Aerotech - out of business and what to do?

skidoo · Mar 23, 2004

Bear with me... I loved model rockets (Estes) when I was a kid and I have recently become interested in mid-powered rocketry. I purchased/was given 2 aerotech kits and just went to purchase motors, only to discover that Aerotech, I'm told, is out of business.

Seems like I can find certain Aerotech motors here and there. But for how long?

So my question is - what do I do now? Cluster? Are there other manufacturers of F-G motors?

If I want to modify rockets to accept clusters, how do I go about doing that? Is the thrust (N-S) additive among the engines, such that if I use two 9 N-S engines I get 18 N-S thrust?

As a follow up question, what are the specs of Estes E9 engines?

Thanks.

Papa Elf · Mar 23, 2004

Welcome to the forum skidoo. As far as I know... Aerotech is still in business. They have filed chapter 11, and their assets are up for sale. There are many parties interested in purchasing the company, many of those interests know the value of the Aerotech line, and they have a desire to continue the line.

In a worse case senerio... if Aerotech's feet go up in the air... E-M motors are made by Ellis Mountain, G-O motors are manufactured by Cesaroni Technology, and J-N loads are made by Animal Motor Works.

sandman · Mar 23, 2004

Woah! Hold on a second!

Aerotech is NOT out of business. They are currently chapter 11, that's not the same thing.

They ARE making motors at a fairly good clip too but...the motors are being snatched up as fast as they can make 'em.

Since the fire they had people have been without AP motors for a while.

Clustering is a viable alternative for your midpower needs and yes the N-S are indeed addative.

Please be paitient, build some smaller kits for now fly some black powder...it won't hurt. Go to a large launch in the spring and you will see vendors with rocket motors.

My local hobby shop just got a batch of reloads in the othwer day (I didn't see what ones 'cause I don't have a 29mm case).

In the meantime check some of the online vendors.

sandman

OKTurbo · Mar 23, 2004

Aerotech is still in business. They had a bad fire at their plant in Las Vegas, and from what I can gather off the info here and elsewhere on the net, the fire led to a feeding frenzy from a bunch of lawyers. Hence the chapter 11.

I just bought a set of Aerotech RMS 24mm E18-4W reloads a couple of weeks ago...along with a new RMS 24/40 case.

See this thread for the latest word from Aerotech on production...
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6711

Hope that helps,
John

Chilly · Mar 24, 2004

The guys that run Aerotech seem to be doing everything they can to keep production going, even if they're forced out of business.

My personal feeling is the worst case would be single-use motors going away in favor of reloadables - meaning AT goes completely under but someone buys the patents and keeps the RMS line going at least. Single-use motors in that size are supposed to be very expensive to produce and are thus not very profitable, but they draw a lot of people into midpower and beyond. That's how I got hooked!

Recommend you go to ROL and seach their newsdesk archive. It's www.rocketryonline.com.

sandman · Mar 24, 2004

skidoo,

check this post.

Find somebody close and make a day trip to save haz-met fees.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6237

sandman