It's quite obviously spring. The daffs are out, Easter has left chocoholics temporary sated and there's something in the air... let's hope it is an increasing amount of smoke from BP and AP rocket motors instead of the fog and rain we have been treated to recently. Longer flying days and warmer more settled weather can't be far off, can they?
MODEL FLYERS!
Deepsky is delighted to add the Sirius Rocketry Refit USS Atlantis to its fleet of sci-fi rockets. This one is big (37 inches) and beautiful and has lots of fantastic detail. It is a low production D/E/F powered kit from a true modelling fanatic. You won't see many others around at launch sites this summer, hogging your limelight. Sirius also does the consumate Saturn/Apollo kit. Museum quality flying model rockets don't come cheap but there are none better if you are a Moon Race buff. Deepsky is the exclusive European dealer for these classy models... and there are more Sirius kits to follow.
Estes is just about to fulfill its lingering introduction of X-Prize kits with the mid-month availability of the Cosmos Mariner D-powered delta wing boost glider. It's big and beautiful, too. Thanks for your patience... it was supposed to be out last November-time. The Oracle Video rocket may even be along before the July date recently quoted. Fingers crossed!
Space Ship One kits came and sold out and are now back again. Deepsky, through its links with Rocket Team Vatsaas is exploring kit possibilities for a bigger model and maybe even a Radio Controlled one.
Speaking of R/C, we have added the sleek Estes R/C T-25 Centurian to our fleet. It is a rocket glider (no motor ejection) that flies on D11-P and E9-P motors. We are about to deliver the first of the very limited production run of World Champion R/C gliders to the anxious hands of a Swiss rocket competition stalwart. There are a handful more to follow with either 22mm competition motor mounts or 24mm Estes/Aerotech mounts. They can be made in your own favourite colour or with your name or competition number laminated in. There is no better rocket glider in the world!
We've put a bunch of new Semrocs and Fliskits on our site and anxiously await delivery. The US Post is still playing up a bit. Semroc has a neat retro boost glider coming and Fliskits has some very interesting cluster and payloader models in store for this spring.
How about a money-back guarantee on a super rocket? Deepsky and Sunward Aerospace will give you your money back on a CFX Six Footer if it loses a drag race with an Estes Mean Machine. We are confident that the CFX will make the Estes beanpole eat its smoke. The CFX Six is also cheaper than the venerable Mean Machine! Sunward's new Starwatcher is in stock for school and youth group workshops. There are a bevy of new Sunward models arriving this summer, too.
Qmodeling is readying a very lush (but strictly limited volume) Mega Retro Scale version of the Estes Hawkeye. Details will be available soon on the site. If you want one, pre-order or you might miss it!
Check out the Excelsior Retro Kit Bash line of modified Baby Berthas. They're goony.
HPR KIT DEVELOPMENTS
Deepsky is now selling Polecat Aerospace's fiberglass high power rockets. High performance or high entertainment value, take your pick! We are starting off with the two foot diameter Snitch clone called Woket and will be adding more kits as we go along. High quality and high performance HPR is assured with these unique and hand-crafted kits.
We have reviewed our HPR kit prices/policies and made a few changes. We will now quoting the cost of any special order kit on our site and leave off the variables such as customs duty and shipping which will be priced on a cost-only basis. Some people want kits fast so we special order them and have them sent via courier. That costs more than a buyer that is happy to have us bundle their kit in with our next resupply order and delivered to the UK on a much more economical basis. We'll do it your way on your schedule!
The other variable is the customs duty - we've been including the full whack in our prices but for reasons unknowable, sometimes it's less, occasionally more. For kits not in stock, we will take your credit card and hit it for the price of the rocket when it is ordered. When it arrives and we know precisely the cost of shipping and duty, we will take a second bite. The change is designed to get the rocket you want at the best price possible.
PROPULSION UPDATE
BP model motors
The UK importer has been out of some Bs and all Ds since January. We filled the gap with motors via Fedex. Now they have run out of some Cs as well. We are advised that they are expecting a new shipment shortly. Deepsky has a good supply now but it won't last much longer. Sigh.
AP high power motors
The CE process grinds onward for ProXX motors from Cesaroni. The end is in sight. More news shortly. Still no word on Aerotech developments. Congreve is maintaining radio silence on its plans. Loki Research in the US has just received its EX numbers and those motors could provide a fascinating alternative in the future. Early days.
