My first Estes F15 engine flight; first in Texas ?

[samb]

This past Saturday, September 21st, I flew my modified Executioner with a 29mm F15-6 black powder motor in the business end. I'm pretty sure this was the first appearance of the F15 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and maybe in the state.




The rocket was about 12 ounces on the pad. Liftoff was crowd-pleasingly deliberate (not slow but not a neck-snapper) and it just kept going due to the 3.5 second burn. No hard altitude data, but the calibrated eyeballs among us had it at 1200 feet +/-.

The rocket gods love to toy with us mortals but on this day I got off with a warning.



Lovely lovely motor, looking forward to more flights and maybe a stager sometime down the road.

More pictures here, courtesy of Gary Briggs: https://darsrocketrypics.shutterfly.com/pictures/837

 

[rhildinger]

You're a trailblazer, Sam!

In all seriousness I would have liked to have been there for the launch to see the motor perform, but alas I couldn't make it.

-Robert

 

[tmacklin]

That was a spectacular flight on a glorious day, especially after weeks of the annual Texas inferno! Play it again, Sam.

Ted

 

[BEC]

I flew four F15-6s last weekend in SE Washington state - two in my Semroc SLS Aero Dart and two in my Estes Majestic (one of the new E2X PSII kits). I also flew an E16-6 in a Semroc Centurion-F. Our impressions of the flights were the same as yours - "lovely motors".

I, too, am looking forward to staging them (on a really big, flat site). I see the PSII booster is at HobbyLinc. Now we need the -0 motors themselves.

 

[rstaff3]

I'm from Texas and flew a F15 and an E16 a couple of weeks ago...does that count?

I'm really happy with these motors. I'd much rather see Estes push the envelope with BP motors rather than just repackaging AT motors. FAIW, I grabbed some F15-0's at my semi-local Hobby Lobby. Didn't see the booster though. That HL stocks only one of each item and even their manager said they don't stock extras in the back. I understand not wanting to stock a lot of same items if they have a local distribution point, but one items seems a bit much. (or is that a bit little?)

 

[Cl(VII)]

Very nice. I'm sorry I packed it in early now; but the mud, wind, and heart burn from my weathercocked trident did me in.

 

[gdjsky01]

I flew an 8oz 2 inch diameter quest high-q on a F15-6 to 1194' last weekend. My guess is the executioner would be somewhat lower.

 

[samb]

You're a trailblazer, Sam!

In all seriousness I would have liked to have been there for the launch to see the motor perform, but alas I couldn't make it.

-Robert

No worries bud, we didn't take attendance.

I flew four F15-6s last weekend in SE Washington state - two in my Semroc SLS Aero Dart and two in my Estes Majestic (one of the new E2X PSII kits). I also flew an E16-6 in a Semroc Centurion-F. Our impressions of the flights were the same as yours - "lovely motors".

I, too, am looking forward to staging them (on a really big, flat site). I see the PSII booster is at HobbyLinc. Now we need the -0 motors themselves.

That is a nice selection of launch vehicles Bernard.

I'm from Texas and flew a F15 and an E16 a couple of weeks ago...does that count?

Heck Yeah it counts ! (for something)

... That HL stocks only one of each item and even their manager said they don't stock extras in the back. I understand not wanting to stock a lot of same items if they have a local distribution point, but one items seems a bit much. (or is that a bit little?)

HL certainly has some unique business practices. Automated product pricing and inventory tracking doesn't seem to be a high priority. Still, having them carry the rocketry items that they do is a big plus.

 

[samb]

I flew an 8oz 2 inch diameter quest high-q on a F15-6 to 1194' last weekend. My guess is the executioner would be somewhat lower.

I'll buy that Jeff, it was a pretty un-scientific estimate. Still got waaay up ! I need to get an Estes or Jolly Logic display only altimeter for these flights.

 

[dpower]

FAIW, I grabbed some F15-0's at my semi-local Hobby Lobby.

What was the price? They were marked at $32.99 at my local HL, which sure didn't seem right - but the employee I asked checked, and indicated they were marked correctly. The F15-6/-8 were at $27.99.

 

[rstaff3]

That's what there were here too. Before the 40% coupon of course.

 

[DanFrank]

Less stuff inside = more money! Go figure...

 

[rstaff3]

I assume it's because they think they'll sell fewer of them, but who knows.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

What was the price? They were marked at $32.99 at my local HL, which sure didn't seem right - but the employee I asked checked, and indicated they were marked correctly. The F15-6/-8 were at $27.99.

Same here. I still used a coupon and scored a pack. Rack 29mm coming :grin:

 

[rstaff3]

Ooooh, can't wait to see the build thread and hear a flight report.:w:

 

[powderburner]

I launched them a few weeks back, just to see "what they looked like." I had to tear up some old birds to glue in a DIY MMT, but then, I didn't expect to get them back anyway (and I didn't).

As to the motors......wow. Just wow.

 

[blueapplepaste]

Awesome! I was at the launch (first club launch and first MPR launch, too) that day but must have missed your flight. Glad to hear it went well! I'll probably try some of these black powder f engines out, too.

Glad your rocket missed the trees. It was windy that day and my wife's arreaux wasn't so lucky. Had to climb some trees to get it down. You got lucky!!

 

[jtk1]

That was a good flight of the new BP F15 by Sam, and it was a good day at the range, although a bit windy. I managed two flights with intact recoveries and no rockets eaten by trees and so I decided not to try the patience of the rocket gods any further! It was a good day for some "bench flying", and it gave me time to shop for a couple of new models from Red River Rocketry - a Slipstream and a Payloader-R. I'm thinking the Slipstream is just begging to be bashed with that extra 24mm motor mount that I happen to have lying around. (Jetstream?)

