AeroTech Open Thread

[rfjustin]

What about a known manufacturing defect from their vendor resulting in diminished motor performance?

I did contact Karl and his response was an explanation of the issue but no countermeasures other than "we hope they fix it..."

No damage to the rocket or casing (that I'm aware of, haven't closely inspected one of the components), but I was disappointed in the reduced altitude and velocity.

Sorry, I'm not tracking here, how does that relate to the @DabCat situation?

 

[AeroTech]

What about a known manufacturing defect from their vendor resulting in diminished motor performance?

I did contact Karl and his response was an explanation of the issue but no countermeasures other than "we hope they fix it..."

No damage to the rocket or casing (that I'm aware of, haven't closely inspected one of the components), but I was disappointed in the reduced altitude and velocity.

I have no idea what this is about. Regardless, if you are still in need of explanation or resolution, please contact Karl.

 

[AeroTech]

I have noticed hobby shops keeping less inventory of hobby rocketry products than in the past (If you want to go back 50 years).
It seems to me that back in the 1970s hobby shops carried much more inventory and variety of rocketry items. Not every hobby shop but one was likely to see much larger displays of rocketry items than today even with more hobby rocketry manufacturers.

I remember talking to a hobby shop owner over thirty years ago at a hobby trade show. He said he liked rocketry because all he had to do was hang it on a peg and it sold. Perhaps the rocketry manufacturers have made the product too easy to sell so there is less involvement by the store staff in the sale of the product. I know that when an R/C truck is sold there is often a bunch of aftermarket parts and things that can be sold for use with the truck. My experience selling R/C cars in hobby shops decades ago involved selling the car kit, R/C radio, battery and battery charger each made by a different manufacturer and plenty of options for each of these items. Then you could add on aftermarket tires/wheels, more powerful motors, etc.

Maybe rocketry needs to be more difficult to undertake so that hobby shop staff will have to know more about the product and how to sell it.

They need to start carrying high power products. Plenty of difficulty and complexity there.

 

[rcktnut]

They need to start carrying high power products. Plenty of difficulty and complexity there.

Didn't the BATF put the kabash on that before the lawsuit was won? I thought that hobby shops instead of just storing the motors wherever had to get explosive magazines to store the motors. Most hobby shops dropped HPR at that time. They never came back to HPR again. I guess that would drop the bottom line though for the vendors that do supply them.

 

[rharshberger]

They need to start carrying high power products. Plenty of difficulty and complexity there.

Exactly, problem is there really aren't many hobby shops left outside of large cities, our last one in town is a Hobbytown USA they dont carry anything except Estes at full retail.

 

[dpower]

Exactly, problem is there really aren't many hobby shops left outside of large cities, our last one in town is a Hobbytown USA they dont carry anything except Estes at full retail.

Guess I’m lucky. We have a locally owned HS that carries the entire mid-power AT line, though he has to order direct from AT, since his distributors no longer carry AT. The local HobbyTown has also started carrying AT and Quest.

 

[rharshberger]

Guess I’m lucky. We have a locally owned HS that carries the entire mid-power AT line, though he has to order direct from AT, since his distributors no longer carry AT. The local HobbyTown has also started carrying AT and Quest.

We are lucky to have a vendor who only lives an hour away from our field.

 

[Ez2cDave]

They need to start carrying high power products. Plenty of difficulty and complexity there.

Given the cost of HPR kits, motors, and hardware, that is a lot of financial outlay for a shop . . . Unless, of course, Aerotech would be willing to ship everything to hobby shops on a consignment basis and get paid, as items sell.

Dave F.

 

[AeroTech]

Didn't the BATF put the kabash on that before the lawsuit was won? I thought that hobby shops instead of just storing the motors wherever had to get explosive magazines to store the motors. Most hobby shops dropped HPR at that time. They never came back to HPR again. I guess that would drop the bottom line though for the vendors that do supply them.

Well yes, but that was 14 years ago.

 

[smstachwick]

Guess I’m lucky. We have a locally owned HS that carries the entire mid-power AT line, though he has to order direct from AT, since his distributors no longer carry AT. The local HobbyTown has also started carrying AT and Quest.

I haven’t seen Quest kits on the wall for a while, but they’re stocking Black Max Q-Jets and I’ve bought and used them. No way to tell if they’ll reorder, although I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to write and request it if I see the cabinet empty.

Discount Rocketry also has carried a few Q-Jet A and B motors to the field, although not in the full allotment of delay times that I’ve observed.

I also pulled the trigger on my first AT kit, an Astrobee D. I won’t bore anyone with the details here, as I’m already doing that in the HPR subforum.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...test-and-certification-attempt-thread.176727/

 

[rcktnut]

Didn't the BATF put the kabash on that before the lawsuit was won? I thought that hobby shops instead of just storing the motors wherever had to get explosive magazines to store the motors. Most hobby shops dropped HPR at that time. They never came back to HPR again. I guess that would drop the bottom line though for the vendors that do supply them.

Well yes, but that was 14 years ago.

Right, those were the Easy Access motors and just saying all or most anyway of the online hobby shops that carried and sold them dropped them and never sold any again after the lawsuit was settled. Most of those are now out of business.

