Question for Roguepink
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Stymye
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Roguepink, welcome
I have a feeling you could stay very busy here.
I hope you stay on and help convey some of the comments/ideas that I'm sure you will hear plenty about .
I'll add my opinion about the shock cord length, I figure I can always add a kevlar lead so thats not a big deal to me.
I spent $7.00 on a spool that will last me a lifetime.Just make them atleast twice as long
I think foam rockets is a bad idea.It Is impossible to get a sleek rocket finish from, and it's not the best material for something that averages 300-500 mph.
I have a feeling you could stay very busy here.
I hope you stay on and help convey some of the comments/ideas that I'm sure you will hear plenty about .
I'll add my opinion about the shock cord length, I figure I can always add a kevlar lead so thats not a big deal to me.
I spent $7.00 on a spool that will last me a lifetime.Just make them atleast twice as long
I think foam rockets is a bad idea.It Is impossible to get a sleek rocket finish from, and it's not the best material for something that averages 300-500 mph.
gpoehlein
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Theres an idea - bring back the Centuri name plate for "elite" rockets - the bigger/more complex/modeller's rockets - kind of like Toyata has Lexus!
Oh, and I'd like to add my welcome too, Rogue - please don't take anything negative too personally - some of us tend to be very pasionate about our hobby and sometimes get a bit too hot under the collar for our own good!
Greg
Oh, and I'd like to add my welcome too, Rogue - please don't take anything negative too personally - some of us tend to be very pasionate about our hobby and sometimes get a bit too hot under the collar for our own good!
Greg
Only so many kits we can have in production at a time. As I said, we are looking at bringing back select vintage kits from time to time, but the emphasis will always be on new kits, new materials, and new ideas.
I'll look at the Kevlar issue, bring it up to my boss. This is a good issue for me to bring up at the annual blue-sky conference. Will do. I will pledge myself to longer shock cords in new hobby designs.
I've been testing, sculpting, flying, and getting very familiar with high-density styrofoam. Used properly, used intelligently, it's very durable. Don't worry! I'm not giving up on classic paper and balsa.
That's it for tonight. I'm "off the clock" now.
I'll look at the Kevlar issue, bring it up to my boss. This is a good issue for me to bring up at the annual blue-sky conference. Will do. I will pledge myself to longer shock cords in new hobby designs.
I've been testing, sculpting, flying, and getting very familiar with high-density styrofoam. Used properly, used intelligently, it's very durable. Don't worry! I'm not giving up on classic paper and balsa.
That's it for tonight. I'm "off the clock" now.
DAllen
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Rouge, A couple of comments...
1. I will beat this drum until Estes changes it's ways (like everyone else) but you have GOT to put longer shock cords in your kits. I am intentionally repeating everyone else so maybe you'll get the idea.
2. Maybe you do this already but you need beta-testers - lot's of them. This forum would provide a wide variety of voluteers from a diverse sampling of skill-levels. Heck, who wouldn't want to beta-test a soon to be released new Estes kit? And hopefully prevent awful reviews like this:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews/kits/est_cosmo_mariner.html
That's pretty bad and I think you could have prevented those issues on the Cosmos Mariner with some serious testing. For me, that kit was a disaster.
3. I would like to see a bigger variety of motors across the board. What about a BP F motor? That would be a treat in an Executioner or Big Daddy or a modded Alpha III. How about higher thrust E motors? Like something in the E20-ish range? I would buy gobs of those.
Remember Rouge, I think I am speaking for many of us here but we are telling you this stuff and critizing Estes because we WANT Estes to succeed and become better. While I will always feel that Estes needs stiff competition, rocketry needs Estes.
-DAllen
1. I will beat this drum until Estes changes it's ways (like everyone else) but you have GOT to put longer shock cords in your kits. I am intentionally repeating everyone else so maybe you'll get the idea.
2. Maybe you do this already but you need beta-testers - lot's of them. This forum would provide a wide variety of voluteers from a diverse sampling of skill-levels. Heck, who wouldn't want to beta-test a soon to be released new Estes kit? And hopefully prevent awful reviews like this:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews/kits/est_cosmo_mariner.html
That's pretty bad and I think you could have prevented those issues on the Cosmos Mariner with some serious testing. For me, that kit was a disaster.
