pnc-80 nose cone

[gstarraider]

Does anyone know if anyone makes a long bt80 plastic nose cone cone like the one estes used on the phoenix, optima etc. I know i could use a loc, or pml but the shoulder is so big it hangs a little over the tube. I could possibly use the balsa machine service one but i would really like to keep it plastic, seems to hold up better.

 

[KarlD]

I have been looking for that one too. The cone that is packaged with the Executioner comes to mind....

No idea where to find it...unless you buy the kit for the nosecone...

 

[jetra2]

I THINK that you can order up to 5 or 6 from Estes by calling their customer service number, which I don't have on hand right now, sorry. Do a quick TRF search for it, you will definately find it in that.

Jason

 

[sandman]

Call Estes customer service.

800-525-7561

 

[gstarraider]

I dont know why they don't sell it like the rest of the cones. I would think it would sell great for low power projects.

 

[Micromeister]

PNC-80K is a great upscaling cone which may be Why you have to order them directly from Estes customer service. They have always been very helpful in the past. I think I bought 12 the last time I ordered them. see them hanging on a hanger wire in the pic below

 

[Fore Check]

Yeah, I bought 5 the last time I called. Reasonably priced, too.

 

[MetMan]

If you don't mind my asking, how much with shipping?

 

[Micromeister]

Shoot I don't remember exactly, but the dozen with shipping to DC was under $60.00 about 18 months ago. I remember thinking Humm under 5.00 each

 

[rokitflite]

Estes stopped selling those nose cones separately AND limits direct buyers to only a few, because too many small companies were using these nose cones to manufacture kits of their own. These companies were competition for Estes so limiting the sale of the cones helps eliminate competition. Thats what I heard and it makes sense.
Almost anyone can produce a rocket kit reasonably cheaply, but the most expensive part is to make a mold and manufacture plastic nose cones.

 

[shrox]

If you can scale back to a BT-70, Apogee has a nice plastic nose cone for that. It is the basic Phoenix missile shape. Tim also has a thin wall BT-70 body tube that fits it nicely.

https://www.apogeerockets.com/special_nose.asp

 

[RevKeith]

BMS has a balsa version of the PNC80K for $8.95. Anyone tried one of them?

https://www.balsamachining.com/CONES.htm

 

[gstarraider]

I have seen and used the apogee bt-70 on a upscale of the photon disruptor II. nice cone, really long. but wont work for what i am doing. thanks anyway.

 

[gstarraider]

bought 5 today from estes, $4.00 a piece and $5.00 for shipping

 

Originally posted by rokitflite
Estes stopped selling those nose cones separately AND limits direct buyers to only a few, because too many small companies were using these nose cones to manufacture kits of their own. These companies were competition for Estes so limiting the sale of the cones helps eliminate competition. Thats what I heard and it makes sense.
Almost anyone can produce a rocket kit reasonably cheaply, but the most expensive part is to make a mold and manufacture plastic nose cones.

I remember when the 'long' style was in the catalog, and the Fat-Boy style cone was special order. Now it's the other way around.

I suppose it makes sense why they did it, but they sure put the hurt on us scratch-builders. I never seem to have enough of the long style cones. I picked up a couple used ones awile back, but used them up already.

 

[BRS Hobbies]

Currently, the only nose cone I can get for the BT80 body tube is the Estes PNC-80BB. I get asked all the time for other plastic nose cones for the BT80. It would be great if Estes sold the PNC-80K separately again. Anyone know what kind of an investment it would take to get a plastic BT-80 nose cone made? It would be cool if all of us could come together and get some new nose cones made.

Best regards,
Brian

 

[tpquinn]

We produce our own nose cones and will sell them separately. Since our cones are hand pulled through an aluminum mold two part resin process (see website for more specifics on the process) we don't sell them in large quantities.

Currently we have a BT-80 OGIVE cone that we use on our MRS-NIKEX and soon to be released MRS-HAWKEYE and MRS-BULLPUP. The cones tips are filled roughly about a 1/2" enabling them to be sanded for different tip shapes. The resin material is easily sanded enabling you to control the overall finish and weight.

The cones are sold with a nose cone plug that gets glued to the back end of the cone. The plug has a center hole for an eye screw and recovery system attachment.

We also sells seconds. Seconds are cones that don't meet our quality standards to be sold in a kit, but are still usable given a little elbow grease. Several customers have bought our seconds either directly or through ebay when we auction them and have reported back great success.

Ultimately we want to sell our cones and seconds on our website, once we fell comfortable that we can meet both kit and individual cone demand. Until then if you could use a BT-80-OGIVE or BT-60_TAP cone just send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I will work with you directly.

Thanks.

Tom Quinn
QModeling, President

 

[gstarraider]

thanks for your response tpquinn, yours was the most helpfull.
i also got a response from apogee components which was less than encouraging. i finally got a response from estes that they are sending the one's i ordered a couple of weeks ago. thanks everyone for your help.

 

[Stymye]

Originally posted by BRS Hobbies
Currently, the only nose cone I can get for the BT80 body tube is the Estes PNC-80BB. I get asked all the time for other plastic nose cones for the BT80. It would be great if Estes sold the PNC-80K separately again. Anyone know what kind of an investment it would take to get a plastic BT-80 nose cone made? It would be cool if all of us could come together and get some new nose cones made.

Best regards,
Brian

working on it , I'm in the process of aquiring a used blow molding machine , It requires a little "fixing up",but was cheap enough
my first mold attempts will be for bt-80.... It will still be a while before I can get the machine running , build a mold(s)..I am still in a learning curve concerning molding in general.

I found the machine was necessary to get for testing and to get things right. I still have a long way to go and I am swamped at work for the next 2-3 months. but hopefully I can fll the need in the very near future.

 

[BobCox]

Originally posted by tpquinn
We also sells seconds. Seconds are cones that don't meet our quality standards to be sold in a kit, but are still usable given a little elbow grease. Several customers have bought our seconds either directly or through ebay when we auction them and have reported back great success.

I am finishing construction on two rockets that used Qmodeling BT-80 cones (factory seconds). The seconds required quite a bit of extra sanding and spot filling, but they turned out great. You would need some sensitive equipment to tell that there was ever anything wrong with them.

I'll try to post some pictures after NARCON.

 

[gpoehlein]

If you want a PNC-80K nose cone, but don't want to buy an Executioner ($45), there is a cheaper alternative - the new Canadian Arrow. It has a PNC-80K nose cone and retails for $22. ($11 if HL ever runs their 50% off sale again!) Of course, it is a bit more expensive than buying just the cones from Estes, but you do get the BT-80 body tube, plus the rest of the hardware that comes with a standard Estes kit (motor tube, clip, centering rings, etc.)

Interestingly, it seems to be a repackage of the BT-80 based V2 kit - same tail cone and looks like similar fins. I think the BT-80 is a bit longer, but you can cut that down to clone the V2. I plan to buy several while they are available.

Greg

 

[RevKeith]

I realize this is a old thread but after seeing it I called Estes today and ordered a few PNC80K nose cones. They are $4 each with a max order of 3 and $5 shipping. Shipping will be held up for at least four weeks due to a new warehouse. Not sure how long they will make you wait to order more. The PNC80K is a great nose cone for upscaling!