eRockets/Semroc response to your wish lists - lots of info from Randy

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Zeus-cat

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I tried to show the wish list to Randy last night, but I couldn’t pull up the web page at eRockets due to the horribly slow loading times. So this morning I put all of your comments in an email and sent it to Randy. He got back to me just a few hours later. I deleted names from the wish list to make it easier to format so you’ll have to look through the list for your question. It appears Randy replied to everyone. Randy’s response is the last sentence in each paragraph.

Randy also addresses the slow response time for the Semroc webpage. If you have the time you should read through the whole list as Randy has some great info on what he is planning to do.


General comments from Randy at Semroc:
The laser cutter is up and running so we are producing parts as quickly as possible.
The nose cone cutters are down and repair parts are ordered. It could be days or weeks before we are up and running.(note from Zeus: they had two lathes and the computer for one kept aborting the program last night. They switched some cables around, but never got both of them running correctly)
The printer for decals and instructions is down as we are missing the power cable.
We will be focusing on replenishing our parts for sale prior to ramping up kits.
We are waiting on a Balsa wood order for full ramp up.
We will not be selling off of the old Semroc page. Parts and kits are currently available through www.eRockets.biz. And as soon as we bring retailers back on board through them as well.
Thanks for your support!


I like the Retro-Repros, and almost any thing scale, some new SLS kits would be welcome too.
Gota have the Saturn IB
Saturn 1B late this year.
We also see there is room for a new SLS kit or two.


A second on bringing back the 1/70 Saturn 1B.
Actually, a replica of the 1/100 scale Saturn 1B would be nice, if possible.
Saturn 1B late this year.
Saturn 1B 1/100 is not likely due to the needed retail to make it possible.

A Texas Firefly would be nice.
Coming soon.

Centering rings for BT50 to BT60's I've been cutting my BT20 to BT60's to be able to keep making rockets... I'm nearly out of those too now.
We will cut these this week and get them back in stock.


kind of like telling a kid in a candy store that he can have anything but, only one. I would suggest nose cones, such as an upscale alpha nose (bnc-70k). the bnc-55AM would be nice too.
The nose cone machine is down right now but we will cut these asap.


If Estes isn't going to tap the potential, I'd like to see Semroc expand into plastic nose cones. In particular, a reissue of the original two-piece Citation PNC-60AH.
I agree, if we cannot get Estes to sell us we will make our own mold for this cone.


For me, it's all about parts. Sure I'll buy a few kits now and then, mostly Retro-Repros, but mostly I want the extensive nose cone inventory not just in the typical current BT Estes sizes but the historical ST sizes and others. So: nose cones of all shapes and sizes, body tubes of all shapes and sizes, and rings to put them together. When I say nose cones, I'm also including transitions and boat tails and such. I'm a fan of the 34" long body tube stock... I don't think "old SEMROC" had them but maybe I'm wrong. I think Totally Tubular had 'em as well as BMS.
All parts that Semroc had will be back in the Balsa areas.
We do have all of the Totally Tubular parts available, including 34" tubes available at www.eRockets.biz. So this site is a one stop shop for parts and the worlds largest selection of kits too.

I often bought pre-cut balsa fins for various clones as well as the special ring or other cardboard laser cut specialty parts for cloning... the extensive inventory SEMROC had (or maybe they quickly made them to order?) was awesome. Bring 'em back!
All of the parts on the old Semroc page were made and ready to ship. We will have the same situation with the new Semroc.

One other truly new thing that I would also like to see is for him to work out a deal with Estes to get the larger plastic cones in bulk from Estes and part them out one by one. Estes hasn't wanted to make bulk packs of one single cone type for example PNC-60AH (Der Red Max) or PNC-60RL (Vagabond). Some of these are hard to find for a typical onesy-twosy buyer. And balsa versions of these big cones are very pricey. While this might somewhat reduce his balsa cone business, it would also allow him to focus on other sizes/shapes.
I agree, if we cannot get Estes to sell us we will make our own mold for the PNC-60AH cone. We only plan on making this one mold in the future until we can prove it financially successful.

I'll also state for the record that I don't mind a modest price increase if it helps keep SEMROC a going concern. I've missed having every part I could want at my fingertips; I want it to be back in business for good.
Thanks, our goal is to keep prices down as much as possible. That may mean less frills and getting rid of waste. For example, no more nice white Semroc boxes to ship in.


Things that glide and 50's style rockets...
I am a big glider fan and hope to work more into the program in the future.

Parts.
I agree, we are even delaying building kits until parts are available again.


