New 2019 Estes Catalog

[BEC]

Estes would seem to be suggesting early morning or evening launching with their 'Flicker launch set' (oh look the nose lights up ).
Rex

Maybe so. That set has been available at Fred Meyer for some time now.....but I haven’t bought one. If the model were available separately, maybe. It’s gotta work better than the old Astrobeam did .

 

[BABAR]

Estes MIRV fits that bill. Wouldn't work if not for the plastic piece that splits the booster blowby gas into three streams.

I tried Estes MIRV and was very disappointed. Extremely underpowered booster, IMO. I'm working on my own version.

 

[BDB]

@neil_w I agree. As soon as I turned the page and heard the “woosh,” I groaned and hit the mute button.

 

[RoyAtl]

I fear that dimension may be a typographical error. A BBII with a 2.6" major diameter would have an overall length of ~50.3".

EDIT: The catalog typo appears to have been corrected, confirming that the BBII model is indeed the trusty old BT-55 kit.

James

Yep, someone copied the specs of the V2 to the Black Brant II entry

 

[RoyAtl]

Catalog looks great.

Anyone else face-palming regarding the new "building classifications"? I believe that is a very bad implementation on a number of, uh, "levels".

No, I think it is much better. Beginner Intermediate, Advanced, etc are much better than 1,2,3,4,5 where in one era 3 was advanced, in another era 3 is average.

 

[Bufkin Fairchild]

Any one notice other rockets discontinued?

 

[RoyAtl]

The SA-2061 list the C11-3 motor as the recommended motor for first flight, are they bringing back the C11 motors?

Ellis said in the Rocketry Show that they just haven't sold as well (in typical retail), so they are figuring out how to market/distribute less popular yet still useful motors.

 

[RoyAtl]

Any one notice other rockets discontinued?

Little Joe II (is in the index, but the page is the one where the 1/200th Saturn is)

 

[BEC]

I love that picture of John Langford with one of the more amusingly-costumed TARC teams (which is all girls) on page 97.

 

[neil_w]

No, I think it is much better. Beginner Intermediate, Advanced, etc are much better than 1,2,3,4,5 where in one era 3 was advanced, in another era 3 is average.

Quick, sort these:



A new skill level system is OK in theory. This implementation is terrible. These inscrutable symbols give no intuitive indication of relative difficulty.

I love that picture of John Langford with one of the more amusingly-costumed TARC teams (which is all girls) on page 97.

Page 97 is warranty and return policy???

 

[BEC]

One more time - look at the downloadable, not the “interactive”. Most if not all the errors mentioned in this thread are fixed in that version. Here is page 97.

Added: the picture to which I referred exists in the “interactive” version as well. See second screen shot attached.

On the “skill levels” - did you even read the explanation on page 9? Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master. Simple enough.

 

[neil_w]

On the “skill levels” - did you even read the explanation on page 9? Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master. Simple enough.

Of course I read it. Of course it can be understood. It is not intuitively understandable at-a-glance. I don't mean to harp on this, just surprised that they replaced a tried-and-true 50 year old system with something that seems so minimally thought out.

Again, I think the new catalog is fantastic, and I'm extremely impressed how much effort they apparently put into it. As I just looked through it again, I became impressed by how many multi-stage rockets they offer now. Is this more than they've had in the past? Seems like a lot.

 

[shreadvector]

Get your skill levels off my lawn!

 

[BEC]

First...it looks like the interactive one has been updated since last night as the 1/200 Saturn V data, the diameter of the Black Brant II and price of the Phantom have all been fixed. I haven’t checked anything else. Oh, and that stupid sound can be turned off.

As for “Building Classifications” - if they are able to carry it across the whole product line (which means new packaging for all kits) then I can see why. It’s to clean up the mess a half-implemented update from “skill levels” to “levels” the last two years or so left behind (or at least this is my speculation - I have no special knowledge). I have in my possession examples of Alpha kits labeled “Skill Level 1” and “Level 3” and Alpha IIIs as “E2X” and “level 2”. Something like 20 or 30 kits got reclassified and got new packaging in the last year or two of the Hobbico ownership and then they stopped.

This new system gives them a chance to go back and clean up this mess (and integrate the RTF/ARF/E2X models into one system) and by and large I agree with the classifications of each model within the new scale of 1-5 or at least I do for those I’ve actually checked.

Added later: and for those who obsess over collecting new variants of models, this will give another one for every kit in the line...which might add a few sales . I can hear the local Alpha collector groaning now....

 

[neil_w]

I have in my possession examples of Alpha kits labeled “Skill Level 1” and “Level 3” and Alpha IIIs as “E2X” and “level 2”. Something like 20 or 30 kits got reclassified and got new packaging in the last year or two of the Hobbico ownership and then stopped.

Well that was clearly a half-implemented debacle. I confess *anything* implemented across the product line would be better than that.

 

[Initiator001]

The 'skill level' program was developed by the marketing department at Estes in the early 1970s. It had little to do with the building difficulty of kits.

 

[BEC]

Oh? Do tell, Bob.....what was it supposed to be, then? Seriously, you have my curiosity up now!

 

[Aditya M]

Here are the files I have if anyone else is interested.

Hi, I did not buy this yet but want to sim it before I buy it.
I downloaded the file, where is the shock cord extended in the rocket, if anyone could tell me, because I don't have it yet.
Thanks.

 

[Aditya M]

Anyone fly this on an F32? That sounds like it could be cool. Maybe need some fillets to survive, though.

 

[Aditya M]

Flutter might be a problem with the F32 also

 

[Flyfalcons]

The BBII rerelease makes me soooooo happy.

 

[Rex R]

well I suppose that Estes could have used different colors for their *'degree of challenge', starting w/ red for beginner, green for advanced, and violet for master level of challenge .
Rex
*I suppose that the degree of challenge referred to the difficulty of building/flying the kits, I mean a Saturn is harder to build than say an Astron Alpha. the problem (imo) arose when the Co. introduced kits that were easier to build, thus needed a zero degree of challenge or change the whole lot.

 

[Ez2cDave]

a caution for those wanting to build the boosted bertha, build & paint light. it is very easy to end up overweight.
Rex

Rex,

Good point . . .

Personally, I would "mod" the booster for a 24mm mount ( C11-0 / D12-0 )

NOTE : The C11 motors are shown in the 2019 catalog !

 

[walterb]

i'm looking at the pdf and my print 2018 to see what is gone
black star voyager
cobra
curvilinear
drifter
estes slv
firestorm
helios
all mix and matches
red flare
scorpion
I may have missed something. looks like the Black Star Voyager and SLv move up my buy list.