It's Worth Repeating... The Estes Bring Back Wishlist...

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K'Tesh

.....OpenRocket's ..... "Chuck Norris"
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Ok... This is not an official Estes anything... Just a wishlist of things I'd love to see them put out... There will be more to add as I think of things.

I'd love to see them come out with a reproduction of the Cineroc/Omega combo... But the Cineroc would be digital, (still using a first surface mirror), and a blow molded transition/NC that fits the BT-65 body tube (for the Camera Body), Injection molded shroud for the mirror. The Omega would this time include TTW fins, and that body tube decal seen in the old catalogs.

Next would be the Terrier/Sandhawk Pro Series kit, *BUT* using injection molded parts that are glued onto a cardboard payload section OR a blow molded payload section *AND* nosecone. Bonus points if they could figure out how to gap stage it, and have the Terrier recover under parachute.
 
Fat Boy, Jupiter-C, Mercury-Atlas, Gemini-Titan (the bigger one with a two-motor cluster), Shuttle stack, and improved Maxi-Brute HoJo without the vac-formed fins.

Not a re-release but for the wishlist, I would definitely jump on a "Super USS Andromeda" for 24mm motors. It's one of the few sci-fi rocket designs that I really like.
 
Fat Boy, Jupiter-C, Mercury-Atlas, Gemini-Titan (the bigger one with a two-motor cluster), Shuttle stack, and improved Maxi-Brute HoJo without the vac-formed fins.

Not a re-release but for the wishlist, I would definitely jump on a "Super USS Andromeda" for 24mm motors. It's one of the few sci-fi rocket designs that I really like.
Perhaps a modification to the Shuttle stack... make the orbiter a paper model/hybrid... I've never had luck with vacuform parts. For the HOJO, the fins could be made like the Pro Series Patriot Missile... That'd be fun...
 
My bring-back wish for Estes is rather modest - I’d like to see a return of the Mini Brutes. I know, they’re fairly easy to clone but with so many other projects on my list it’d be nice to just order a set of Mini Brute kits for some quick, nostalgia builds of rockets I can fly in the park 😎
 
You know, as part of a bring back campaign, I wish they would sell just the waterslide decal sheets, professionally produced to match originals, for a reasonable fee. I can clone something out of production for the most part, but with the loss of the ALPS printers, for many models it's hard to do justice to the decals.
 
and the Marte II
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I somehow missed out on the Leviathan, so I'd like to see a comeback of any of their "BIG" rockets. Although ironically, I just ordered a Super Big Bertha and their Der Big Red Max during their "Cyber Monday" sale. Managed to get 30% off between their Cyber coupon and another code I found online.
 
I somehow missed out on the Leviathan, so I'd like to see a comeback of any of their "BIG" rockets. Although ironically, I just ordered a Super Big Bertha and their Der Big Red Max during their "Cyber Monday" sale. Managed to get 30% off between their Cyber coupon and another code I found online.
As a Leviathan builder (I ended up stretching mine a bit due to a crash 😉) and the possessor of various unbuilt PSII builder kits I just can’t get that excited about the possibility of Estes bringing them back. My SBR Fusion kit and my LOC kits are of better quality and have better materials than the PSII builder kits from the mid-2000s. My BMS 3” School Rockets are better mid-power kits than the PSII kits. A fully optioned, 29mm powered BMS 3” School Rocket comes to a grand total of $50 - nearly 5 feet of 4FNC goodness complete with a payload bay, plywood fins/rings, motor retention and rail buttons - adding a 24” nylon chute takes you to $69.95. With so many vendors selling 2“- 4” MPR/HPR kits I’d rather see Estes focus on their core strengths and keep introducing stuff like the ANTAR, the Super Mars Snooper, the Super Orbital Transport, the (hopefully coming soon) B.O.S.S. along with new motors like the C5 and the upcoming higher output 24mm motors. Give us more upsized version classics, more scale kits, more fantasy kits!

The PSII kits from the mid-2000s were ok for what they were but I think a lot of the nostalgic feelings about those kits come from the Hobbico meltdown era when they were blowing those kits out the door at cut rate prices. That’s when I bought a few - not when they were at full MSRP, not even from AC Supply at a discount. Folks were buying them cheap and modding the heck out of them more because of the low cost rather than any inherent goodness. Except maybe the MDRM and the Nike Smoke - again, examples of what Estes does best, though probably unflyable over either of Estes current 29mm BP motors.

Though I’ll admit it, if the bigger PSII kits came back I’d buy a Nike Smoke!
 
My BMS 3” School Rockets are better mid-power kits than the PSII kits. A fully optioned, 29mm powered BMS 3” School Rocket comes to a grand total of $50 - nearly 5 feet of 4FNC goodness complete with a payload bay, plywood fins/rings, motor retention and rail buttons - adding a 24” nylon chute takes you to $69.95.
Wow, you are not kidding. Now I'm sorry I spent almost $75 on those two kits from Estes, when I could have had a 5' foot tall rocket from BMS.
Well,... it's only money, I'm going to order that 5 foot BMS kit tonight when I get home. What kind of 29mm motor does that need to even get off the pad?
Looks like I'm flying "G" for that sucker.
 
Wow, you are not kidding. Now I'm sorry I spent almost $75 on those two kits from Estes, when I could have had a 5' foot tall rocket from BMS.
Well,... it's only money, I'm going to order that 5 foot BMS kit tonight when I get home. What kind of 29mm motor does that need to even get off the pad?
Looks like I'm flying "G" for that sucker.
BMS uses a fairly lightweight body tube - my two plywood ring/balsa fin 24mm “base” models aren’t terribly heavy, they fly nicely on Estes E12s though Aerotech S/U Fs are the perfect motors. I can’t recall the weight off hand and Thrustcurve is offline - I’ll weigh them and update when I get a chance to go downstairs to the shop…

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My 3” School Rocket, no extension or payload bay, plywood rings, papered balsa fins, no chute installed, Estes threaded engine retainer and with my typical fairly heavy paint job weighs exactly 10 ounces.
 
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Super Vega
Interceptor G (I know, it was an NCR kit...still...) I'd like the nose to be the same style as the Interceptor and Interceptor E.
A big Interceptor would rock! The PSII Trajector hasn’t been OOP for too long so at least the design files for the big ‘Ceptor cone should be around.
You know, as part of a bring back campaign, I wish they would sell just the waterslide decal sheets, professionally produced to match originals, for a reasonable fee. I can clone something out of production for the most part, but with the loss of the ALPS printers, for many models it's hard to do justice to the decals.
Along with decals I’d love it if Estes would dip into the Centuri back catalog too - and not just for decals, how about bringing back the KC-8 Orion, the KB-3 Taurus or the KC-7 Quasar (I painted my Protostar as close to the Quasar as my limited abilities could get 😉).
 
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