What I would like to see is Randy take whatever time necessary to bring Semroc back to where it was before he acquired it. That is, an incredible selection of parts, lots of really neat kits, amazing resources, and awesome customer service. In short, bring back Semroc the way it was. Not saying I don't think Randy is planning this, but that's what I want. I want my candy store back! And I think that this is probably going to be a bigger undertaking than most folks expect.
This is a huge undertaking, fortunately, we have been able to move at Lightning speed to get her back up and running. Be patient and we will be back in no time.

After that, how about three limited edition rockets dedicated to Carl, Bruce, and Sheryl respectively?
This is a great Idea! And rightly deserved.

And a faster website, please!
Sorry about the slow web site. We are migrating everything off of it as quickly as we can. We are not yet sure how we are going to do it but we are going to retire the old server as soon as we know we can move all of the information off of it onto a new platform.


Short Ogive BT-80 Nose Cones, and maybe some Nose Cones that could be used to make Pershing and Seawolf Missiles.
I will look into the Short Ogive cones, unfortunately, the pershing and seawolf cones of larger sizes is impossible on the equipment we have.



Just to clarify my previous post... PARTS!!! We Need Parts! So many projects, so few parts!
Some available now at www.eRockets.com. and more to come!


Parts....
If there's going to be a release of retro-repro kits, I'd recommend some of the biggest sellers. Gotta ramp up sales and get the Semroc engine purring again.
We are going to release almost everything again. We still have to evaluate the 3 fin and a nose cone selection, we could stand to have a few less to chose from and maybe rotate their availability over the years.


What I would like to see is Randy take whatever time necessary to bring Semroc back to where it was before he acquired it. That is, an incredible selection of parts, lots of really neat kits, amazing resources, and awesome customer service. In short, bring back Semroc the way it was.
I agree.

And a faster website, please!
That would work for me. That and any Centuri rockets, Deci-Scale's and/or Retro-Repro's of any sort. I always liked that Carl released new kits periodically throughout the year.
We will migrate everything off of the existing server and retire this slow website in the future.
Carl had started a number of kits and I plan on continuing his work as soon as we are in full production.
We would like to have 4 to 6 releases each year starting in 2016.


Would be nice if Randy picked up the rights to the R&R Model Aircraft boost gliders Gamma Star and Delta Star... They stopped production and were looking to sell the production rights.
We have talked about this, 2 issues right now: Our laser cutter is too small to cut all of the kits and we cannot bite off any more right now.


Centuri Retro-repros!
How about the alien scoutship flying saucer and the Satellite Killer?
Thunder-Hawk/Bird/ROC (or Mean-Machine)
SR-71, Jayhawk in D-engine size
the fighter jet series
Satellite Killer will be late this year.
Alien Scoutship is not currently being considered.
Thunder Kits are a possibility, maybe even this year.
Mean Machine has not been off the market long enough, we still have some at www.eRocket.biz
SR-71 and Jayhawk we can look at for future possibilities.
We would like to do some fighter jets in the future and have 14 possible designs available for future release, these would be all original kits.

Laser X.
Both will be coming this spring or summer.


Mars Lander, Saturn-1B, Saturn V
Parts, parts, parts
Mars Lander and Saturn 1B late this year.
Saturn V is in the near future and dependent on Estes Re-Release for the 50th Anniversary
Parts available now at www.eRockets.biz


Nasa Pegasus
Send me some information and we can look at it. [email protected]


I am pretty sure Carl had a Saturn V in the development pipeline at one time, but it never made it to release.
I do not have time to work on it right now but do intend to release it based on Estes's plan to re-release theirs.

I believe Estes may have re-released the 2157 kit at one point in the process which may have derailed a Semroc Sat V release.
This is definitely true, there is no room for multiple kits on the market of the same size.

The 1/100 Sat V and Sat 1B kits are problematic because they require a lot of molded plastic trim parts -- or finely cut balsa parts -- which kicks the kits into a whole new cost stratosphere.
True, we want to be able to hold the pricing down on these kits.

Whether embossed paper or cardstock wraps could be a good substitute, would take somebody more knowledgeable than me in manufacturing and production costs to figure out.
True, we would be using cardstock wraps just like the original Estes Saturn.


Falcon and Nighthawk boost gliders.
both are in future consideration.


BSG Viper kit or parts would be cool.
Yes it would, unfortunately, this is a licensed item and we are not in a position to license them.


On obtaining Semroc, did Randy also gain rights from Estes to replicate current kits, and future kits?
If not, that could be a big problem. I would like to hear from Randy on this.
We own all the rights that Semroc did and the names of the kits are published on the Semroc web site.