3. I would like to see a bigger variety of motors across the board. What about a BP F motor? That would be a treat in an Executioner or Big Daddy or a modded Alpha III. How about higher thrust E motors? Like something in the E20-ish range? I would buy gobs of those.
Remember Rouge, I think I am speaking for many of us here but we are telling you this stuff and critizing Estes because we WANT Estes to succeed and become better. While I will always feel that Estes needs stiff competition, rocketry needs Estes.
-DAllen
astrowolf67
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Since it's not been addressed, I'll bring it up again, what's the take on the Fat Boy?
Also, some things I'd like to see from Estes.
1. As others stated, longer shock cords
2. The Fat Boy
3. Kevlar anchors
4. More fantasy kits
5. The Fat Boy
6. A comment and suggestion questionaire included with each kit, and on the web site
7. A line of upper end, or special edition kits, that include things such as lite ply fins, nylon chutes, baffles, ect.
8. The Fat Boy
9. Better sizing on parachutes and streamers. Most kits come with a chute that's too big, or streamer that's too small. First time flyers normally don't heed the warnings about wind, and don't know to cut a spill hole in the chute. When their first rocket drifts off into never land, or into a tree, they get discouraged, and a repeat customer is lost. Rockets with streamers (the Mongoose for example) frequently get damaged due to the impact speed being too high.
10. Last, but not least, I forgot to mention the Fat Boy
Also, some things I'd like to see from Estes.
1. As others stated, longer shock cords
2. The Fat Boy
3. Kevlar anchors
4. More fantasy kits
5. The Fat Boy
6. A comment and suggestion questionaire included with each kit, and on the web site
7. A line of upper end, or special edition kits, that include things such as lite ply fins, nylon chutes, baffles, ect.
8. The Fat Boy
9. Better sizing on parachutes and streamers. Most kits come with a chute that's too big, or streamer that's too small. First time flyers normally don't heed the warnings about wind, and don't know to cut a spill hole in the chute. When their first rocket drifts off into never land, or into a tree, they get discouraged, and a repeat customer is lost. Rockets with streamers (the Mongoose for example) frequently get damaged due to the impact speed being too high.
10. Last, but not least, I forgot to mention the Fat Boy
If anyone mentions Kevlar again, I'll be making little Kevlar NOOSES!!! :kill:
Geez. I'm going to bed. I'm going to have nightmares of rodeo Fat Boys twirling Kevlar lasso's.
There will be no answers overnight. I'm but one rocket designer, it's a big company. I'll keep ALL these suggestions on a list for consideration. Thank you all for your passionate interest!
Beta Testing -- good idea. I'll ask.
Cosmos Mariner -- neat looking kit, agreed on performance. That designer has since left Estes. I should get some photos up of the one I did in clear Lexan with a fully detailed cockpit.
Fat Boy -- who knows, maybe will, maybe won't, I ain't not fortune teller. That's really up to marketing anyway. No design work to be done, so it's not in my department.
Classic Kits -- same as Fat Boy. As I've said, Estes is aware of this interest and will likely be acting upon it in the near future. Again, it's a marketing and sales decision, so I can't tell you much.
KEVLAR, yes, I got it.
Longer cords, yes, I got it.
Geez. I'm going to bed. I'm going to have nightmares of rodeo Fat Boys twirling Kevlar lasso's.
There will be no answers overnight. I'm but one rocket designer, it's a big company. I'll keep ALL these suggestions on a list for consideration. Thank you all for your passionate interest!
Beta Testing -- good idea. I'll ask.
Cosmos Mariner -- neat looking kit, agreed on performance. That designer has since left Estes. I should get some photos up of the one I did in clear Lexan with a fully detailed cockpit.
Fat Boy -- who knows, maybe will, maybe won't, I ain't not fortune teller. That's really up to marketing anyway. No design work to be done, so it's not in my department.
Classic Kits -- same as Fat Boy. As I've said, Estes is aware of this interest and will likely be acting upon it in the near future. Again, it's a marketing and sales decision, so I can't tell you much.
KEVLAR, yes, I got it.
Longer cords, yes, I got it.
S
sylvie369
Originally posted by Roguepink
Rename this the "Ask Estes" thread?