Hybrid motors
We are pleased to announce that we will shortly be supplying the first of Contrail Rocket's intriguing 75mm hybrid motors for the European market. Deepsky now has 29mm, 38mm, 54mm, 64mm, 75mm and 98mm hybrid motor hardware from a variety of manufacturers. Most are capable of pyro-free initiation - no explosives licenses or permits are needed.
The Deepsky Mobile Launch Facility is coming together slowly. It has all the trussing and the trailer part complete for twin launch rails that can hurl HyperTEK or other hybrids skyward. We have 55 litres of nitrous to burn this summer, so buy a hybrid motor and get a free fill and fire courtesy of Deepsky!
Anti-gravity/Warp drive
Not yet. Probably a few months after CE marking is finished.
CLUB NEWS
It used to be that if you belonged to a British Model Flyers Association you could exercise the privileges of that membership for any model flying discipline anywhere in Britain. If you wanted a helicopter rating, build your R/C proficiency or learn to fly slope gliders, your membership in any BMFA affiliated club could get you admission to any corner of the hobby. That cross-pollenisation was great for growth and the best deal for aeromodelling hobbyists of all sorts!
Recently there appears to have been a retreat from that position. Allegedly, if you want a High Power Rocketry certification in the UK, you have to join a high power rocketry club. Does this mean that anyone that flys helicopters, control line airplanes, gliders, and rubber band powered aircraft all need to join up to the separate clubs that espouse those varied disciplines for certification? We think rockets are special, of course, but this makes rocketry into a ghetto!
If true, this news can only add cost to model flying hobbies and serve to separate aeromodelling enthusiasts at a time when increasing regulation and disappearing flying facilities are vexing us all. We haven't seen any correspondence on this matter although one of our Tripoli Rocketry UK members occasioned a query on this very subject recently. More news when somebody puts this odd policy double-think in writing.
Blast Off for Britain (www.blastoff4britain.org.uk) is the best deal going for model rocketeers. You get full BMFA insurance (£5m third party), support UK youth rocketry, have a (small and often ignored) voice in the BMFA and get a free rocket from Deepsky. Annual dues are to the penny what the BMFA charges. You can fly rockets up to H impulse... and maybe higher depending on clarification of the recent rumoured diktat. Blast Off for Britain also conducts workshops for schools, cadets and other youth and educational-orientated groups.
ADMINSTRATIVE CONTACT!
Deepsky has a new London telephone number that will connect you to us even when we are travelling about. For information or special orders please ring 020 8816 7202. For our customers abroad, the country code is 44 and drop the leading zero. Hopefully this new service will cut down on the time delay for returned calls when we are away from HQ. The best way to reach us is via the contact email form on the web site. We are giving a free rocket to the first person who orders over the new phone number ;-) Offer expires on Monday 4 April.
Orders placed through our web site get top priority but we will still open the post ;-) so if you want to order by printing an order form off the web site and sending it together with a cheque, that's fine with us!
Our newly activated secure credit card facility is working perfectly now. We had a bit of bother when our web developer left the site in "test" mode longer than anticipated but we sorted out that problem in a few seconds. A few people got "free" rockets but we will be in touch for their details soon! If you are wary about using a credit card online (even through HSBC's high security payment site) we are happy to take the digits over the telephone or via fax. We still accept payments via Nochex and Paypal, too.
EVENTFUL
Deepsky is a sponsor of the British Rocketry Oral History Programme this weekend at Charterhouse School in Surrey. Our general manager will be giving a short talk on the historical links between model rocketry and various space programme achievements. I guess a sub-topic is "What the heck is wrong with model rocketry and what can we do to fix it?" We have a few suggestions.
Deepsky will be at EARS this Sunday in Cambridgeshire and with the Black Knights in Tamworth in the middle of the month. SWARM has also been mentioned as a possible Deepsky trip as has a visit to the bunch up in the Wirral this month or next.
We are looking forward to the big multi-day events this summer: Big EARS, UKRA 2005 and BK Flamer and the warmer weather, calm winds and clear skies that were so scarce during the winter's building season.
The Force is strong with Deepsky. Our rockets have previously featured on BBC, ITV and even MTV (yes, it was Dirty Sanchez). "Star Wars III: The Revenge of the Sith" is our debut on the silver screen. The latest episode opens on 19 May worldwide. Deepsky provided a small but crucial part in the model-based special effects for the movie. When we asked for attribution in the credits, they laughed like the evil bastards of the Old Republic. Next time we will support the rebellion.
