other PNCs as well...

 

[sodmeister]

Leave scale kits like the Mercury Redstone, Saturn V and V-2 in stock and not let them go OOP for years at a time.

Add more scale kits, especially significantly historical scale kits such as, Jupiter C, Saturn 1B (1/100th) scale, Mercury Atlas, Gemini Titan, Little Joe I & II, Space Shuttle (full stack).

YES YES YES !


Paul T

 

[Tarasdad]

PLEASE get rid of the blue and white chutes. Use flourescent or neon colors that we can actually see against the sky!

 

[chadrog]

PLEASE get rid of the blue and white chutes. Use flourescent or neon colors that we can actually see against the sky!

You mean there's a better color combination for visibility against the sky and clouds than blue and white? Who would have though?!? Seriously, whoever had that idea should be disciplined.

 

[shrox]

You mean there's a better color combination for visibility against the sky and clouds than blue and white? Who would have though?!? Seriously, whoever had that idea should be disciplined.

Barry.

He was let go...

 

[BeerorKid]

I am in no sort of way a flag wearing, eagle humping, bible or gun loving kind of guy, but I was kind of shocked about Estes kits not being made in the US. I figured Estes rockets were as merican as apple pie and grandmas. I figured the engines were made in China though. Unboxing hundreds of computers and printers at work I went home smelling like a fireworks maker.

Meh. I am glad I was able to get a QCC for $19 from hobbylinc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MURICA/

 

[luke strawwalker]

I am in no sort of way a flag wearing, eagle humping, bible or gun loving kind of guy, but I was kind of shocked about Estes kits not being made in the US. I figured Estes rockets were as merican as apple pie and grandmas. I figured the engines were made in China though. Unboxing hundreds of computers and printers at work I went home smelling like a fireworks maker.

Meh. I am glad I was able to get a QCC for $19 from hobbylinc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MURICA/

Exactly the opposite... Motors are made in the US, some of the kits (all of them?? I dunno) are made in China...

Of course Quest is the opposite... their kits are made in the US, but they import their motors from China... (previously Germany, and before that they made them on the Arizona/Mexico border, but I'm not sure which side of the line they were manufactured on... I remember reading years ago in American Spacemodeling (or Sport Rocketry which replaced it) they had a story about the Quest motor plant down there, and the issues with having a lot of folks from the other side of the border working for them... Then a year or two later they had a bad fire and someone got killed, and they stopped producing motors and started importing them.)

Later! OL JR

 

[skybuster]

Leave scale kits like the Mercury Redstone, Saturn V and V-2 in stock and not let them go OOP for years at a time.

Add more scale kits, especially significantly historical scale kits such as, Jupiter C, Saturn 1B (1/100th) scale, Mercury Atlas, Gemini Titan, Little Joe I & II, Space Shuttle (full stack).

All of those! Some good scale Vostok and Soyuz ones as big as the saturn v would also be nice

 

[hornet driver]

I am in no sort of way a flag wearing, eagle humping, bible or gun loving kind of guy, but I was kind of shocked about Estes kits not being made in the US. I figured Estes rockets were as merican as apple pie and grandmas. I figured the engines were made in China though. Unboxing hundreds of computers and printers at work I went home smelling like a fireworks maker.

Meh. I am glad I was able to get a QCC for $19 from hobbylinc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MURICA/

OK, Now my eyes hurt !!

 

[closet astronaut]

More showy, pyrotecnic 18 and 24mm engines. If they can put a tracer smoke charge in them, then why not also include a prelaunch burn blast of smoke and flame. Kind of a showy build up before the launch charge ignites.

I don't remember who it was here but they did an *EXCELLENT* example of this with a Sat-V launch using an engine under the launch pad, lighting the one engine before the actual launch. The best model Sat-V launch I've seen yet.

 

[mikemech]

B14s and parts.

Mike

 

[BeerorKid]

I did not do the proper research and apologize for being wrong on where Estes makes stuff. I really do not give a carp about that stuff, but it sorta shocked me.

I am just glad I can buy rocket kits for now, but am ready to scratch build in a few days.

 

[Fishhead]

OK, Now my eyes hurt !!

Try soaking them in bleach.

 

[skybuster]

Depends on the casing size, propellant type, and motor operating pressure.

BP motors operate at fairly low pressure (about 70-100 PSI IIRC) and that's within the capabilities of a paper casing to handle. As you move up in size, the surface area on the inside of the casing increases rapidly with size, meaning stronger materials are needed. IIRC a 29 mm casing is probably around the upper limit for a paper casing, without going to rediculous casing thicknesses (thus increasing weight).