 

[shreadvector]

Pricing is wrong.

Local store or warehouse folks have no control and MUST obey the prices flowed from corporate.

i asked them to flow the information back to corporate to get it fixed. If it does not get corrected soon, I will elevate it by contacting corporate myself.

When something worse happened a few years ago at Michales nationwide everyone sat around and moaned on the various forums. I simply went to my local store, talekd to the manager. She got the store mamager and they said the prices came from corporate. i asked for a contact at corporate so I could let them know the details of the pricing problem. I got a name and number. I called and left a voicemail message (deatils and simple: "Your Estes prices seem to be wrong and I suspect that someone input the retail price in the wholsale 'cost' column and then calculated a retail price based on that which is 40% or so higher than MSRP.")

After I did not hear back from them in a couple of days I called again. She called me back right away and said that she looked into it and that i was correct and that they were issuing new pricing to all stores already. Within a week all fo the stores in the USA were corrected.

So, if you see a problem, TALK to someone and if they cannot help, elevate it to the correct level.

P.S.: One annoying factor in this particular issue is that we cannot refer them to the Estes website for normal MSRP because the prices on the website have the HAZMAT fee addd into the single motor pack price. Sheesh. They need a simple price list online.

What was the price? They were marked at $32.99 at my local HL, which sure didn't seem right - but the employee I asked checked, and indicated they were marked correctly. The F15-6/-8 were at $27.99.

 

[Trident]

What was the price? They were marked at $32.99 at my local HL, which sure didn't seem right - but the employee I asked checked, and indicated they were marked correctly. The F15-6/-8 were at $27.99.

I discovered the big BP motors at my local HL a few weeks ago. Both the E and F packages were $24.99, so I bought the Fs. I went to another HL about 10 miles away and the list prices were correct. Neither store had the boosters. Based on the types of rockets stocked, I was surprised to see HL carrying these motors. I do wonder if they will ever stock the booster motors.

UPDATE:

I went to HL today (10/1) and they had one pack of F15-0 booster motors. And had a list price of $32.99, so I decided not to try to get them to change the list price.

 

[rstaff3]

The F15 boosters appeared at the local location in the past two weeks. Prior, they only had motors with delays.

 

[shreadvector]

I must attend a meeting in person only 2 or so miles from the closest HL tomorrow morning. Looks like I will have to swing by there afterward. I'll call to see if the truck arrived to deliver another 2 or 3 packs of these motors.

We burned up quite a few yesterday at the Dry Lake (zero wind....). And we have another local launch this Saturday, so we MUST burn up more of them.

 

[shreadvector]

Picked up a pack of F15-6 motors after the meeting (sitting in car, luckily it's not going to be a hot day today).


They had 3 packs of F15-8 (unless one of those was an E16-8 as I saw purple and kept moving since I generally cannot use such long delay times) and 2 packs of the incorrectly overpriced F15-0 motors. 2 Ascender and 2 Majestic kits on the peg. Shelf for boooster stages is still empty (for now...). All other rocket stuff appears to be fully stocked now.

Should be a good launch on Saturday.....

I must attend a meeting in person only 2 or so miles from the closest HL tomorrow morning. Looks like I will have to swing by there afterward. I'll call to see if the truck arrived to deliver another 2 or 3 packs of these motors.

We burned up quite a few yesterday at the Dry Lake (zero wind....). And we have another local launch this Saturday, so we MUST burn up more of them.

 

[BEC]

Two packs of incorrectly priced F15-0s at my local HL today. Odd that their stock level for those is two packs but only one of each of the others. Bought (with coupon) the pack of F15-6s that was on hand and asked about the pricing on the -0s. The young lady went and showed me her price book. Yup - it says $32.99 for them.

I asked her who I should discuss it with and she opined that the store manager would do the same thing as she did - show me the book - so suggested contacting corporate via email on the web site. So I'll do that.

Shelf for booster units is still empty here, too.

 

[samb]

Two packs of incorrectly priced F15-0s at my local HL today. Odd that their stock level for those is two packs but only one of each of the others. Bought (with coupon) the pack of F15-6s that was on hand and asked about the pricing on the -0s. The young lady went and showed me her price book. Yup - it says $32.99 for them.

I asked her who I should discuss it with and she opined that the store manager would do the same thing as she did - show me the book - so suggested contacting corporate via email on the web site. So I'll do that.

Shelf for booster units is still empty here, too.

My experience with my own occasional interactions with HL store managers is the same; product pricing and inventory levels are set by the great and powerful "corporate".

 

[samb]

*** Attention Hobby Lobby Shoppers ! ***

I took Bernard's cue and emailed HL customer service through their web page this morning, with a question about the F15-0 pricing. Got a short reply back a few hours later (from what looks like a real persons email address ):

"... Your suggestion is appreciated and will be forwarded to the appropriate personnel. We hope that all your visits are pleasant and productive..."


My "suggestion" was really a question: Why the markup on the -0 motors over the -6 and -8's. I'll give them a few days to respond, maybe wait till Monday to follow up. I think a few more emails like this from y'all will get somebody's attention.

 

[BEC]

I also got a nice personal response that said "I will forward your comments and suggestions to the appropriate personnel. Thanks for taking the time...."

I explicitly called out that the F15-0s were $5 more per pack than the F15-6s and that that did not make sense. I also noted that there is no such discrepancy between -0 and other versions of other motors they carry. It will be interesting to see what happens. I hope they don't decide they should all be $32.99/pack