Team Deepsky
https://www.deepskyrocketshop.co.uk
MODEL FLYERS!
Deepsky is delighted to add the Sirius Rocketry Refit USS Atlantis to its fleet of sci-fi rockets. This one is big (37 inches) and beautiful and has lots of fantastic detail. It is a low production D/E/F powered kit from a true modelling fanatic. You won't see many others around at launch sites this summer, hogging your limelight. Sirius also does the consumate Saturn/Apollo kit. Museum quality flying model rockets don't come cheap but there are none better if you are a Moon Race buff. Deepsky is the exclusive European dealer for these classy models... and there are more Sirius kits to follow.
Estes is just about to fulfill its lingering introduction of X-Prize kits with the mid-month availability of the Cosmos Mariner D-powered delta wing boost glider. It's big and beautiful, too. Thanks for your patience... it was supposed to be out last November-time. The Oracle Video rocket may even be along before the July date recently quoted. Fingers crossed!
Space Ship One kits came and sold out and are now back again. Deepsky, through its links with Rocket Team Vatsaas is exploring kit possibilities for a bigger model and maybe even a Radio Controlled one.
Speaking of R/C, we have added the sleek Estes R/C T-25 Centurian to our fleet. It is a rocket glider (no motor ejection) that flies on D11-P and E9-P motors. We are about to deliver the first of the very limited production run of World Champion R/C gliders to the anxious hands of a Swiss rocket competition stalwart. There are a handful more to follow with either 22mm competition motor mounts or 24mm Estes/Aerotech mounts. They can be made in your own favourite colour or with your name or competition number laminated in. There is no better rocket glider in the world!
We've put a bunch of new Semrocs and Fliskits on our site and anxiously await delivery. The US Post is still playing up a bit. Semroc has a neat retro boost glider coming and Fliskits has some very interesting cluster and payloader models in store for this spring.
How about a money-back guarantee on a super rocket? Deepsky and Sunward Aerospace will give you your money back on a CFX Six Footer if it loses a drag race with an Estes Mean Machine. We are confident that the CFX will make the Estes beanpole eat its smoke. The CFX Six is also cheaper than the venerable Mean Machine! Sunward's new Starwatcher is in stock for school and youth group workshops. There are a bevy of new Sunward models arriving this summer, too.
Qmodeling is readying a very lush (but strictly limited volume) Mega Retro Scale version of the Estes Hawkeye. Details will be available soon on the site. If you want one, pre-order or you might miss it!
Check out the Excelsior Retro Kit Bash line of modified Baby Berthas. They're goony.
HPR KIT DEVELOPMENTS
Deepsky is now selling Polecat Aerospace's fiberglass high power rockets. High performance or high entertainment value, take your pick! We are starting off with the two foot diameter Snitch clone called Woket and will be adding more kits as we go along. High quality and high performance HPR is assured with these unique and hand-crafted kits.
We have reviewed our HPR kit prices/policies and made a few changes. We will now quoting the cost of any special order kit on our site and leave off the variables such as customs duty and shipping which will be priced on a cost-only basis. Some people want kits fast so we special order them and have them sent via courier. That costs more than a buyer that is happy to have us bundle their kit in with our next resupply order and delivered to the UK on a much more economical basis. We'll do it your way on your schedule!
The other variable is the customs duty - we've been including the full whack in our prices but for reasons unknowable, sometimes it's less, occasionally more. For kits not in stock, we will take your credit card and hit it for the price of the rocket when it is ordered. When it arrives and we know precisely the cost of shipping and duty, we will take a second bite. The change is designed to get the rocket you want at the best price possible.
PROPULSION UPDATE
BP model motors
The UK importer has been out of some Bs and all Ds since January. We filled the gap with motors via Fedex. Now they have run out of some Cs as well. We are advised that they are expecting a new shipment shortly. Deepsky has a good supply now but it won't last much longer. Sigh.
AP high power motors
The CE process grinds onward for ProXX motors from Cesaroni. The end is in sight. More news shortly. Still no word on Aerotech developments. Congreve is maintaining radio silence on its plans. Loki Research in the US has just received its EX numbers and those motors could provide a fascinating alternative in the future. Early days.