More marketing madness: mass market IS the lifeblood of any small industry. In order for Estes to stay in business to keep bringing out cool hobbyist kits, we have to keep our place in Wal Mart. What the shopper at Wal Mart will buy is a RTF rocket. It is my hope that those simple kits will inspire the new rocketeer to get into the more complex hobby kits.
I hope that we're all aware of that. It's a good point, and as a thread a couple of months ago pointed out, it's those mass market kits that fund Estes' motor production: the one thing that none of us could live without.
At the same time, though, if you come to a rocketry forum for input (and we're glad that you did), you're not going to find much enthusiasm for those mass market rockets. I'd hate to have us all say "Yeah, we love those RTF plastic rockets" and wind up with Estes convinced that even the experienced rocketeers aren't interested in rockets you have to build. If you want to know what appeals to us (and why else would you have come here?) you're going to find that it's kits that you have to build, preferably complex ones in terms of staging and clustering and gliding, as well as rereleases of the classic rockets (oh, and new motors, and reissues of old motors).
You know what Estes really should rerelease? The Camroc.
V'ger
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Ok welcome and thanks for taking an interest in the rocket hobbyist! There used to be a time when companies like Estes set the standards and it was we who looked at what Estes was doing.
I think the focus shouldn't be on "best rockets we can buy". instead it should read, "we can buy the BEST rockets". This is where Estes currently falls way short with my wallet. Do you realize in the last say year, I have spent over $1500.00 in collectible, cloned and scratch built OOP Estes kits, and less than $100 in new Estes offerings. Don't you people at Estes see or care about this? WAKE UP!
You guys are like the big hats on Wall St. ... pennys pennys pennys... but hey you guys HAVE to make a profit to pay salaries and keep the lights on
You might want to remind the bean counters there that people do pay for quality... why else would there be BMWs, and large plasma screen TVs? I personally don't mind PAYING for quality.Umm the Porta potty was junk ... well at least I think so. What happened to SCALE model rockets?
Again, just on model rockets, I have spent well over $1500.00 this year. Gyros used in DISCUS hand launched gliders HAVE been used to stabilized model rockets. These Gyros can be bought direct from the Asian manufactures for a few dollars per unit. Then they are marked up 10s of times before they make it to the webpage for Tower Hobbies and the like.
Take your Oracle rocket. You sell it for a MSRP of what $100? But it actually costs you some where between $10 - $15.00 per unit when you order them by the container from China, so it is possible to work out a viable product. But I think with high power rocketry, that genre will now and forever lead the way in propulsion, guidance, and flight computers... Estes missed the boat on that one.
What Estes should focus on are rockets that are educational, challenging, and fun/rewarding to fly. My modeling skills that allow me to create a well flying radio control planes built from sheets of balsa, blocks of balsa, glues, sealers, paints, covering (silkspan, tissue, and heat shrink) ALL came from my working with model rockets that ACTUALLY had to be built, not kits pulled from blister packs so strong, I have to use sheet metal cutters to get into.
If I were just starting out hobbies today given the ARF and RTF stuff that is out there, my interest in rocketry and models in general would just be 'passing'. Instead, that little balsa and paper rocket of 'yesteryear' has given way to kevlar vacuum bagged fins for rockets flying several miles over head.
You want to know one of the earliest memories of my model rocketry lifestyle? It was that of my father and I sitting at the kitchen table. We had come home from Toys 'R Us with an Estes Yankee 5 outfit. I remember watching in awe as my father ASSEMBLED this great and fantastic thing called a model rocket. I assisted him in cutting the fins. Then the sanding and filler. Then he prepainted the fins blue, and attached the white stars to the fins... I cut out the parachute, and attached the shroud lines... we were not thinking about how much money we had spent, NO we were thinking about the experience of working with our hands as father and son ... something the current Estes management just doesn't understand!
I have to go now and whipe my eyes...
V'Ger
V'ger
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Again, consumers BUY quality. There is NOTHING in the current Estes product line, that I would spend money on. I'm sorry Roguepink, but there is so much better from third paryy garage suppliers, or just by using my own hands to design and create.
V'Ger
V'ger
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Rogue,
The kits don't ALL have to be repros from the 1960s or 70s. Instead they need to challenge the rocketeer. Using sheet metal cutters to remove a pre-built, 'sprinkle' mylar covered rocket, with the assembled chute, from the tank-like blister pack, shove a motor into it, and fire it off, isn't model rocketry... its TOY rocketry. Even Vernon Estes himself has refered to modern Estes offerings as TOYS. And I value Vern's opinion above ALL those at Estes Ind. today.