When you start getting into composite propellants versus black powder, the operating pressures increase, and thus the reason why they go to a composite casing instead of the paper casings, since the composite materials can handle the pressure. It's simply a stronger and better material for that job.

Later! OL JR

Makes sense, thanks!

 

[luke strawwalker]

More showy, pyrotecnic 18 and 24mm engines. If they can put a tracer smoke charge in them, then why not also include a prelaunch burn blast of smoke and flame. Kind of a showy build up before the launch charge ignites.

I don't remember who it was here but they did an *EXCELLENT* example of this with a Sat-V launch using an engine under the launch pad, lighting the one engine before the actual launch. The best model Sat-V launch I've seen yet.

Yeah, that was Dr. Zooch who did it originally, and Mushtang adapted the same technique for a launch he did IIRC.

Sorry but they'll never produce a black powder special effects motor. For one thing, there's no room in the casing for the extra powder charge for the "display" part prior to actual propulsion, and still have room for the propellant black powder and the delay train powder and the ejection charge and clay cap as well. (True there's different amounts of room in different motor casings, depending on their impulse class and delay times, but largely that's irrelevant anyway).

The other thing is, it would require the complete reengineering of the motor, basically from scratch, and require complete recertification as well. It would be more difficult and expensive to produce, and would therefore be more expensive to buy, and therefore would have lower sales numbers that would make profitability of such a motor slim to none.

There WERE special effects motors that were on the market back in the late 80's and early 90's, produced by Model Rectifier Corporation, IIRC... (MRC). They were called "FX" motors, and basically consisted of a slug of the slow-burning, virtually no-thrust smokey delay-train propellant pressed into the case to make a single grain. The FX motor was installed in the rocket (cluster motor mount, with one being an FX motor, and the other(s) being a regular propulsion, delay, eject type model rocket motor to power the rocket in flight). It required a special launch controller, which was basically two seperate controllers in one-- each with their own independent circuits including safety keys, continuity indicators, and launch buttons. (A pair of regular controllers could be used as well, but it required two controllers). The FX motor(s) would be ingited first, producing prodigious amounts of smoke, then after a few seconds, the main propulsion motor(s) would be ignited to send the rocket on its flight, with smoke still trailing from the rapidly dwindling FX motors, but no thrust.

The FX motors were never very popular and so they only lasted a few years and then disappeared.

There are other ways of doing what you're talking about, but they cannot be discussed in the open forum...

Later! OL JR

 

[luke strawwalker]

B14s and parts.

Mike

B14's would be sweet, but those core-burning motors aren't going to happen either most likely-- the production costs would be VERY high, and it's quite dangerous as well.

The B14's were produced by pressing the nozzle and BP propellant like an ordinary model rocket motor produced on the "Mabel" automated motor making machines, but then they underwent a seperate step afterwards to modify the burn characteristics of the motors.... they were put into another machine, and then the propellant grain black powder slug itself was VERY CAREFULLY DRILLED OUT with a drill bit to produce a long channel up the center of the motor. This hollow core, when ignited, allowed the motor to burn from the inside out, so it burns much faster and more forceful, like the space shuttle SRB's... regular rocket motors (BP) are end-burners-- they have a dimple in the back of the propellant that acts like a mini-core for the first few milliseconds after ignition, creating the "thrust spike" typically seen when the motor first ignites to accelerate the rocket from a standing start into the air... then the motor "settles down" to a lower level of thrust that is usually pretty flat until the motor burns out and thrust ends and coasting begins (or the motor stages, in the case of a booster stage motor).

Later! OL JR

 

[JAL3]

Depends on the casing size, propellant type, and motor operating pressure.

BP motors operate at fairly low pressure (about 70-100 PSI IIRC) and that's within the capabilities of a paper casing to handle. As you move up in size, the surface area on the inside of the casing increases rapidly with size, meaning stronger materials are needed. IIRC a 29 mm casing is probably around the upper limit for a paper casing, without going to rediculous casing thicknesses (thus increasing weight).

When you start getting into composite propellants versus black powder, the operating pressures increase, and thus the reason why they go to a composite casing instead of the paper casings, since the composite materials can handle the pressure. It's simply a stronger and better material for that job.

Later! OL JR

Rocketflite made 38mm BP motors. They were great!

 

[luke strawwalker]

I did not do the proper research and apologize for being wrong on where Estes makes stuff. I really do not give a carp about that stuff, but it sorta shocked me.

I am just glad I can buy rocket kits for now, but am ready to scratch build in a few days.

No problem, it happens...

You know stuff like this if you hang around long enough... LOL

Later! OL JR

 

[luke strawwalker]

Makes sense, thanks!

Willcommen...

Later! OL JR