Hybrid motors
We are pleased to announce that we will shortly be supplying the first of Contrail Rocket's intriguing 75mm hybrid motors for the European market. Deepsky now has 29mm, 38mm, 54mm, 64mm, 75mm and 98mm hybrid motor hardware from a variety of manufacturers. Most are capable of pyro-free initiation - no explosives licenses or permits are needed.
The Deepsky Mobile Launch Facility is coming together slowly. It has all the trussing and the trailer part complete for twin launch rails that can hurl HyperTEK or other hybrids skyward. We have 55 litres of nitrous to burn this summer, so buy a hybrid motor and get a free fill and fire courtesy of Deepsky!
Anti-gravity/Warp drive
Not yet. Probably a few months after CE marking is finished.
CLUB NEWS
It used to be that if you belonged to a British Model Flyers Association you could exercise the privileges of that membership for any model flying discipline anywhere in Britain. If you wanted a helicopter rating, build your R/C proficiency or learn to fly slope gliders, your membership in any BMFA affiliated club could get you admission to any corner of the hobby. That cross-pollenisation was great for growth and the best deal for aeromodelling hobbyists of all sorts!
Recently there appears to have been a retreat from that position. Allegedly, if you want a High Power Rocketry certification in the UK, you have to join a high power rocketry club. Does this mean that anyone that flys helicopters, control line airplanes, gliders, and rubber band powered aircraft all need to join up to the separate clubs that espouse those varied disciplines for certification? We think rockets are special, of course, but this makes rocketry into a ghetto!
If true, this news can only add cost to model flying hobbies and serve to separate aeromodelling enthusiasts at a time when increasing regulation and disappearing flying facilities are vexing us all. We haven't seen any correspondence on this matter although one of our Tripoli Rocketry UK members occasioned a query on this very subject recently. More news when somebody puts this odd policy double-think in writing.
Blast Off for Britain (www.blastoff4britain.org.uk) is the best deal going for model rocketeers. You get full BMFA insurance (£5m third party), support UK youth rocketry, have a (small and often ignored) voice in the BMFA and get a free rocket from Deepsky. Annual dues are to the penny what the BMFA charges. You can fly rockets up to H impulse... and maybe higher depending on clarification of the recent rumoured diktat. Blast Off for Britain also conducts workshops for schools, cadets and other youth and educational-orientated groups.
ADMINSTRATIVE CONTACT!
Deepsky has a new London telephone number that will connect you to us even when we are travelling about. For information or special orders please ring 020 8816 7202. For our customers abroad, the country code is 44 and drop the leading zero. Hopefully this new service will cut down on the time delay for returned calls when we are away from HQ. The best way to reach us is via the contact email form on the web site. We are giving a free rocket to the first person who orders over the new phone number ;-) Offer expires on Monday 4 April.
Orders placed through our web site get top priority but we will still open the post ;-) so if you want to order by printing an order form off the web site and sending it together with a cheque, that's fine with us!
Our newly activated secure credit card facility is working perfectly now. We had a bit of bother when our web developer left the site in "test" mode longer than anticipated but we sorted out that problem in a few seconds. A few people got "free" rockets but we will be in touch for their details soon! If you are wary about using a credit card online (even through HSBC's high security payment site) we are happy to take the digits over the telephone or via fax. We still accept payments via Nochex and Paypal, too.
EVENTFUL
Deepsky is a sponsor of the British Rocketry Oral History Programme this weekend at Charterhouse School in Surrey. Our general manager will be giving a short talk on the historical links between model rocketry and various space programme achievements. I guess a sub-topic is "What the heck is wrong with model rocketry and what can we do to fix it?" We have a few suggestions.
Deepsky will be at EARS this Sunday in Cambridgeshire and with the Black Knights in Tamworth in the middle of the month. SWARM has also been mentioned as a possible Deepsky trip as has a visit to the bunch up in the Wirral this month or next.
We are looking forward to the big multi-day events this summer: Big EARS, UKRA 2005 and BK Flamer and the warmer weather, calm winds and clear skies that were so scarce during the winter's building season.
The Force is strong with Deepsky. Our rockets have previously featured on BBC, ITV and even MTV (yes, it was Dirty Sanchez). "Star Wars III: The Revenge of the Sith" is our debut on the silver screen. The latest episode opens on 19 May worldwide. Deepsky provided a small but crucial part in the model-based special effects for the movie. When we asked for attribution in the credits, they laughed like the evil bastards of the Old Republic. Next time we will support the rebellion.
Team Deepsky
https://www.deepskyrocketshop.co.uk
