New Estes Skylab Saturn V and Saturn 1b Sighted

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$70 vs $42, I'll get mine from AC. Plenty to add to an order to get free shipping there as well.

Yep, I can wait till they show up at the usual discount sources, as well.
All three of them:
coming soon.jpg

Still looking for a Sat V that was released last year. By November when I received my 1st disability check, none was to be found.

Old #2157 kit is all but gone from the retail shelves.
Frankly, you will be better off with the new Skylab kit.
I had to manually upgrade the motor mount to 29mm on my 2157, while Skylab comes with one from the factory. They should also have fixed the inaccurate skin wraps, and absence of the flimsy escape tower will make it less likely to require between-flights repairs. Skylab should be a better all-around kit.
 
Old #2157 kit is all but gone from the retail shelves.
Frankly, you will be better off with the new Skylab kit.
I had to manually upgrade the motor mount to 29mm on my 2157, while Skylab comes with one from the factory. They should also have fixed the inaccurate skin wraps, and absence of the flimsy escape tower will make it less likely to require between-flights repairs. Skylab should be a better all-around kit.
If I’m recalling all the online discussions - including info from Estes designer John Boren and builder for hire Chris Michielssen - the wrap has been corrected. Fully concur about the 29mm motor mount, I imagine that the #1969 SV didn’t get that upgrade due to Estes larger BP motor production being shutdown for the upgrades to their machines. Just dry fitting my #1969 together clued me in that it needs the options that a 29mm mount gives you - it’s one big, draggy rocket!
 
2 Saturn IBs ordered from Estes. I'll probably order a couple more from another vendor later. One for Skylab colors one for Apollo 7 colors. I have a recently obtained Centuri kit that I'm trying to get up the nerve to build (it's opened and someone started it a little so it's OK to build). I also have an old Estes 1/100 in my stash that hasn't been opened. I suppose that should be kept as is. I haven't attacked the Semrocs in my stash nor the Apogee kit. I think I tend to buy SIBs and then fear to build them....
 
If anyone has any information about SD and SC Hobby can they please pass it along? They were one of the first vendors to add the Skylab Saturn and 1b to their site and the only one I found that was taking money to reserve a kit...
I preordered one of each from them. They don’t have the 1B from the distributor yet.
 
$70 vs $42, I'll get mine from AC. Plenty to add to an order to get free shipping there as well.
Still looking for a Sat V that was released last year. By November when I received my 1st disability check, none was to be found.

Ebay is going to about be the only source for the #1969 kit at this rate as they are gone pretty much everywhere else.
 
Saturn 1b unboxings and general overiews of the parts ongoing at the Estes Model Rockets fan FB page. Along with postings of Skylab Saturn V order confirmations...
 
The escape tower on the new CM/LES piece is nowhere near as flimsy as it was on the K-36/2001/2157 kits. Mine came off on landing and it just popped the glue joints to the capsule and only because the upper section's parachute didn't fully deploy (it streamered). If it is glued on better, perhaps using epoxy to attach rather than just plastic glue, I believe it will be very sturdy. That is important if you want to fly the 1B on an E motor as that can take it to 1000 feet.
 
There have been several discussions on various forums and pages about how Estes does their direct web sales - they segregate a certain number of items from regular stock, update their website to that number, when that amount sells through the site goes out of stock until more items are designated for web sales, then the site numbers are updated.

What’s made this release of the 1b interesting is Estes including shipping on $50+ orders plus the 15% off email coupon - makes the 1b direct from Estes within about $6 of AC Supply’s plus shipping price. There’s been a fair amount of angst over whether this, the Skylab Saturn, and other kits Stine and Langford showed during the vNARAM video would ever really be released so I guess it’s created a bit of a mini feeding frenzy 😎
 
I don't think my wife even go the "in stock" email yet, but I told her about the threads saying it was active
 
2 Saturn IB Kits received today! I took a quick look in one of the boxes and it looks great!
 
mine shipped on the 17th but still says Accepted in penrose Colorado. USPS you are killing me
 
2 Saturn IBs ordered from Estes. I'll probably order a couple more from another vendor later. One for Skylab colors one for Apollo 7 colors. I have a recently obtained Centuri kit that I'm trying to get up the nerve to build (it's opened and someone started it a little so it's OK to build). I also have an old Estes 1/100 in my stash that hasn't been opened. I suppose that should be kept as is. I haven't attacked the Semrocs in my stash nor the Apogee kit. I think I tend to buy SIBs and then fear to build them....

One thing you could do is swap the unused parts from the 94 Estes issue with the started original Centuri parts. Then you would have a completely unbuilt Centuri kit. The vac wrap pieces and fins are identical between the two kits. In my 94 kit's case, Krylon sandable primer crazed the plastic wraps when I was building it in the early 2000s. So it never got finished and some additional pieces got damaged over time. I will likely use replacement parts for the new kit to replace what is missing and finish it, probably as Apollo 7.
 
Interesting discovery. Ordered the Saturn V Skylab on Thursday and it shipped today (Friday). Curiously, it is shipping via UPS while the Saturn 1B shipped USPS. Free shipping in both cases.
 
Fellow enablers......

I have in my collection a Flikits, Zooch, Semroc, and Apogee Saturn 1B (NOTE - NONE are built)
Why should I add an Estes as well?

GO!
 
I am supremely jealous of those who are receiving theirs direct from Estes. Estes didn’t bother releasing any to their distributors so the retailers could sell and ship at the same time. While I won’t be building them this year, it would be nice for my pre-order to have meant something.
 
Fellow enablers......

I have in my collection a Flikits, Zooch, Semroc, and Apogee Saturn 1B (NOTE - NONE are built)
Why should I add an Estes as well?

GO!
First you should build all of them. Second you need the Estes to complete the collection
 
A couple reasons. First you can have a Saturn 1B in the same scale as the most common Saturn V kits. Secondly, the 1/100 Saturn 1B looks to be the easiest building of the 1B kits I have seen over the years for its size (although the Apogee 1/70 is certainly easier build than the Estes K-29/Semroc clone). You also have some nice power options on the Estes 1/100 given you can fly C11 to D12 power for low power fields with altitudes up to 400 feet. Or you can stick an E into it if you really want to touch the clouds with it.
 
My Estes Skylab Saturn V arrived on my doorstep last night. I'll post a "First Look" review when I have a chance to shoot some photos. Based on what I see though... this kit is NICE!!!!
 

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While waiting for pie to bake, I unboxed some.

Tubes! New blow molded nosecone
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Injection molded engine clamshells
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Vac form wraps and transition
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Carstock materials like rings and templates (instructions too i think)
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Clamshell fins
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Recovery stuff
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And some conduits and things
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Trying to convince my wife and kids that I would really like a Skylab for Christmas. They seem to think I don't need another Sat V. They just don't understand... This one's different.
 
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