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Looks more like a Silver Streak than a traditional skidmark to me.
 
That's a very different look than most of the sparkies I've seen. I'll need to try one. Unfortunately, our main launch site just banned sparkies, but there's still some other sites that allow them that are not too far.
 
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I say the more different motors the better.
CTI Aerotech, Loki, Whatever, It just makes the hobby better.:clap:
 
jim fustini said:
I say the more different motors the better.
CTI Aerotech, Loki, Whatever, It just makes the hobby better.:clap:
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I think the political battle between AT or CTI fans is unresolvable, and carries a lot of emotion. Anything that divides the community isn't good, long term.

What *is* good is competition, and that's what CTI is clearly providing. Consumers (us) only stand to benefit from this competition. AT will answer CTI's call, and may surprise us--this would not be a bad thing.

Just me, but I think we should look at these developments positively. We should hope for both companies to give us their best...and that our small hobby thrives and grows from it.
 
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Viperfixr said:
What *is* good is competition, and that's what CTI is clearly providing. Consumers (us) only stand to benefit from this competition. AT will answer CTI's call, and may surprise us--this would not be a bad thing.
Click to expand...

I agree. However, I wish CTI were more price competitive in their 29mm reloads. AT prices are better on the 29mm line.

We are soon going to have a much wider choice of motors in the 24mm space thanks to CTI. Again, competitive pricing here is important.
 
Viperfixr said:
Absolutely. I think the political battle between AT or CTI proponents is unresolvable.........
Click to expand...

What On Earth Is a proponent? :confused::D:confused:
Anyway areotech is a little late on the sparky Propellent market; CTI has been making them for years..... The more the merrier :cheers:
 
Viperfixr said:
Absolutely. I think the political battle between AT or CTI proponents is unresolvable, and carries a lot of non-constructive emotion. Anything that divides the community isn't good, long term.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that. This reminds me of the muscle car wars of the 60's and early 70's, Chevy, Ford and Dodge. It sure helped NASCAR, NHRA, etc. and put a lot of great cars on the market.
 
ScrapDaddy said:
Anyway areotech is a little late on the sparky Propellent market; CTI has been making them for years..... The more the merrier :cheers:
Click to expand...

Correction, AMW was making sparky propellant for years. CTI only started to produce when they purchased/merged with AMW a couple of years ago. It also appears that they improved on the formula.
 
tomar said:
​

I agree. However, I wish CTI were more price competitive in their 29mm reloads. AT prices are better on the 29mm line.

We are soon going to have a much wider choice of motors in the 24mm space thanks to CTI. Again, competitive pricing here is important.
Click to expand...

I agree and disagree

Price is important. but I'd pay twice as much if i was given better service and better quality! thats worth more than a few buck any day.. not to mention easy cleanup.

Have you ever fired a AMW skidmark? I flew 2 and would never fly one again.. why? CLEANUP WAS A BEAR, my cases never were the same. and those are the thick AMW cases I can't imagine what cleanup will be like in AT.. now CTI. one twist and its clean.. heck you can go 20 firings without cleaning them and would never know the difference.. thats worth a little more cost too. less time cleaning means more time flying!
 
stickershock23 said:
I agree and disagree

Price is important. but I'd pay twice as much if i was given better service and better quality! thats worth more than a few buck any day.. not to mention easy cleanup.

Have you ever fired a AMW skidmark? I flew 2 and would never fly one again.. why? CLEANUP WAS A BEAR, my cases never were the same. and those are the thick AMW cases I can't imagine what cleanup will be like in AT.. now CTI. one twist and its clean.. heck you can go 20 firings without cleaning them and would never know the difference.. thats worth a little more cost too. less time cleaning means more time flying!
Click to expand...

I agree. A FEW extra dollars for convenience is worth it. However, $38 for an I224 vs. $28 for an I200 is a little more than a few dollars (36% more). I'll pay it, but a little harder to part with. Even the 38mm J330 at $60 vs. a J350 at $50 is 20% higher.

I've got full sets of AT from 18mm to 54mm and CTI 29mm to 38mm (soon to include 24m), so I have lots of choices. I fly what ever my on site vendor has AT or CTI.

I have never fired any AMW load and I've had a 2550 case for at least 5 years. I have fired lots of Ellis Mountain loads. They too are a bear to clean, especially the graphite nozzle for re-use. I love them, but hate cleaning them.

