Narcon 2020... Estes Skylab and new Astrocam

[K'Tesh]

Over on FB, someone posted this image of the new products coming from Estes this year.

According to John Boren (JumpJet) over on YORF:

Since I'm not exactly sure what Bill Stine is going to show at NARCON, I can only comment on two rockets I've seen in a photo on Face Book. The first rocket is the re-release of the 1/100 Scale Saturn V but this time it's the Sky Lab Version. In addition to the Sky Lab Version the Bonus is going to be the Upper Section of the original Saturn. The Inter Stage vacuum formed wrap has been corrected and there is a small jig piece to help align the fin\fairing while they are glued in place.

The other photo is that of the new Astro Cam Camera Rocket. It's a BT-50 size model that has a small HD camera that fits into the side of the nose cone.

He also stated that they are going to be released later this year.

 

[cwbullet]

I wonder if the astrocam is Mac compatible.

 

[nosecone]

Niiiiice. Going to buy both.

 

[BBowmaster]

That picture makes me cringe. The Skylab models looks one little bump from a tragic ending.

But the Astrocam is likely hitting my shopping cart first. I still have an unbuilt Saturn V.

 

[shreadvector]

Will the solar panel tear off during boost like the real one?

 

[Peartree]

I wonder if they will offer some kind of kit to retrofit an old rocket with a new camera. My wife once bought me a camera rocket (Snapshot maybe?) and I never did get it to communicate with any of our computers. Still have it in a box. Never flew. Never got a single picture.

 

[K'Tesh]

The digital camera rockets were the Astrovision (BT-56 based) and the Oracle (BT-60 based)... The Snapshot was a one of the film cameras. The Snapshot, and Astrocam 110 variants were based on the BT-56 body tube, the Camroc was adapted down to a BT-50, and the Cineroc adapted down to a BT-60.

 

[Antares JS]

That Saturn V Skylab is an instant buy. I don't care who I have to hurt to get my hands on that. Astrocam is a maybe.

 

[Quasar]

I'm a loser. I meant to grab the 1969 Saturn V kit last year and I kept putting it off until I saw that all the big retailers were sold out. After much searching, I finally found one and bought it. Now, I find out about the Skylab release. Why couldn't I have just waited a little longer.

 

[Winston]

NARCON 2020, March 6-8, 2020. Coughing fit during Estes presentation and after. This was during the phony "We're doing such a great job" bragging period when case numbers were low simply because testing numbers were a complete joke due to inexcusable gross incompetence at the CDC. Can the coughing individual set our minds at ease?

 

[Winston]

Model Rocket Manufacturers Forum NARAM 2019

 

[DaveinMI]

Astrocam is available at some Target stores. But for me the closest is 2 1/2 hours away.

 

[WillMarchant]

Seems to have disappeared from the target.com site...

 

[DaveinMI]

I'm in MI, and show them in stock in Flint. Also, Kokomo and Muncie IN. But all too far for me to drive. Maybe they'll be available online to ship someday ?

 

[WillMarchant]

Maybe they'll be available online to ship someday ?

Bill Stine did say in the NARAM manufacturer's Forum that they'd be on the Estes site. And it sort of sounded like it might be before the end of the year. And it sounded like there would be a "rocket only" or maybe a "camera only" offering.

 

[DaveinMI]

Awesome ! Thanks !

 

[heada]

I wonder if Estes would be willing to sell the camera modules by themselves. 1080p 30 fps and 90min of video on the 16G card. Not a bad system. Wish the integrated lipo was bigger. Only 40 min run time on a charge.

 

[steveh.jae]

Over on FB, someone posted this image of the new products coming from Estes this year.

According to John Boren (JumpJet) over on YORF:


He also stated that they are going to be released later this year.

Any idea when the Skylab will be released?

 

[BEC]

Bill Stine said it would be available for Black Friday.....

Picked up an Astrocam at my local Target about an hour ago.

 

[steveh.jae]

Bill Stine said it would be available for Black Friday.....

Picked up an Astrocam at my local Target about an hour ago.

Thanks

 

[K'Tesh]

I can't wait to get my AstroCam... Now I just have to figure out how to get one to China.

 

[BEC]

Unedited video from Astrocam flown on a B6-4 about six and a half hours ago: https://youtu.be/lregGzlUVww This is straight off the card while the camera was plugged into my Mac.

I put up six flights. Reasonable quality video from all of them. This is the one flight were everything worked as intended - notably the camera was pointing down on descent as nothing tangled up with the string that attaches to the tip of the nose cone.

Here's the altimeter data for that flight: https://flightsketch.com/flights/1164/

 

[jqavins]

And it sounded like there would be a "rocket only"... offering.

Wouldn't that be more or less an Alpha?

 

[WillMarchant]

Wouldn't that be more or less an Alpha?

Not a starter kit, so you won’t have to pay for the pad and controller.

 

[Tobor]

In my town the Astrocam is currently only available as a launch set. Guess I'll just have to wait...

 

[jqavins]

OK, so by "a 'rocket only' or maybe a 'camera only' offering", you didn't mean an offering of the rocket without the camera. That's what I meant would be a more-or-less-Alpha, and seemed pretty pointless. Whereas the camera without the rocket would make sense.

 

[BEC]

From one of the Alpha minutiae guys: The Astrocam Carrier or whatever you want to call the model in just-released starter set is, if you stand a long way away, a significantly stretched Alpha with a body tube about twice the length of an Alpha III's. It has the new BT-50-sized two-piece press-together fin can with integral launch lug that appeared first in the Starship Octavius and is also used in the Ghost Chaser and the Illusion. It uses slide in fins which are very close in shape to, but slightly larger than the original Alpha fins/Alpha III/IV/VI fins. So....it could be considered an Alpha family member, I suppose—perhaps a second cousin or something.

The nose cone, with it's molded-in place for the camera (into which is snaps) and the provisions for a rubber band to keep the camera in and a tie point on the tip for the string that (when things don't tangle) allows the camera to be looking down during recovery is unique to this Astrocam model (at least so far). The underlying shape of the nose cone much closer to the YP nose cone shape that's on a bunch of other models than the Alpha shape(s) (original, either version of the blow molded nose cone shape or the Alpha III/IV/VI shape.

That nose cone, plus the camera itself, which I have not yet been able to find separately anywhere, are the truly special pieces of this package. They could be hosted on a number of BT-50-based models to interesting effect. I think it would be really cool to put it on top of, say, a Multi-Roc or even a Mongoose for some two-stage action.

 

[Initiator001]

I can see myself buy several of these rockets and cameras.

 

[Vitruvius]

As far as Skylab goes.....I'm saving my "pennies"!

 

[BEC]

I wonder if the astrocam is Mac compatible.

Chuck, I've been doing all my video work with the new Astrocam on my MacBook Pro (running High Sierra). The files off the camera are .avi but Quicktime player and other apps can handle them fine.