What Happened to the C11-3 and C11-5

[deangelo54]

Why would Estes stop producing the C11-3 and especially the C11-5. There are a number of kits that Estes makes that fly great on the C11-5. They still make the C11-7 but in many cases seven seconds is too long of a delay for a successful recovery. You can email Estes customer service at [email protected]

What do you all think about this?

 

[Banzai88]

I think that the search function is your friend. Plenty of discussion already logged on this one.

 

[solid_fuel]

They still make the C11-7

but do they?

 

[deangelo54]

I did a search and found some old and new threads. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[eljefe]

The entire C11 series has been discontinued. The C11-0 and -7 are still sold on the Estes site until they go out of stock. The -3 has been sold out pretty much everywhere for a while now, and the -5 is gone almost everywhere too.

 

[RocketT.Coyote]

The C11-3 was becoming one of my favorites.

 

[swatkat]

The C11-3 was becoming one of my favorites.

I suggest pinging ACME! They had quite the supply of bird seed, rollerskates and C11-3's

 

[deangelo54]

Estes responded to my email in a very timely manner. They said that sales had declined to the point where it just did not justify producing them (C11 and E9) any longer. The decision was made under Hobbico management. New management may reconsider the decision but with the restructuring going on that will not happen this year.

I listed all the Estes rockets that I fly on the C11-5. I committed to buying a 24 pack if Estes brings back the C11-5. Perhaps if enough people contact Estes they will eventually reconsider.

 

[dpower]

<snip> I committed to buying a 24 pack if Estes brings back the C11-5. Perhaps if enough people contact Estes they will eventually reconsider.

This is not without precedent - A batch of D11-P motors were produced a couple years ago with a guaranteed buy from AMW, IIRC. They still have some for sale. I doubt there is enough demand for C11-5/C11-7, but perhaps there would be for the C11-3 and C11-0. The C12-4 Q-Jets are a reasonable substitute in the meantime, if you aren't staging. They don't have a peak thrust as high as the C11, but still far more than the C6.

 

[KennB]

This is not without precedent - A batch of D11-P motors were produced a couple years ago with a guaranteed buy from AMW, IIRC. They still have some for sale. I doubt there is enough demand for C11-5/C11-7, but perhaps there would be for the C11-3 and C11-0. The C12-4 Q-Jets are a reasonable substitute in the meantime, if you aren't staging. They don't have a peak thrust as high as the C11, but still far more than the C6.

Just a little more background on that special D11-P run, one member of our club agreed to buy half of the motors produced. He's well known for large quantity cluster flights; his Hellboy alone uses 19 as a single stage and 51 as a two-stage flight. That makes for an impressive sound.

 

[deangelo54]

Thanks for the information about the Qjet C12-4. I will look into that. There are too many situations where a D12 is too much engine.