I'd like to see the Super Vega. I have the regular Vega to build.
And some upscales of current cateloged kits.
We were thinking this might be a good SLS kit!


Semroc was just about perfect before...I want parts and the retro kits again.
Me too, what is currently available is at www.eRockets.biz


Hydra 7
Coming late this year.


I would guess Randy will make an announcement soon on which retro kits he plans to return to the lineup. Obviously he knows more than any of us what the Estes-SEMROC licensing arrangements entail.

I would think SEMROC under RB would have rights to continue offering the retro kits Semroc had in stock at the time of Carl's passing.

I don't know exactly how the procedure for adding new kits worked (or works) but I believe SEMROC had to get the go-ahead from Estes that they did not plan to return a particular kit to the active lineup for a certain period of years, and then could begin introduction and then production. Estes occasionally does return "classic" kits to the lineup and obviously they don't want SEMROC releases conflicting with that.

The arrangement would certainly seem to be beneficial to Estes in that they still realized a nominal licensing fee for products (deleted kits) they had no intention of producing for the foreseeable future, and also of course the completed kits become (mostly) users of Estes motors.
How true this is, we do plan on producing all of the current Semroc kits and will work with Estes to produce more of the classic kits in the future.


I want to see Semroc back up to full production so I can get the ''bits'' needed for a build I'll prolly never build. I've got parts for planed rockets that have been gathering dust for a few years. Shame on me!
Seriously though I'd like to see them add Centering/Cluster rings & BT/Coupler bulkheads for the Estes PS II 2''/2.5'' airframes. Many 4'' rockets scale down nicely to the 2.5'' PS II parts with very little fudging. The lite ply parts for the 3'' airframe are are well established though other vendors, but it would be nice for Semroc to add them too for 1 stop shopping.
Thanks I never thought of this, let me work on what we can get going soon.


All I ask for is More Scale parts ! like the ones that appear on the SAM page.
Everything that was on the SAM page has migrated into the standard inventory found at www.eRockets.biz


“Trident”, Blue Bird Zero” “Bandit” and “Orion”. These are a few of my favorite things. . .That I did not get in time.
We will bring them all back this summer, Orion could be a little later.


Definitely the Blue Bird Zero! I have the SEMROC Retro-Repro BBZ and it is awesome!
yes, coming soon.


Enerjet Athena!
This could be a possible future release.


The N1
Oh my gosh, we have the author of the N-1 book working here with us, Matt Johnson. We are looking at a possible smaller model of the N-1 in the future.


7 pages of nosecones would be nice to get back up to. I have about 50 'cones....it's NOT enough....
What we have available is at www.eRockets.biz



Nose cones are the single biggest thing for me, plastic and balsa. There are so many kits but my most desired one is the Orbital Transport.
We will put the orbital transport out again as soon as possible.


I recently inventoried mine: 71 cones, not counting what's packaged with unopened kits. But still, its nice to have variety. I'd really like a repop (and upscale) of the PNC-50SP from the Argosy, World Fed. Star Probe, Starhawk, Falcon Commander, Fireflash, etc. There are several I'd like to clone. That and the droop-cone from Nimbus & Starship Nova
We do not have the 50SP in our system. We will have to look at that for the future.


To me, the two most useful categories of items from Semroc were:

The vast number and variety of parts. I have to admit that last spring I ordered lot of spare specialty parts (mostly tubes) because I did not expect to be able to get any more. So I am glad to see that those will still be available again. Though it will be awhile before I need more of those particular ones due to stocking up.

And the effectively custom nose cone service. It was incredible that Carl made so many. Carl could have called that aspect something else, like Balsa Machining Service since BMS stopped being a Balsa Machining Service about 2 years ago. And indeed Carl made up some balsa noses that I would have gotten made by BMS back when BMS was BMS.

Last summer I ended up turning a nose cone vac-form mold, using balsa, on a drill, old school style. Nostalgia is nice but I'd have rather had Carl (or the old BMS) do it.

So, I hope that the new Semroc will be able to do something like that again, once things are running well enough.
Good point, for the time being we are not doing any custom cutting or custom nose cones. However, as soon as we can we will make that available to our customers.


And the effectively custom nose cone service.
Same as above.


To add another heaping helping of stuff to do to Randy's plate, the SEMROC web site is in severe need of updating -- many features on the front page are several years old or older.

The basic format/layout is not bad but it is definitely a few years behind the times. This is not really a criticism of Carl and SEMROC's past management, because revamping a website is not easy to do when you have a lot of pressing day-to-day ROCKET business going on. As long as the website seems to be working "OK" major updates tend to take a back seat to keeping the business rolling day-to-day.


