Estes gives you the chance to bring one rocket back. What would it be?

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I saw my first rocket at a second hand store...a Saturn 1B that stood up to my 6-year old chest. I was never able to fly it but it's THE rocket that is the reason I fly today. My first build was the Wizard (better paint scheme then) followed by my second favorite Estes rocket, the Space Shuttle. I stickered my first Shuttle as the Discovery...like the one I have today. Bring back the Saturn 1B and the Space Shuttle.
 
Starship Enterprise, Klingon Battle Cruiser, Saturn 1b, Titan IIIc, Gemini, Mercury Atlas, Trident, Solar Sailer, all the Goonies, Gemini DC (rear ejection).
I guess that would be enough for now.
Deciding on just one, I'd put the Titan IIIc at the top.
 
Estes gives you the chance to bring one rocket back. What would it be?

They just did...the Black Brant...my 1st rocket. Bought it at a Kay Bee toy store at a mall in 1987 when I was 13. I still remember choosing it because it used the most ginormous of all rocket motors...the mighty D. Well, that was as mighty as it got at my Kay Bee store. Anyway, i painted it in my school colors...red & gold. After many successful launches I made the mistake of firing it off just before sunset one summer evening & lost it in the red, yellow & orange sky...c'est la vie...

I think I'll build 2, one in box-art...the other red & gold.
Like it's full size father, you can always count on the Estes BB I. Musta built a half-dozen and don't recall a bad flight. If I lost them, that was on me!
And now that my floodgate's open, how about the Scout? A great flyer, probably due to a no-frills design and small, low-drag but deceptively efficient fins. AND, it's an overlooked historical icon of our first baby steps to orbit.
 
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Estes Gemeni DC, look at it! What a beautiful rocket! Upscale it to a bt-60 size with 24 or 29mm motor mount, that thing would fly off the shelf! Do i want to have 2 parachutes or 2 boosters that seperate from the rocket and come down on thier own chutes. You could even make it a rare bt-65 and add the payload section. Would ya just look at it! Btw, i want a 10% of profit on this idea lol jk, enjoy your eye candy!!!Screenshot_2021-05-12-16-47-06-350.jpg
 
Mercury Atlas, or Titan IIIE. I have both of mine from years ago, but my Mercury Atlas was built before I had the proper skills and my Titan IIIE suffered from an inflight real-world separation of the solid boosters.
 
Mercury Atlas, or Titan IIIE. I have both of mine from years ago, but my Mercury Atlas was built before I had the proper skills and my Titan IIIE suffered from an inflight real-world separation of the solid boosters.
I would have guessed that you would have said Scud-B.
😁
 
The Blackhawk is a variation of the United Earth directorate Thunder Fighter from Buck Rogers!
Cox did the same thing with their .049 control line models back in the early 80's.. They had the BR fighter, then re-released the kit / plane, painted black, as the 'Stealth Fighter'..

still a cool rocket model though! would love to have one!
 
I would have guessed that you would have said Scud-B.
😁

About 20 years ago I bought a couple repop Scud nose cones from some small outfit, everything else is easily made from scratch... otherwise, believe me, I'd want it brought back.

That whole thing is rather odd to me, the Estes Scud kit. Back when the kit was sold at retail, it was both Soviet and relatively obscure. The Scud wasn't even a cutting edge missile in the early 80s. So strange that something more iconic wasn't produced. Then... during and after the first Gulf War, Estes didn't decide to rerelease it to capitalize on the Scud vs. Patriot marketing potential, but several versions of the Patriot were released around that time.

I guess, given the proliferation of SRBM and IRBM missiles in the world these days... it would be nice if Estes decided to produce a few as kits. The Iraqi Al-Samoud II, for example, is four fins and nose cone and it would make a pretty neat little kit.
 
I guess, given the proliferation of SRBM and IRBM missiles in the world these days... it would be nice if Estes decided to produce a few as kits. The Iraqi Al-Samoud II, for example, is four fins and nose cone and it would make a pretty neat little kit.
Check out the selection from Aggressor Aerospace at the Boyce Aerospace website. Good selection of foreign ballistic missiles and space launcher kits. I guess it's a niche market, foreign missiles don't seem to have mass market appeal here.
 
Check out the selection from Aggressor Aerospace at the Boyce Aerospace website. Good selection of foreign ballistic missiles and space launcher kits. I guess it's a niche market, foreign missiles don't seem to have mass market appeal here.

Of course I agree with you on this, but an Estes would open it up to the mass market... I'm just glad they brought the Black Brant back and the Nike Apache a few years back. Youngin's need simple/small scale kits to get introduced to that side of the hobby.
 
Just found this thread, so excuse me if this has already been discussed. My favorite was the SkyWinder. Always good for a interesting flight on a B6-2. Second choice would be the Falcon rocket glider (K-13). The problem with the Falcon was that it was sooo easy to lose.
 
Just found this thread, so excuse me if this has already been discussed. My favorite was the SkyWinder. Always good for a interesting flight on a B6-2. Second choice would be the Falcon rocket glider (K-13). The problem with the Falcon was that it was sooo easy to lose.
eRockets has laser cut balsa fin/wing sets for the Semroc Hawk - same basic glider as the K-13 Falcon with different shaped wings. Not ideal but an option 😉
 
I guess this question is another way of asking "what is your favorite OOP rocket?"

For me it is the "U.S.S. Atlantis" kit produced from 1976 to 1980. I always thought it was an excellent combination of a flyable design and something that captured the "flavor" of the Star Trek universe. I even made a custom display base for mine.

At one time, I had 3 or 4 of these but now I only have the one I built. If I ever want to do another one it would have to be a clone I guess.
 
I guess this question is another way of asking "what is your favorite OOP rocket?"

For me it is the "U.S.S. Atlantis" kit produced from 1976 to 1980. I always thought it was an excellent combination of a flyable design and something that captured the "flavor" of the Star Trek universe. I even made a custom display base for mine.

At one time, I had 3 or 4 of these but now I only have the one I built. If I ever want to do another one it would have to be a clone I guess.
There’s always the Sirius Rocketry version of the U.S.S. Atlantis - the downsized version of the upsized “refit” 😉
 
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