Nice... I just orders a ton of them to match up to the 2.5" tubes that I have.
Source for Estes 2.5" PS II couplers?
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Nice... I just orders a ton of them to match up to the 2.5" tubes that I have.
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2.5-inch tube is showing as sold out. Hope everyone here who needed some jumped on it.
My Aero Tech noses did ? So do LOC?
Indeed, I discovered this since my post in back in January. Building a rocket from BT-80H tube and using an Aerotech cone right now as it happens.
Yea, I have a bunch of AT 2.6 cones and some 4" ones. I sold my stash ACE 4" cones with the bleach bottle cap on the bottom that in the old days folks in the CA Desert filled them part way up with water for nose weight on rockets with EX motors in the 80's.
They seemed to have a cult following on the ACE cones so I made good on it selling them. I also have some Black Brant Thin Covered foam filled 2.6 noses I no longer need if someone is interested.
PS: My late 1980s NCR Big Brute I did my '89 HPR confirmation on had the ACE nose cone on it as the NCR kit.
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Yup, the BT-80H is available from BMS, eRockets, LOC, and AT. At least.
LOC rounds to two decimals, and it makes it look like it's only 0.035-inch wall, but I'm assuming they didn't do something different than everybody else. And in any case, the difference is small enough to be less than the mismatch of most blow-molded nose cones I've measured vs. BTs. It is kind of annoying that LOC names/brands tubing that is effectively industry-standard something else. I'm past and over it, thanks to my data-compiling OCD and spreadsheets, but it's confusing in the beginning.
Also, I've seen clear evidence (people swapping nose cones) that these are all the same:
Estes 4-inch
LOC 3.9-inch
AT 4-inch
I stocked up on the Estes 2.5-inch stuff this round, not because I think it's just good to have a bunch on hand, but because it's dirt cheap compared to any other source of comparable tubing. It's a nice, big (well, to a LPR/MPR guy) tube capable of L1, maybe even L2 performance, and the nose cone is a lightweight 4:1 ogive. That's a recipe for Little John, possibly my favorite scale subject. With launch 2023 and free shipping, the tubes were $3.24, the nose cones $4.45, and the couplers $1.61. It takes 1.5 tubes per Little John and the nose cones are made of HIPS, so they hold paint without a $30 can of Bulldog. Can't beat it.
LOC rounds to two decimals, and it makes it look like it's only 0.035-inch wall, but I'm assuming they didn't do something different than everybody else. And in any case, the difference is small enough to be less than the mismatch of most blow-molded nose cones I've measured vs. BTs. It is kind of annoying that LOC names/brands tubing that is effectively industry-standard something else. I'm past and over it, thanks to my data-compiling OCD and spreadsheets, but it's confusing in the beginning.
Also, I've seen clear evidence (people swapping nose cones) that these are all the same:
Estes 4-inch
LOC 3.9-inch
AT 4-inch
I stocked up on the Estes 2.5-inch stuff this round, not because I think it's just good to have a bunch on hand, but because it's dirt cheap compared to any other source of comparable tubing. It's a nice, big (well, to a LPR/MPR guy) tube capable of L1, maybe even L2 performance, and the nose cone is a lightweight 4:1 ogive. That's a recipe for Little John, possibly my favorite scale subject. With launch 2023 and free shipping, the tubes were $3.24, the nose cones $4.45, and the couplers $1.61. It takes 1.5 tubes per Little John and the nose cones are made of HIPS, so they hold paint without a $30 can of Bulldog. Can't beat it.
Yes that has been known for years
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But not to all. The difference between the 3.0-inch OD (Estes, BMS, NCR) and 3.0-inch ID (others) leads to confusion and assumptions that Estes 4.0-inch is probably different than the most common other 4.0-inch stuff, too. I've been an application data sponge for awhile and only figured that one out recently. Possibly because I'm not really interested in building stuff that big, but still... It's easy to not know, because Estes doesn't publish the thickness or ID of any of the "PSII" stuff.
Well, my need was for hollow cones I could stuff electronics into, and back in January, I hadn't noticed that LOC and Aerotech 2.6" tubing was the same as BT-80H. Or maybe I had, but hadn't made the connection to nose cones. In any case I figured it out, and not only that but it turned out I already had a length of LOC tubing and a matching Aerotech nose cone, which I'd bought for some negligible sum from the DARS stash long ago. Ordering another 34" of BT-80H from BMS since I need two fairly long tubes total.
Your inquiry to Estes getting them to make the coupler available nearly convinced me to go in on 2.5", but the tubes are so short. I've gotten spoiled being able to buy 34" and longer tubes of most of the sizes I use. It's academic now because the 2.5" tubes are now sold out. Probably due to a certain rocketeer with a username that starts with "S" and ends with "w."
I can't remember the links, but Body Tube Guides have been around on this forum and even 1980s Rec.Models.Rockets usenet in old internet/compusevere days.
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The Brohm guide V 3.1, doesn't have the Mega Der Red Max or any other PSII 4-inch stuff in it.
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Got this response from Estes CS:
DocSeuss
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Aww, I missed this. Hopefully they are able to get more up! I still need one.
Interesting, have a few PS II kits from 2013 to build yet. Better not mess them up!!
Both 2.5 inch tubes and the 2.5 inch coupler are in stock. I just ordered a few of each.
