Some good insight from Initiator001 here and at YORF on the Ventris, Estes and the hobby rocketry business in general.
And I think you could be right about future PSII reissues - the nostalgia-tinted negative reaction to the Ventris probably means the future of PSII reissues doesn’t look particularly bright. But that’s ok, my opinion hasn’t changed, I think the
current PSII concept is sound, even if the execution may need some tweaking - I’m looking at you and your plastic chute DBRM! - Estes as a company is all about model rockets and I’d rather see them focused on creating interesting designs that fly great on their black powder motors rather than more just good enough MPR rockets. The current PSII kits fit their strengths better - literally larger or more complex model rockets. Frankly, I’m surprised the recent Saturn kits weren’t branded as PSIIs. Including some of the most challenging 24mm powered kits under the PSII umbrella would’ve sent a clear signal about what the current PSII rockets are all about.
The So Long - a kit I rather like and will buy eventually (unless it goes OOP before I do, then it’ll become the bestest kit ever and Estes is doing me dirty by not reissuing it
) - is brilliant, a relatively inexpensive, good looking and straightforward to build rocket that is specifically designed to use the biggest motors Estes makes and completely functional on adapted smaller motors. And again, my only criticism of the SL is the recovery gear - I love streamer recovery but I think Estes could do better than the streamers provided. Not sure they’ll fit but I’ll be trying some thin mil fabric streamers in mine.
Lastly, Estes is learning the hard way what the Japanese motorcycle companies learned about what “fan boys” say they want (and what will sell) and what the market actually wants - see the history of “retro” designs sold by anyone other than H-D, Triumph, Moto Guzzi and Royal Enfield here in the US.