 

[AeroTech]

Right, those were the Easy Access motors and just saying all or most anyway of the online hobby shops that carried and sold them dropped them and never sold any again after the lawsuit was settled. Most of those are now out of business.

Before 1994 many hobby stores were also carrying the larger reloads and doing great business, like Zeppelin Hobbies and the Hobbytown in Las Vegas on W. Sahara Ave.

 

[AndrewGil]

Before 1994 many hobby stores were also carrying the larger reloads and doing great business, like Zeppelin Hobbies and the Hobbytown in Las Vegas on W. Sahara Ave.

That Hobbytown on W. Sahara is what got me into rocketry when I was a kid around 2005. When I got older that Hobbytown's inventory on rocketry stuff drastically diminished.

 

[AeroTech]

Our new Wilson F/X Integrated Control Unit for the AeroTech/ISP static test cell. The entire test facility is getting a major makeover and technology upgrade this year. Brad Wilson and Dan Fox do outstanding work!

 

[StreuB1]

Hmmmm......as a hardware designer, I am liking that.

Would love to see the insides but wouldn't expect that. I do know what I would have inside though....

 

[shockie]

Gary, what, if anything can you tell us about the clay being used in your new 24mm E&F Q-jets? Is this a new & different clay than what was used on earlier and lower power Q-Jets? Are they pressed in place in the casing?

 

[bad_idea]

Gary, what, if anything can you tell us about the clay being used in your new 24mm E&F Q-jets? Is this a new & different clay than what was used on earlier and lower power Q-Jets? Are they pressed in place in the casing?

This recent post has some of that info.

 

[AeroTech]

Gary, what, if anything can you tell us about the clay being used in your new 24mm E&F Q-jets? Is this a new & different clay than what was used on earlier and lower power Q-Jets? Are they pressed in place in the casing?

Yes, the nozzles are pressed in place in the casing.

 

[pyrobob]

Before 1994 many hobby stores were also carrying the larger reloads and doing great business, like Zeppelin Hobbies and the Hobbytown in Las Vegas on W. Sahara Ave.

Yes, bought my 54mm from Hobbytown Vegas while on vacation. This was approx 1994. They had HP relaloads, and Thermalight .

 

[tsmith1315]

I thought Thermalite was a LEUP item back then.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

I thought Thermalite was a LEUP item back then.

Not until the next year when ATF decided to harass us.

 

[tsmith1315]

Not until the next year when ATF decided to harass us.

Okay, I thought it precluded APCP.

 

[AeroTech]

Okay, I thought it precluded APCP.

Thermalite is a separately regulated product, it is not APCP.

 

[tsmith1315]

Thermalite is a separately regulated product, it is not APCP.

Sorry, my wording was incorrect in a hasty post. What I meant was that I thought Thermalite was regulated prior to APCP's being targeted for regulation.

 

[cwbullet]

Rocketry is gateway hobby. We need to attract new fliers. Aerotech used be be a corner stone of sales in local hobby shops. There are no longer any local hobby shops. Within 200 miles, I have 5 Hobbyzone and 10-20 Hobby Lobby stores. They would be a great addition to Aerotech's sale. Has Aerotech though about trying to get on those shelves?

 

[AeroTech]

Rocketry is gateway hobby. We need to attract new fliers. Aerotech used be be a corner stone of sales in local hobby shops. There are no longer any local hobby shops. Within 200 miles, I have 5 Hobbyzone and 10-20 Hobby Lobby stores. They would be a great addition to Aerotech's sale. Has Aerotech though about trying to get on those shelves?

We're always trying to get exposure in new retail locations, and we typically attend one or more hobby trade shows a year. Unfortunately, HL has decided that they only need to carry one brand of model rocket products. I'm not familiar with Hobbyzone, but there are several regional and national distributors that they could purchase from. Sometimes it takes interested consumers to encourage the hobby shop owner to carry a new line of products.

 

[AeroTech]

Sorry, my wording was incorrect in a hasty post. What I meant was that I thought Thermalite was regulated prior to APCP's being targeted for regulation.

It was, but its regulation was largely unknown or ignored.

 

[Charles_McG]

Sometimes it takes interested consumers to encourage the hobby shop owner to carry a new line of products.

^^ This!!
You can't push on a supply chain any better than on a rope. It takes pull from the consumer end.
(Alcohol is the same.)

 

[cwbullet]

We're always trying to get exposure in new retail locations, and we typically attend one or more hobby trade shows a year. Unfortunately, HL has decided that they only need to carry one brand of model rocket products. I'm not familiar with Hobbyzone, but there are several regional and national distributors that they could purchase from. Sometimes it takes interested consumers to encourage the hobby shop owner to carry a new line of products.

That is my error. I meant Hobbyland.

 

[Ez2cDave]

Given the cost of HPR kits, motors, and hardware, that is a lot of financial outlay for a shop . . . Unless, of course, Aerotech would be willing to ship everything to hobby shops on a consignment basis and get paid, as items sell.

Dave F.

''I can't help but notice the "crickets" from Aerotech, regarding stocking hobby shops on a consignment basis . . .

Dave F.