Rogue, did you ever build an Orbital Transport, Centuri Space Shutte or Saturn V? If you did, then you know what I am talking about. The excitement of construction, the pride of completion, and the thrill of flight... any of that ring a bell over at Estes Ind.?
What you guys should do is hire Vernon as a consultant and get your company turned around before Vernon leaves this Earth for good!
V'Ger
TWRackers
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Although I wouldn't mind replacing the circular-film camera with an inexpensive digital camera unit of similar dimensions. After all, WalMart sells pencams in bubble packages for, what, $10-$20? Why not a Digital Camroc?Originally posted by sylvie369
You know what Estes really should rerelease? The Camroc.
heada
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Welcome the Oracle. A digital video rocket from Estes.
-Aaron
RoyGreen
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Wouldn't be a bad idea IF it were a high res camera (i.e. at least 2-3 mp). I think the Astrocam/Snapshot has probably outlived its usefulness (though we still see one every other launch). I know I never got a really good shot with it.
The Oracle would've been great had they not had such a lead time as to be stuck with a camera one or two generations behind what was available in the pencam market.
My Multipod has higher res, much higher frame rate, sound, and stores up to six minutes worth of video, and I don't have to carry a laptop to the field. And I had it months before the Oracle came out.
Still, the Oracle is a neat package, and is a great consolation prize for someone who mowed lawns in 1971 to get money for a Cineroc and instead bought a used Yashica 35mm camera (which I used for lots of slides at NARAM 13--so I guess it was a good deal!)
KermieD
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My $0.02 and again worth it or not, depending on your mileage:
Roguepink, you described 3 markets, hobby, mass, and novelty. All 3 are valid markets, but I'm not sure they're accomplishing what you hope they are, particularly in the "mass" category.
I think the best starter kit you EVER came up with was the Mega Maxx starter kit. It included the Goliath, which adds up to an E2X kit and the Spitfire, which was probably a Level 2 kit (had to make a compound fin on it). It had the perfect mix of a very easy to build kit and something to graduate to. I got my daughter (8 years old at the time) hooked on a 2 hour Goliath build, which we promptly lost to a tree on the 2nd flight and a much longer (and some serious quality time with my daughter) Spitfire build. That was 6 years ago and she's still hooked. She's 13 now and finds time between chasing boys and finding the new hot band/fashion/movie to ask me when or what she can build and/or go out and fly next.
You mentioned repeat sales before. What you really should consider is how many "mass" kits will lead to "hobby" kit purchases. I'm guessing the hobby kits are where the money is since that's where the little guys are cutting into your market. If you want to have an RTF starter set going, feel free, but put a 2nd rocket in there that you have to build, even if it's an easy one. If you put a ready-made rocket, a launch pad and launcher and 2 motors in a blister pack, you get a kid who's barely distracted from the PS2 or Xbox. You get a kid who spends even just a half hour actually building a rocket and then sending their own creation 500' into the air and you have another kit sale. Even at Wally World, that has to make some sort of sense.
I didn't mention the "novelty" class, but I would caution you not to try to blend the novelties into the hobby class, and, to an extent, I agree with Chr$. You seem extremely fond of playing with styrofoam, and that's fine for the novelty class and the sales that derive from that. Please don't try to sell the hobbyists on that, though. If you look around the forum here, you'll find almost as much interchange regarding finishing techniques as you will building techiques. Styrofoam doesn't cater to finishing at all. Sure, we love to build 'em, but we love to make 'em look good too and styrofoam doesn't take well to paint solvents. Styrofoam on a novelty rocket to get the shape you can't get otherwise = cool. Styrofoam because it's cheaper and easier than balsa for fincans and/or wings= problems.
Someone mentioned it before about the SS1 RTF being styrofoam and avoiding it. I've done the same. My local Hobby Lobby has a bunch of Zoomies and Wicked Winnies with the foam cones and wings and they've been sitting there for a couple of years.
Roguepink, you described 3 markets, hobby, mass, and novelty. All 3 are valid markets, but I'm not sure they're accomplishing what you hope they are, particularly in the "mass" category.
