It's been a while...
... since I have had the opportunity to post but I thought that this might be a good time to update everyone on the happenings at Quest. I will apologize in the beginning for the length of this post.
In case you are saying "who the heck is THIS guy?" I guess I should give you a bit of background. My name is Matt Costabile. I work for Bill Stine at Quest. Although my titles vary (from "washer of Bills' car" to "keeper of the office cat" ) most of the time I am the Director of Development. I head a wide variety of special projects that are on the forefront of Quests' [shall I say] "rebirth". Currently I am heading the web development project team and as such I guess I could be called the "webmaster" (pronounced "web MAS-TAH" with the sound of a chinese gong in the background).
Although I do not personally know most of the people who post on the forum it was the TRF that originally paved my way into the world of sport rocketry and as such I owe a huge debt of gratitude to every moderator and poster who has contributed their time and knowledge to make TRF the amazing resource that it is.
As many of you know (and as I have aluded to above) Quest Aerospace is now back in the hands of the founder - Bill Stine - after having been owned (for a while) by a mega-conglomerate toy company (think "Toy Story"). With the "return of the king" Quest has once again began to grow and evolve. Some new products are available already (Q2 igniters top MY list), others are coming in the next couple of months (a new ultra-simple boost glider that even I can fly). Others are in development.
Part of that growth is the building of the new website. Our goal is fast loading, easy-to-naviagate portal that will allow people (yes - even those with macs) who are looking for information on Quest products to find the information they need. Lots of product photos, helpful information that is NEW and CURRENT that you can download and links to other sites of interest. This is a long term project that will evolve in response to needs and interests of the rocketry community at large.
The BIG QUESTION: when will it be up and running? Well, last week I posted a new holding page that estimated the "first week in Jan". I think that we will be very close to that (although right now it's 4:30 in the morning on Thursday the 6th and I STILL do not have all the final pics in yet).
I am asked (at least daily) how it is to "be working for a rocket company that exists in an E dominated market". ("E" is NOT short for "Esther"). I think it's simply great. Without diversity and competition where is the catalyst for innovation? Quest is the quintessential model rocket company. We produce model rockets. And motors (German made motors at that). And launch systems. And Igniters. And all types of other products for the model rocketry market.
If the response from the market can be used as a gauge then we're somewhere on the right track. Products are selling and I have begun to avoid the shipping area at all times except for lunch (the only times the forklifts are not running).
Again, I am sorry that this has been such a long post but I have tried to catch a number of topics all at once.
Please do not hesitate to let me know what you think.
Matt Costabile
Washer of Bill's Car
Keeper of the office Cat (Henley)
Seer of the Unseen
Knower of the Unknown
Proud member of Tripoli
and lastly,
Director of Development for Quest Aerospace.
[email protected]