Sparky motors do not interest me. I do think they are cool to see, but just not my thing.

I do thing CTI is setting the bar rather high for the other rocket motor manufacturer (all of them). For that (competition and motor selection) I am thankful.
 
I have flown a AMW 315SK in a AMW 38mm case. Cleanup was more difficult. Part of that was due to no use of an insulation tube. The propellant grains (along with their casting tubes) are slid directly into the AMW snap ring case.

Bob
 
The smokeless formula delivers an additional 7 sec of Isp vs. the original "Skidmark" in a 3 grain 38mm (or so it appears) case. That's pretty cool, and quite good for a motor that dumps 10% of its propellant mass out the nozzle unconsumed. I doubt cleanup will be too bad, too, because all the junk should come out with the liner. And I'm quite glad that both CTI and AT are using phenolic nozzles with their sparky motors... otherwise there might be a shortage of graphite from which to make new nozzles :D

I'm glad the competition on the market is breeding new ideas from both manufacturers. It's healthy. I just wish the fanboi-ism would die down, to some extent. (A little prodding is fun. Too much gets a bit ridiculous.)

ScrapDaddy said:
What On Earth Is a proponent?
Click to expand...

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=define:proponent
 
bguffer said:
I have flown a AMW 315SK in a AMW 38mm case. Cleanup was more difficult. Part of that was due to no use of an insulation tube. The propellant grains (along with their casting tubes) are slid directly into the AMW snap ring case.

Bob
Click to expand...

I flew a couple of I315s, and they were among the most difficult motors to clean up out of all that I have ever flown (only a K555 has been more difficult).
 
cjl said:
I flew a couple of I315s, and they were among the most difficult motors to clean up out of all that I have ever flown (only a K555 has been more difficult).
Click to expand...

I guess I was very fortunate. I borrowed a case to fly a J365SK at LDRS. Before got a chance to clean it, the person I borrowed it from wanted it back and said they would clean it. Thanks Ben!
 
That's one area where I definitely prefer the new CTI skids. I flew a couple of K675 (Pro54 6g) skids at LDRS, and they were MUCH easier to clean than AMW. One of them melted the liner a bit though, so it was a tiny bit harder than most CTI motors (not bad at all though, considering).
 
ScrapDaddy said:
What On Earth Is a proponent? :confused::D:confused:
Anyway areotech is a little late on the sparky Propellent market; CTI has been making them for years..... The more the merrier :cheers:
Click to expand...

Merriam-Webster says: "one who argues in favor of something" :neener:

Funny thing is that when I first wrote this I mis-spelled the word, and the spell checker's suggestion was "propellant". Almost the same thing in this case.

Yes, the more the merrier! I am not against either company--I am for both os them. I certified L1 with Aerotech and L2 with CTI; I hope they both succeed and compete in the long run. I just wish we wouldn't constantly spit this small community on political/emotional issues that don't HELP it.
 
Oh man.... I can't imagine how fun clustering AT + CTI sparkies would be. Orange sparks + white sparks + black smoke.....

Or is that like combining matter and antimatter ? :p
 
You could get a similar effect with a central Smoky Sam surrounded by AT sparkies (I would bet that both types use Ti as the spark material, so there's probably not much difference in the color of the actual sparks).
 
As an Aussie rocketeer I think this is great news! Currently, both importers (Ausrocketry and Dawn Trading) only import Estes and AT motors, and everyone is keen on sparky reloads! So this means we get a totally new type of motor to play with now!!!

With any luck Ausrocketry will eventually get some CTI stock moving to OZ but until then this is good news for us!
 
ScrapDaddy said:
Anyway areotech is a little late on the sparky Propellent market; CTI has been making them for years..... The more the merrier :cheers:
Click to expand...

The first AeroTech White Lightning motors (F41 motors, approximately 1988) had a 'mild' sparky effect which was eliminated in a change made to the propellant.
 
Mikus said:
Let Me Google That For You.com??? OMG, that is great! Thanks for the link, I totally missed that site. :roll:

Boy howdy is my sister going to hate that..... :gavel:
Click to expand...

:roll:
you've never heard of that before? I love it.

it's helpful and ignorant.
 

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