Hopefully before the company fully relaunches, Randy will have time to perform a moderate update on the website -- leave it recognizably SEMROC but give it a sharp and smooth new look.
This is an amazing part of Carl's legacy. He had the vision in the mid 2000's to build a system in HTML and using Access as the databases to basically run the company. From manufacturing to procurement to sales are all done with one system that Carl built himself. This is amazing for this timeframe. Unfortunately, it is getting antiquated and needs to be modernized. We have started to migrate things off of that platform onto another. The first step was to move ordering off of the site onto the modern eRockets.biz site. This site is fast and allows data to flow quickly and efficiently through the eRockets system. Parts and Kits are available there now.
Because of the complexity we are having problems removing obsolete information and process off of the old site. This explains why we are down so much on the old page. But we will get the transition done as quickly as we can.


While we're on website topics...

I loved shopping the SEMROC nose cone listings. Yet, navigating those pages was slow... they took a long time to load and didn't seem to cache, so every back and forth click seemed to force a reload. While the basic table split into row sections with columns listing shape, length, etc. was serviceable in it's own right, I'd like a function where I select a tube diameter, and it lists all the nose cones for that diameter with thumbnails for quick visual ID. And, when there is the same cone in different BT sizes available, a button to click to bring up the up- and down-scales of that cone would be nice.
These are the type of things that we would like to have available too. Once we get settled we will consult with a web expert to see what we can do to make this a reality. The current site has a lot of valuable information that we need to preserve for the rocketry community. This is why we decided to keep the old site up and running.

Best wishes Randy. I'm looking forward to being your customer!
thanks,


As a previous post stated, I would like it to be as it was. But seeing how that could be a while, I would like to get my hands on the BANDIT, SLS ARCAS, SLS HUSTLER & the parts to clone OOP Kits.
I thought about finishing a rocket dedicated to Carl, Bruce, and Sheryl, even decided to do it with the SLS HUSTLER (if & when it comes out), but it would be great if they came out with dedicated kits (with great decals) to honor the the great rocket family!
Good point, I noticed that some of the SLS kits had parts that were not previously available, we will be setting these up as soon as we have some available to sell.


I could see the Bruce rocket having a shark theme...
Better yet a Biker theme!!!


I SO want a Mars Lander...
Probably this fall.
 
I have stayed quiet to see what Randy has planned, and it sounds great...as far as website comments, I hope he keeps the tabular arrangement for tubes (I like that it looked like an Estes or Centuri catalog page)...I have tried navigating the new TT tubes on eRockets and did not like scrolling through the pages (why do we need a picture of a tube?). I wish we could get a tabular listing of the other parts (cones, centering rings, etc) but I like the comment above about entering a body tube size that filters selections...that would help.

I am more of a scratch builder unless it is a hard to find kit (the Saturns, ALJII, etc) so I am way more interested in parts and diverse tube sizes so scale building is easier. Bringing back the 3.428" tube (1/35th Mercury Atlas or close fit to 1/45 Apollo Little Joe II) would be nice, since eRockets/Semroc/Totally Tubular is going to become "tubes central"
 
I wrote, abut the custom nose cones Carl made::
So, I hope that the new Semroc will be able to do something like that again, once things are running well enough.

Randy replied:
Good point, for the time being we are not doing any custom cutting or custom nose cones. However, as soon as we can we will make that available to our customers.

ifk2b.jpg


YES!!! Totally understand the need to get Semroc up and running properly first.

Really glad to see that once things are going well, that the custom Balsa Machining Semroc will resume.

- George Gassaway

59387023.jpg
 
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Under the present circumstances, I'm pleased Randy is able to offer what he currently has avaliable at eRockets! taking on Semroc has got to be a logistic nightmare, and is more than any one person can concentrate on, let alone give proper attention to the rest of his business. These goodies will come online in due time. From the times I've met Randy, I believe he will do them in the proper order, AND HE WILL DO IT RIGHT. On our part, now is the time for patience on our "wish lists", but be sure to give him enough orders on current stock to keep him in business and give him a fighting chance to make what what we all want out of this a reality.

Evil Ed
 
cone cutters need work and or practice in running them, okay...can live with that. just glad that they will make a come back :). note to your packaging dept. you need to be careful when bundling body tubes, the wrap on one end of my bundle of (4)tubes was just a smidge to tight resulting in 3 of the tubes being slightly out of round on one end(but I can work with that).
Rex
 
The nose cone laths aren’t working?
Have you checked to see if the hamsters are still alive?