I think the best starter kit you EVER came up with was the Mega Maxx starter kit. It included the Goliath, which adds up to an E2X kit and the Spitfire, which was probably a Level 2 kit (had to make a compound fin on it). It had the perfect mix of a very easy to build kit and something to graduate to. I got my daughter (8 years old at the time) hooked on a 2 hour Goliath build, which we promptly lost to a tree on the 2nd flight and a much longer (and some serious quality time with my daughter) Spitfire build. That was 6 years ago and she's still hooked. She's 13 now and finds time between chasing boys and finding the new hot band/fashion/movie to ask me when or what she can build and/or go out and fly next.
You mentioned repeat sales before. What you really should consider is how many "mass" kits will lead to "hobby" kit purchases. I'm guessing the hobby kits are where the money is since that's where the little guys are cutting into your market. If you want to have an RTF starter set going, feel free, but put a 2nd rocket in there that you have to build, even if it's an easy one. If you put a ready-made rocket, a launch pad and launcher and 2 motors in a blister pack, you get a kid who's barely distracted from the PS2 or Xbox. You get a kid who spends even just a half hour actually building a rocket and then sending their own creation 500' into the air and you have another kit sale. Even at Wally World, that has to make some sort of sense.
I didn't mention the "novelty" class, but I would caution you not to try to blend the novelties into the hobby class, and, to an extent, I agree with Chr$. You seem extremely fond of playing with styrofoam, and that's fine for the novelty class and the sales that derive from that. Please don't try to sell the hobbyists on that, though. If you look around the forum here, you'll find almost as much interchange regarding finishing techniques as you will building techiques. Styrofoam doesn't cater to finishing at all. Sure, we love to build 'em, but we love to make 'em look good too and styrofoam doesn't take well to paint solvents. Styrofoam on a novelty rocket to get the shape you can't get otherwise = cool. Styrofoam because it's cheaper and easier than balsa for fincans and/or wings= problems.
Someone mentioned it before about the SS1 RTF being styrofoam and avoiding it. I've done the same. My local Hobby Lobby has a bunch of Zoomies and Wicked Winnies with the foam cones and wings and they've been sitting there for a couple of years.
TWRackers
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Doesn't the Oracle go for about $100? I meant a still-camera rocket, much lower cost (around $15-$25 ?) which would make it more accessible for younger fliers. In other words, a digital replacement for the Camroc or the AstroCam, not the Cineroc.
Besides, still photography provides a natural migration path up to video photography later on.
terryg
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He . he you have created a monster with this thread. Folks need to realize that designers, engineers, etc. have little direct influence on management, accounting etc. (all thought the best companies do listen). The best suggestions that we can give involve technical details and model suggestions that can give a direction to head toward. Other suggestions are good but require the correct time and place for them to have any effect on corporate policies. To take this in another direction, do you do any modeling and flying out side of work? Some people hate to talk or work shop on the their free time, others (computer folks) live and breath their work all the time. If so it would be interesting to see info on your rockets (pics etc, that would not involve work issues).
Ed Wagoner
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Welcome Roguepink,
Okay I would just like to say I love Estes kits and always have. I wont complain about anything. Good luck here and you are right you probably will have nightmares. Keep up the good work and welcome to the forum.
Ed
Okay I would just like to say I love Estes kits and always have. I wont complain about anything. Good luck here and you are right you probably will have nightmares
. Keep up the good work and welcome to the forum.Ed
Welcome Rogue
Great to have someone from Estes actually talking to their customer base
Like many have said few of the RTF models intrest this group, I unlike some of the other see the pot shot as a Hoot...being an Odd-Roc kinda guy anyway
I also strongly second just about everything KerimeD said concerning foam models. As a nitch "Novilty" they are fine, but Please don't go too hog wild with it ... 'Humm Hog WILD...Could be another foam creation ... mean lookin flying foam pig"
My main point for Estes: PARTS IS PARTS! All the old time Big three Stocked and sold their spare parts INDIVIDUALLY. currenly the nosecone, transition, and spare parts items Groups don't help the model rocket hobbiest. Designer specials are fine, but folks need access to quality parts for custom building.. if you want people to stay building and BUYING your offereings. 30 years ago I started with you guys, one of the reasons was the depth of the parts available along with some very nifty looking models. Mars snooper, Orbital Transport, Saturn-b1, Nighthawk, even as a beginner I wasn't looking ONLY at that first Alpha, I was looking down the road and Dreaming of Which I could create.
