What can you do after USPS and China Post gets done with your rocket?

[K'Tesh]

Thanks to the kindness of dhbarr, I got a rocket yesterday!

Mailing the entire Partizon kit he intended wasn't possible with the heavy duty boxes he had, however he did manage to fit two body tubes, the fins, instructions, parachute and shock cord, along with a spare 38mm motor tube!

Here's what I could have built with what was sent...



After the people who were entrusted to get this to me were done with it.... Here's what I can build



I don't blame dhbarr for his packing, the rocket was packed in two heavy duty cardboard boxes, but the side with the fincan's body tube apparently was mistaken for something you could safely sit on or something.

The upside... I'VE GOT A ROCKET I CAN BUILD!!! (Once I can locate (and afford to buy): glue, epoxy, sandpaper, and paint)

My plans are to make it in such a way that it can be extended once I can get a replacement for the damaged tube, and perhaps restore it to a full length Partizon.

Thanks David!

Tips and reminders for mailing things to China.

Chinese addresses work from the larger area to the smaller:

Country, Province, City, District, Road, Building Number, Floor, Unit/Apartment Number

​

If you want to make sure that the intended gets it. It must have a phone number to a Mandarin speaker. No phone number = No way of reaching the intended party, no delivery, and no return. ​

I don't know if it was labeled as glass that they'd take any more caution with it.

 

[dixontj93060]

My company does much (MUCH) shipping from China to Chicago. It works very well that direction. Sorry for your problems going the other way .

 

[Kruegon]

What I find funny here…

Estes kits are made in China but can't be bought in China?

 

[K'Tesh]

What I find funny here…

Estes kits are made in China but can't be bought in China?

It's frustrating. A lot of the things that are made here can't be bought here (well, they can be bought, but not shipped here directly).

Check out AliBaba and Bangood, then look to where you can and can't ship to... China and Taiwan are not on the list.

 

[DavidMcCann]

I'll take bets on which end the damage happened on.....

If you love it and it has to go international, send it GXG. https://www.usps.com/international/gxg.htm USPS intake, FedEx final delivery.

DHL/foreign PO's......scary.

 

[o1d_dude]

Use the 38mm motor tube. A 1 grain Cesaroni has a few coices and the two grain has more.

 

[dhbarr]

Use the 38mm motor tube. A 1 grain Cesaroni has a few coices and the two grain has more.

I didn't include any 38mm-2.5in CRs, because I like to torture people (and didn't have any when I decided to toss that in ) 😂

 

[dhbarr]

It's frustrating. A lot of the things that are made here can't be bought here (well, they can be bought, but not shipped here directly).

Check out AliBaba and Bangood, then look to where you can and can't ship to... China and Taiwan are not on the list.

I always wondered about that ; they usually put you in touch with a sales rep, couldn't you go off-road from that point?

 

[K'Tesh]

I always wondered about that ; they usually put you in touch with a sales rep, couldn't you go off-road from that point?

When I talked to a rep, I was told that the sites are restricted for Chinese buyers. They just don't ship within China.

Taobao, another Chinese online marketplace will ship in China, they have the following offers for Estes Rockets... the Wizard, Sky Trax, Swift, and Alpha III... All but one are for over 200 rmb (most in the 240 rmb - 380 rmb range) That's over $36 for a Wizard.

I'm living on less than 100 rmb a day again (June was a bad month for classes, between the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Gao Kao (Big Test)). Things would be better if I had a full class load, or a 2nd job, but my work visa restricts me to working for the school, and I arrived when getting full classes wasn't an option.

 

[dhbarr]

So much for my fantasy of discovering Estes' tube supplier and getting 2.5" OD thinwall longer than 15"

 

[Salvage-1]

Use the packing carboard and the 38mm motor mount and make yourself a Applewhite Stealth

 

[woferry]

Estes kits are made in China but can't be bought in China?

Yeah, not uncommon unfortunately. If it's anything like the electronics I travel there to oversee builds of, all of the manufacturing is done inside trade zones, that as far as Customs is concerned aren't inside the country, so it has to go through China Customs just to get outside the trade zone if it's destined for China (I guess bonded carriers can get stuff to the airport/ports and other trade zones without having to go through the extra step when its destined for other countries). I get the impression it helps with taxes and reducing the government oversight as well.

 

[Salvage-1]

Yeah, not uncommon unfortunately. If it's anything like the electronics I travel there to oversee builds of, all of the manufacturing is done inside trade zones, that as far as Customs is concerned aren't inside the country, so it has to go through China Customs just to get outside the trade zone if it's destined for China (I guess bonded carriers can get stuff to the airport/ports and other trade zones without having to go through the extra step when its destined for other countries). I get the impression it helps with taxes and reducing the government oversight as well.

You most probably just hit the bug straight on its head there....
My dad used to work importing wines and spirits. It's all about the Bonded Warehouses or Zones. Tax/Duty free until it LEAVES that Bonded area.

