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Anyone have info on the resurrection of Gorilla Rocket Motors? I'm afraid it's time to mark another manufacturer as inactive...
Gorilla Rocket Motors
- Thread starter JohnCoker
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I think their dead.
Someone in Australia bought up his formula.
Huh. There was some stirring a couple of years ago, and I think we all assumed, or at least hoped, that it meant the new owners would start selling product as soon as they could get it re-certified.
That is sad to hear. Too bad. We need more motor manufacturers.
Jim had some really great motors. As well as a really good guy. The website still exists. Just zero activity
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I have marked them all as OOP. You can still search for them, but they won't come up by default in most contexts.
I heard that too. My hearsay impression was also that the sale would not lead to resumed commercial sales.
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The basic overview of Gorilla is correct . I've been told on good authority that the "Zoo Keepers" ( if you been around a minute you know what I mean ) have let the wild ones back out into the wild .
It deeply depresses me. The state of motor production is at an all-time low. Maybe I am being melodramatic.
AT is actually cranking out motors pretty fast these days according to local dealer. He said his orders are getting filled to completion the day he submits his order.
I'm pretty sure what he is meaning is that having multiple motor manufacturers is beneficial to the hobby. Having been in the hobby myself for the last 45 years I've flown lots of different manufacturers motors. It made things better for the hobby when we did. Having only 2 or 3 manufacturer is scary to me personally.
I mean more than supply. I mean innovation, supply, and pricing.
For me thats a given with more manufacturers. So it would mean all of that usually with more manufacturers competing they innovate, supply more and compete with better price...
The one thing with that though is also depending on how much financial backing a manufacturer has. It can limit those factors. As well as cost of the raw materials have skyrocketed.
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That is correct. One of the positive things about the C-19 period is that we used the opportunity to build up our inventories. So the vast majority of dealer and retail orders are being filled from stock.
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Why? There are four (4) motor manufacturers making products available in the US. Around 700 motor types available. The number of AeroTech & Quest motors and their timely availability has never been better.
I guess I should reframe my concerns. I am specifically talking about high power motors. There are only 3 that I am tracking - Loki, AT, CTI.
Don't take my concerns as an indication of something AT and CTI are not doing. You can't provide it as a single company. It takes an industry-wide approach. Maybe I am overthinking this, but I remember when we have AMW, LOKI, Ellis MTN, CTI, and Kosdon. I have probably forgotten a few. When I first started back in high power, I think remember a few from the makers of Magnetite (I think) and Public Missiles. The industry has contracted.
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The short answer is that the high power market is not large enough to support more manufacturers. It is marginal to support the ones that exist as is.
This is definitely truth. The HPR market let alone all of rocketry is a small market. I think the concerns by some is if something happens to one of those manufacturers the hobby can end up in trouble. I appreciate everyone of our manufacturers and thank them for what they do. Im also appreciative of what the past has been. I can remember when there were less options from those manufacturers. The past companies i think also drove some great innovation that still exists. We now have lots of colors, thrust options , configurations and more.
Weren’t most of the out of production motor manufacturers just mom & pop?
And the h..f wit that bought it just doesn't give a rats for anything else but his current project.
Anybody heard of Black Sky??
I may go down in flames for this but it has to be said.
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More like 'TINY' in overall economic scale, probably membership, too.
In the last 5 years we've had MAJOR issues with hardware availability from AT at least twice (but yet it seems to be a perpetuating cycle) and ALL SORTS of major issues with CTI motor performance and availability (fwd closure wrong plastic, starter pellet overly energetic).....all of which drove me into flying Loki until the 'issues' got resolved.
I'm actually amazed that we're still around as a hobby. I'm just a 5 year old BAR, but 'back in the day' must have been amazing!
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Hardware availability has turned a corner this year. I think by the end of the year every piece of hardware should be in stock.
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There was certainly some of that, but it was also stressful and contentious. We were pushing the limits of the law and regulations. New representatives from the regulatory agencies meant new interpretations of the rules. Interactions between the manufacturers were not always cordial. There were threats, lawsuits and downright treachery. Mark Canepa’s book covers this period well. From my perspective, given that most of this has finally settled down, we are in a “golden age” of the hobby.
Joshua F Thomas
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I've heard some stories about the period in the 1970s when NAR ejected people from their membership they knew were flying motors bigger than an F...
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Which one, MHPR2 or LDRS?
LDRS. LDRS is about the history of the hobby, MHPR2 is a (somewhat dated but still worth your time) technical guidebook.
Seems like a little competition is exactly what the hobby needs. Competition is the only thing that drives innovation in the hobby. DMS was a direct response to CTI and the hobby is better for it IMO.
Penetrating the industry is incredibly difficult so it’s not likely to see a new manufacturer.
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rfjustin
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Internet gold right there folks.