Capture interest with the RTF line, As kermie said, stick anohter put together kit in that starter kit. and keep um coming with lots of available INDIVIDUAL parts items and challanging kits to spark imagination.
Great to have you on board.. I'll continue to support Estes and ALL the other Model rocket kit manufacturers as you folks offer items of interest. Like the X prize serie
Great to have someone from Estes actually talking to their customer base
Like many have said few of the RTF models intrest this group, I unlike some of the other see the pot shot as a Hoot...being an Odd-Roc kinda guy anyway
I also strongly second just about everything KerimeD said concerning foam models. As a nitch "Novilty" they are fine, but Please don't go too hog wild with it ... 'Humm Hog WILD...Could be another foam creation ... mean lookin flying foam pig"
My main point for Estes: PARTS IS PARTS! All the old time Big three Stocked and sold their spare parts INDIVIDUALLY. currenly the nosecone, transition, and spare parts items Groups don't help the model rocket hobbiest. Designer specials are fine, but folks need access to quality parts for custom building.. if you want people to stay building and BUYING your offereings. 30 years ago I started with you guys, one of the reasons was the depth of the parts available along with some very nifty looking models. Mars snooper, Orbital Transport, Saturn-b1, Nighthawk, even as a beginner I wasn't looking ONLY at that first Alpha, I was looking down the road and Dreaming of Which I could create.
Capture interest with the RTF line, As kermie said, stick anohter put together kit in that starter kit. and keep um coming with lots of available INDIVIDUAL parts items and challanging kits to spark imagination.
Great to have you on board.. I'll continue to support Estes and ALL the other Model rocket kit manufacturers as you folks offer items of interest. Like the X prize serie
Stizzealth
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I notice that nobody really likes the Porta-Pot Shot. I'm only half-done building it because I didn't have any foam safe spray paint or bottle paint, either, but it seems like a pretty interesting rocket to me. While I am certainly not one of the incredible hobbyists who make perfect glue fillets, apply incredible finishes, and consider Skill Level 3 rockets almost RTF, I do aspire to work my way up that line. The Porta-Pot Shot may actually teach skills to new hobbyists, like foam painting and bonding. Perhaps it'll be their first experience with tight chute packing space. And come on, who DOESN'T get at least a tiny kick out of seeing one of those smelly Porta-Potties take to the air?
Foam can probably be utilized as a very good tool for shaping irregular bodies. While I, of course, enjoy building good old balsa fin and cardboard tube rockets a lot more, I think the aforementioned material may just be very good for the growth of the hobbyist base.
Foam can probably be utilized as a very good tool for shaping irregular bodies. While I, of course, enjoy building good old balsa fin and cardboard tube rockets a lot more, I think the aforementioned material may just be very good for the growth of the hobbyist base.
sandman
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Rougepink,
I really hope you're not sorry you joined this forum.
I think I understand what your position is and it probably has no impact on any of the mass market stuff except maybe design and flight testing.
How about a line of scale like fighter jets to go along with the "Screaming Eagle".
Maybe an F-18 Hornet
A well thought out F-117 Stealth maybe a glider?
Sorta like the Old Centuri fighters.
I really hope you're not sorry you joined this forum.
I think I understand what your position is and it probably has no impact on any of the mass market stuff except maybe design and flight testing.
How about a line of scale like fighter jets to go along with the "Screaming Eagle".
Maybe an F-18 Hornet
A well thought out F-117 Stealth maybe a glider?
Sorta like the Old Centuri fighters.
RandyM
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Rougepink,
I'm also hoping that you are not sorry you joined.
The thing that everyone needs to keep in mind is that Rougepink is an engineer at Estes. They have no control over marketing, deciding what old kits to bring back and such. The fact that they came to us looking for answers and ideas is great!
Continuing to drive home points already taken will drive them away from the forum and we will again be without a voice to a very important player in rocketry.
What would be nice is to see someone from managment or marketing at Estes also join the forum, even if it was on a limited basis. As Rougepink has already found out, we are not shy about expressing our opinions.
In the long run it would benefit all involved in this great hobby. Getting the youth of America involved in science is important for our future and rocketry is a excellent way to get them started!
