4" nike smoke

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apburner

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Does anyone know if madcow will be making the 4" nike smoke kit available again.
 
I have one on order right now - just awaiting shipment. CW says it comes with Head End Deployment which will be great.

I have one of these kits - when I built it, I added an ebay and 30" payload bay so I can fly it HEDD without the payload bay on small fields and normal DD with the payload bay on larger fields. I love this rocket. I have flown it on everything from a small I motor in standard config up to large L motors on the DD config.

Standard:

PXL_20210731_120349417.jpg

DD config:

PXL_20210731_120455250.jpg
 
It seems that lack of supply is killing off Madcow. The vast majority of Madcow’s fiberglass kits and parts have been “Out of Stock Coming Soon” for over a year. They should change that message to “Out of Stock Never Coming Again in Your Lifetime.” If Curtis is the sole supplier of fiberglass for the kits Madcow sells, then buying from Composite Warehouse IS the place you need to go.

Though, even much of Madcow’s cardboard and plywood kits, plastic nosecones, parts in general, including balsa stock, seems to be in short supply. I just ordered their cardboard and plywood 4” Big Fizz, but wanted the longer plastic nosecone because it would basically be an upscale Estes Alpha. They notified me that the longer nosecone was ”out of stock” and that they may never get that nosecone back in stock. Don’t know who their supplier is for those parts, but supply problems are severely hampering Madcow’s business.
 
It seems that lack of supply is killing off Madcow. The vast majority of Madcow’s fiberglass kits and parts have been “Out of Stock Coming Soon” for over a year. They should change that message to “Out of Stock Never Coming Again in Your Lifetime.” If Curtis is the sole supplier of fiberglass for the kits Madcow sells, then buying from Composite Warehouse IS the place you need to go.

Though, even much of Madcow’s cardboard and plywood kits, plastic nosecones, parts in general, including balsa stock, seems to be in short supply. I just ordered their cardboard and plywood 4” Big Fizz, but wanted the longer plastic nosecone because it would basically be an upscale Estes Alpha. They notified me that the longer nosecone was ”out of stock” and that they may never get that nosecone back in stock. Don’t know who their supplier is for those parts, but supply problems are severely hampering Madcow’s business.

Agreed. I have pretty much stopped looking at Madcow for FG kits/parts. I just go to CW now and hope the shipping issues of the past don't bite me.

It is much more concerning to me that Madcow now owns Aeropack. If they can't keep those parts in stock, that is a much bigger issue. As soon as I have the finances, I plan to stock up on Aeropack parts I care about.
 
Agreed. I have pretty much stopped looking at Madcow for FG kits/parts. I just go to CW now and hope the shipping issues of the past don't bite me.

It is much more concerning to me that Madcow now owns Aeropack. If they can't keep those parts in stock, that is a much bigger issue. As soon as I have the finances, I plan to stock up on Aeropack parts I care about.

I have purchased from Composite Warehouse twice in the past month and a half, the first time my order shipped within three days and the second is currently on its way after 14 days, so the outlook is good. Curtis may be dealing with the same issues from his supplier; Covid could be the culprit. I have my suspicions that it’s also a manpower issue, and that will continue so long as the Feds keep paying people an extra $300/week to sit on their butts.
 
My CW smoke got delivered today. I have it unboxed and took a quick look over the parts. A quick dry fitting felt a little tight but the kit looks great in white fiberglass. I especially appreciate the filament wound nosecone over the old gel coat nosecones. I still have to dry fit everything for real and figure out the anchor for the harness in the nosecone. The kit does include a coupler / AV bay and stepped lids as well as a switch band so all the bits are there for HED, I just need to figure out the layout that works for me.
 
My CW smoke got delivered today. I have it unboxed and took a quick look over the parts. A quick dry fitting felt a little tight but the kit looks great in white fiberglass. I especially appreciate the filament wound nosecone over the old gel coat nosecones. I still have to dry fit everything for real and figure out the anchor for the harness in the nosecone. The kit does include a coupler / AV bay and stepped lids as well as a switch band so all the bits are there for HED, I just need to figure out the layout that works for me.
Pics please... :)
 
Agree with Justin - pics!

That nosecone sounds like a real improvement over the one MadCow used to sell, would like to see it.

Wish CW sold one in a larger scale, would love one of these in 6 or 8 Inch.
 
Awesome, thanks! That nosecone looks great - the one I got with my kit (a while back) was pretty rough. Needed a lot of work to get it in shape. That one looks smooth.

The finish of the nosecone is the same as any of the filament wound ones' from CW -- smooth and uniform. The only thing I see so far is the coupler is a very tight fit into the nosecone so I'll sand that part of the nosecone to get a bit easier fit. And I'm a fan of the white color as well, one could possibly skip painting the white fiberglass.

When / if I get some time I'll post a build thread for the Smoke, I have a few other rockets to build before Airfest so I may have to push it off a while.

Dave
 
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