Olympus no longer Hobby Lobby exclusive

[techrat]

In case anyone missed the Estes e-mail this morning.... They have re-purposed the Olympus as a STEM kit (along with Green Eggs); likely because they have thousands of the models sitting in a warehouse and Hobby Lobby seems to be phasing it out. So; while you can get an Olympus from Estes instead of HL, the only problem is that it comes as an $80 starter set with science experiments for STEM.

Whether they will offer it direct as a $25 kit alone remains to be seen.

 

[ljwilley]

I'm not too worried, I wasn't planning on buying either of those rockets any time soon. A lot of higher priority builds. And I mean a LOT.

 

[Pinetree]

I was getting their emails up until recently, and then they stopped.

As much as I like keeping busy and building Estes kits, I think I should buckle down and save up for my L2 rocket.

 

[SolarYellow]

Dang FOMO. Now I'm thinking about going over there and buying one or two before they're gone at the $15 price point. After I already returned them because I have too many unbuilt kits and didn't know why I had them or what to do with them.

Although it now occurs to me that they will enclose seven BT-5 tubes with a little room to spare...

 

[bad_idea]

Dang FOMO. Now I'm thinking about going over there and buying one or two before they're gone at the $15 price point. After I already returned them because I have too many unbuilt kits and didn't know why I had them or what to do with them.

Although it now occurs to me that they will enclose seven BT-5 tubes with a little room to spare...

I returned mine as well when I couldn't get longer segments of BT-65 from the Estes website. (Have a few orphaned BT-65 couplers as a result.) 1.88"/1.9" is only 2.1mm greater in OD than BT-65. It's what I started working with instead.

7xBT-5 can fit into BT-60 with a lot of sanding of the inside of the BT-60 and the outside of the BT-5, but it's true that BT-65 is the better tube for it.

 

[SolarYellow]

I returned mine as well when I couldn't get longer segments of BT-65 from the Estes website. (Have a few orphaned BT-65 couplers as a result.) 1.88"/1.9" is only 2.1mm greater in OD than BT-65. It's what I started working with instead.

7xBT-5 can fit into BT-60 with a lot of sanding of the inside of the BT-60 and the outside of the BT-5, but it's true that BT-65 is the better tube for it.

I've been kicking around several other ideas for a 7x13 in BT-60, but they are all kinda fiddly and their own project. When I started thinking about what 7x13 in BT-65 would look like, it was the obvious way to go. I'm targeting maximum g's with this, so the tube being lighter wall than AT or LOC tubing of slightly greater diameter is a plus, and the kits coming with nice, light Estes nose cones that paint sticks to is also a plus. Basically, it's a straighter route forward toward doing all the cluster stuff (ignition), instead of fiddling with retaining the motors in a space they don't really want to be in.

 

[bad_idea]

All good points. AT nose cones are a PITA to paint, and BT65 is certainly lighter than 1.9".

 

[jqavins]

Launch Lab has it in stock at $26. But only one, so "act fast, quantities are limited."

Everdon Hobbies has it at $25.

 

[86mustang408w]

Dang. I love the Olympus for base builds. I use hobby lobby for alot like that. I guess I better go grab a few.