I'm also hoping that you are not sorry you joined.
The thing that everyone needs to keep in mind is that Rougepink is an engineer at Estes. They have no control over marketing, deciding what old kits to bring back and such. The fact that they came to us looking for answers and ideas is great!
Continuing to drive home points already taken will drive them away from the forum and we will again be without a voice to a very important player in rocketry.
What would be nice is to see someone from managment or marketing at Estes also join the forum, even if it was on a limited basis. As Rougepink has already found out, we are not shy about expressing our opinions.
In the long run it would benefit all involved in this great hobby. Getting the youth of America involved in science is important for our future and rocketry is a excellent way to get them started!
S
sylvie369
He will be if we keep calling him "Rougepink", I suspect.
Okay, we're all agreed that he should try to get them to use longer shock cords. And we know that he doesn't get to set the strategic direction of the company (so we're not going to get him to change Estes back to its dizzying 1973 peaks).
What else is there like shock cords that he might have some ability to change? What do we think about the motor mounts? Or the nose cone attach points? Or launch lug design/placement?
Can we ask him for minor design changes that eventually mean that Estes rockets at Walmart need C5-3, B6-0, A8-0, and B14 motors?
You know, sneak it on in there?
RoyGreen
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On the porta-pot....
The porta pot didn't appeal to me (it was sorta, so three years ago to me, with Ky Michaelson's full scale, and that other companies mid power one), but upon seeing the kit for the first time last month in the hobby store, and having just watched the first new Dr. Who series, I immediately saw a TARDIS.
You know, you could talk to the BBC about licensing and re-do it as Dr. Who's TARDIS to sell in to the U.K. market right now. Don't know how quickly you can turn it around, but if you could make it in time for the start of the third series, you might start off a model rocketry craze in England! (and you could still sell a few here in USA and in Oz!).
Oh, and you could assure sales by making a flying Dalek to go along with it! You could even resurrect the Astron Spaceman as a Cyberman! Ok, I really gotta stop now....
The porta pot didn't appeal to me (it was sorta, so three years ago to me, with Ky Michaelson's full scale, and that other companies mid power one), but upon seeing the kit for the first time last month in the hobby store, and having just watched the first new Dr. Who series, I immediately saw a TARDIS.
You know, you could talk to the BBC about licensing and re-do it as Dr. Who's TARDIS to sell in to the U.K. market right now. Don't know how quickly you can turn it around, but if you could make it in time for the start of the third series, you might start off a model rocketry craze in England! (and you could still sell a few here in USA and in Oz!).
Oh, and you could assure sales by making a flying Dalek to go along with it! You could even resurrect the Astron Spaceman as a Cyberman! Ok, I really gotta stop now....
As always, I appreciate the opinions I'm getting from everyone.
I'm a model maker by job description. I've been with Estes a little over two years, but have only transitioned into design in the last 4 months. I've been building and flying Estes and Centuri kits for as long as I can remember. I'm a hobby guy. Before I came to Estes, I worked for two years for HobbyTown USA... a true hobby store, not just rockets, but all type of R/C (land, air, and sea), trains, styrene kits, rock tumbling, kits, telescopes, I know all these things. My formal education is graphic design and illustration. I use those skills much more than I thought I would in designing, prototyping, building, and presenting finished samples of our product.
My love is for the hobby rockets, and it always will be. If with my small amount of influence I can spark renewed interest in that category at this company, I surely will.
My goal for the next year is to have V'Ger say, "Estes is a great company again, I spend my entire paycheck on their product."
I'm a model maker by job description. I've been with Estes a little over two years, but have only transitioned into design in the last 4 months. I've been building and flying Estes and Centuri kits for as long as I can remember. I'm a hobby guy. Before I came to Estes, I worked for two years for HobbyTown USA... a true hobby store, not just rockets, but all type of R/C (land, air, and sea), trains, styrene kits, rock tumbling, kits, telescopes, I know all these things. My formal education is graphic design and illustration. I use those skills much more than I thought I would in designing, prototyping, building, and presenting finished samples of our product.
My love is for the hobby rockets, and it always will be. If with my small amount of influence I can spark renewed interest in that category at this company, I surely will.
My goal for the next year is to have V'Ger say, "Estes is a great company again, I spend my entire paycheck on their product."
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