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that problems are arising due to having moved all this stuff across country.
I once worked in the R&D department of a midsized company and helped move said department across a parking lot and into a new and larger building. It took us weeks to get everything back up and running and it was amazing how much stuff seemingly disappeared during the move.

Normally I say that “Patience isn’t a virtue; Patience is the fifth Halliwell” sister, but in this case I’m willing to wait however long it takes for Randy to get Semroc fully up to speed.

After all; the alternative is no Semroc at all and we don’t want that.

Though I did notice that Randy had nothing to say about my request for “Anti-Gravity Ascension Engines”.
 
I read the list of things to do and it's staggering. Super best of luck to Randy for continuing the Semroc legacy.
 
Any news? I'm in dire straits when it comes to CR-5060's, and I've got a plethora of builds that need them.
 
Thanks everyone for the support. It is looking like this will be our first week of producing kits. The Goblin will be first. We also have T-Shirts for this first kit out of Dayton. For this kit we will number the first 100 kits and make a special offer of Goblin T Shirts for $5 with Goblin purchase. This may be the only kit with numbers and shirts until we start releasing new kits.

We have really been focusing on getting parts back in stock. As of today we are still out of 1498 items most of which are Semroc parts. We will continue to focus on getting parts back in stock.

Also, I see there is a need for CR-50-60 Rings, they are available here: https://www.erockets.biz/totally-tubular-centering-rings-cr-50-52h-60f-6pk/ they are a CR- 50/52, the 50/52 has the punch out to fit either BT-50 or BT-52H with the punch out gone, up tot he BT-60.

As for motors... we do not buy anything Semroc related to motor manufacturing, real or imaginary. Just wanted to make sure that was answered ;-)

Randy
eRockets/Semroc
 
Awesome. Gotta get me one of those Goblin kits. My cloned Goblin is kind of beat up. It's had nose cone elastic snapback damage, broken off fin... getting kinda crusty inside from ejection charges...

I'm really happy you are getting SEMROC parts back in stock. Long process, but you've got a die-hard customer base.

Best wishes

Marc
 
As for motors... we do not buy anything Semroc related to motor manufacturing, real or imaginary. Just wanted to make sure that was answered ;-)Randy
eRockets/Semroc

Well there goes any chance for my “Anti-Gravity Ascension Engines” real or imaginary.

Guess I’ll have to settle for the dozen or more Semroc rocket kits I want.
 
All I ask for is More Scale parts ! like the ones that appear on the SAM page.
Everything that was on the SAM page has migrated into the standard inventory found at www.eRockets.biz
.

I dont think he understood my request....
Back in the day SEMROC SAM members could design their cones and share them,
There were many neat cones like the Titan IIIE, Saturn V transition, and the Zond.
I would like to see more Scale parts like these available to public.
 
Huge task to bring all The SEMROC line back up. Nosecones alone requires massive effort on the part of eRockets to get back to full availability because they had lines for Estes and Centuri body tubes. I bought up a bunch of the Centuri sized cones because they could be sanded down to fit, close enough is good enough ;) . Sheryl, because I ordered so much I think, would send me extra goodies. One was a cone that would only fit a Centuri tube...so I ordered the tube :)

I'm very much waiting for the line to get to full production. A move in the midst of ramping up for sure doesn't help but the larger facility will help in the long run.

Here's to the future of eRockets :)
 
Randy replied to another thread yesterday, but the thread has since been locked down. Here's what he posted:

Hi Everyone,
This is Randy Boadway of Semroc.
I understand that our web page is still not up to snuff. We have been working hard to provide an easy place to find and order your parts. We are first adding pictures to the items, after that we will focus on descriptions. I understand that the old Semroc site has a lot of valuable resources and that is why we have not pulled the plug on it. We have no plans to allow purchasing off of the old site, it is not prudent to integrate it into our eRockets site or systems.

We are also continuing to focus on making parts available. There are currently almost 4000 SKU's of parts and we are down to about 400 not being available. I believe it will take us until the end of July to be back in production on everything.

We currently have 41 kits available and will continue at the pace to have about 84 in stock by the time the Christmas rush begins.

Our landlord in Dayton has decided that he wants to use our space for something else. This is throwing a big monkey wrench into our plan. We are about to move into a larger facility over the next few weeks. Of course we expect part production will be minimal during the move.

If there is a part that you would like to have sooner than later please drop me a note, we are trying to accommodate any request as quickly as possible.

respectfully,

Randy Boadway, Semroc
 
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