 

[bclark989]

(Once I can locate (and afford to buy): glue, epoxy, sandpaper, and paint)

Want me to reach out to friends there and see if they can tell me where to shop for this kind of stuff? None of the folks I know are in your area, they are mostly in and around Shanghai, but they might be able to tell me where to get this kind of stuff. If nothing else, I will be back some time this fall probably and we could try to make arrangements to meet up. I can't pack spray paint, but wood glue and epoxy are fine. I can also bring everything for airbrushing if you can get a hold of a compressor.

Let me know. =)

Brian

 

[dhbarr]

Want me to reach out to friends there and see if they can tell me where to shop for this kind of stuff? None of the folks I know are in your area, they are mostly in and around Shanghai, but they might be able to tell me where to get this kind of stuff. If nothing else, I will be back some time this fall probably and we could try to make arrangements to meet up. I can't pack spray paint, but wood glue and epoxy are fine. I can also bring everything for airbrushing if you can get a hold of a compressor.

Let me know. =)

Brian

Is that the sound of someone testing continuity on TRA China? :-D

 

[mpitfield]

When I talked to a rep, I was told that the sites are restricted for Chinese buyers. They just don't ship within China.

Taobao, another Chinese online marketplace will ship in China, they have the following offers for Estes Rockets... the Wizard, Sky Trax, Swift, and Alpha III... All but one are for over 200 rmb (most in the 240 rmb - 380 rmb range) That's over $36 for a Wizard.

I'm living on less than 100 rmb a day again (June was a bad month for classes, between the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Gao Kao (Big Test)). Things would be better if I had a full class load, or a 2nd job, but my work visa restricts me to working for the school, and I arrived when getting full classes wasn't an option.

What no black market option for whatever you want in China, I know it's alive and well up here in Canada.

 

[K'Tesh]

Want me to reach out to friends there and see if they can tell me where to shop for this kind of stuff? None of the folks I know are in your area, they are mostly in and around Shanghai, but they might be able to tell me where to get this kind of stuff. If nothing else, I will be back some time this fall probably and we could try to make arrangements to meet up. I can't pack spray paint, but wood glue and epoxy are fine. I can also bring everything for airbrushing if you can get a hold of a compressor.

Let me know. =)

Brian

Thanks for the offer! Please ask your friends... I could really use the help. I'm hoping by the fall I'll already have a source for BSI epoxy (or similar) and wood glue. There's got to be spray paint somewhere around here. Oh, and my airbrushing skills aren't all that good.

A couple of things to know about Yantai... The is no Home Depot... And as of the end of May, nor is there a Walmart.
So many of the shops that sell home improvement type stuff are so tiny, that I can't go inside of them with a backpack on and turn around. Without a backpack, I still have to turn sideways if someone wants to try to squeeze past me.

 

[K'Tesh]

What no black market option for whatever you want in China, I know it's alive and well up here in Canada.

I'm sure there's a black market... but I'm sure it's all about who you know, and how deep are your pockets.

 

[K'Tesh]

Update: During one of the recent sales of Estes closeout kits, I managed to pick up a pair of body tubes to help fill out the order and fix what David had sent to me. The rockets and parts were sent to eRockets, and Randy collected several of the kits I've managed to acquire while I've been here in China, and send them to me.

One of the body tubes was slightly creased on one end, but with careful positioning, the fins will hide the crimes.

I had planned on doing an entire build thread, but being out of practice, and desperate to build, those plans went out the window. Here's what I have done so far.

I forgot to leave the rear centering ring off to do the internal fillets. I've found that if I don't work on rockets at 3am, the mistakes I've made on this build could be avoided.



I'm building it to use rail buttons. So, you can see the wooden block (a mixture of ply and balsa layers) I built to accept the screw for the aft rail button.

Using a trick I picked up from Mike Fisher (Binder Design), I decided to slot the fin can completely to allow me to do the internal fillets.



Now that that was done, I decided to epoxy the papered fins that I had applied to seal them (not a step I usually do, but I can't find filler primer yet, and I wanted to protect the paper from wear). I found an odd tool (picture pending), that is covered in sharp points, I used the tool to perforate the paper, then applied 30 minute epoxy to the fins.



Sanding it down is a slow process, but with the gloss of the epoxy, it's easy to see the low spots and sand them out... (top fin in the picture below)



As it stands now, 5 of the 6 sides of the fins are sealed (I'm waiting for #5 to cure before I do #6, and then sand the fins).

More later!

 

[Rex R]

I have been known to ship things inside sections of plastic pipe hard to crush sch 40 pvc pipe.
Rex

 

[Rob702Martinez]

I have been known to ship things inside sections of plastic pipe hard to crush sch 40 pvc pipe.
Rex

Was just getting ready to post the same, PVC. Use a thick wall paper tube if anything.

 

[Zonie]

I went all over Shenzen, Beijing, and Shangai over a couple of weekends and couldn't find Jack Squat. No rockets, No Nintendo stuff, No Nothing. Yeah, the trade zones explanation makes perfect sense now. I did find some knockoff Legos that were quite interesting sold under several brands but the same stuff. One brand on the box (Lepin) another on the instructions... Quality was very good. Probably actual lego tooling without the logo on each bump. Amazing what I couldn't find and when I did find western stuff, 2-3X the price as here.