More new stuff from Estes

Fascinating.....

I'm glad they are at least thinking in the right direction but while the Saturn 1B sounds decent, the available date listed is the fall of 2006.

The X-15 is RTF and looks to be from left over stock of old Cox kit. We have one & it flies well, just make sure you are very careful when packing the chute. It does not like to deploy. Personally I'd like to see them do a slight upscale with a bt 60 or better and that uses a D-E engine.

Randy

simian transport?

Sea Monkeys. Read the description on the eHobbies website. Be sure to view the South Park episode as well.

Some new products are already on the Estes website.

No LemmiwinksLofter yet.

;-)

Both Estes and Cox had ready-to-fail plastic X-15s. Both were excellent lawn darts. I remember one time in Ft Wayne someone pranged one into a parking lot, and it stuck in the asphalt. Worse, it came out undamaged.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

At least the old Estes one was a mini-motor rocket, thus limiting the altitude from which it could prang.

This should be in the FAQ.

Don't doubt that at all. We flew ours a couple of weeks ago for the first time in 6-7 years and had a good deployment. (I packed the chute 3 times before I was satisfied, but still concerned) The first time we flew it was on a B6-4. The chute hung up and when it nosed in, it stuck about 4" in to the ground, at a strip mine! Nothing but rocks.

I never want to be hit by one.

Randy

hehehe - too funny

Ever see the pics of my Cartmans Revenge Saucer? I posted to alt.binaries.southpark a while ago. I capped pics from the original ep; aliens, satellite dish out back, flames... and printed them for an Art Applewhite Saucer. Went up on H153s iirc. I think it turned out very cool, and most people thought so too.

No verts can be lofted, last I looked.

Besides, Lemmiwinks would want a few test flights. That first mission stank! Was he a Prince or King? It's been too long. Gonna have to review the ep...

Patrick - beware the probe

In an unconventional flight I tried the following:

RTF x-15... (mini engine)

Estes "Beta" booster --Series III engines -- YOu know... The 18mm short

Tried it 3 times... Got successful second stage ignition twice. Third attempt resulted in a lawn dart... Bob was right... No damage.

Still have that critter around somewhere....

George

"Roy Green" writes:

Until Extes came out with the mini-x-wing, I'd dubbed the pair of X-15s "the most dangerous model rockets ever made"...

The mini-x-wing was so bad, NIRA changed its field rules. We don't normally do a formal safety check at our launches for "common" rockets. We require checks only for "complex" rockets, things we've seen people have more problems with. The current list includes experimental designs, over D motor, multiple motors (staged, clustered), reloads, active electronics (RC, altimeters), and READY TO FLY PLASTIC KITS.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Why not isolate the actual offenders: X-wings and X-15's?

Why throw the RTF E2X out with the X-danger bathwater?

Jerry

"There's nothing to apologize for. Apparently you are STILL incapable of understanding the difference between making a statement of fact, and the listing of possible scenarios."

- Ray Dunakin 5-10-05, ultimate TRA apologist

:)

Because too many of the molded plastic RTF rockets fail. Even the little mini mites (?) from a few years back failed more often tan worked. In fact, the ONLY molded plastic RTF rocket I can recall from Estes that works well is the Snitch.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Those little plastic mini mites were trash. You'd get maybe one or two launches and then they would melt the motor mounts. What an intro into rocketry for some poor kid. The idiot at Estes who OK'd that line needs to be horse whipped and then fired.

Reece, Reece, Reece,

This is just the kind of bone-headed nonsense that has really come to bother me on rmr.

I can't believe that somebody that, to this point, I've greatly respected, has come up with such an asinine comment.

Really, you need to go back an rethink this, please.

I mean, what are you thinking...

First you fire them, THEN you horse-whip them... How ELSE do you prevent a worker's compensation claim???

Geesh, do I have to do ALL the thinking around here???

David Erbas-White

Oh man, I'm soooooooooooooooo sorry. Where was my brain on that last one. You're right of course, fire then whip. That leaves just one remaining question; do you think that exec's mother had any children that lived?

You did good if you got a second flight out of them. One was unstable. One melted from the ejection. Another busted the shock cord. And if you tried to use the plastic launch rail that came with one, it only got worse.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Is that "consumer interaction" Estes RTF style?

The Estes Y-Wing was another classic example of plastic doom. A heavy chunk of molded styrene, its two parts held together with a piece of sewing elastic which probably wouldn't survive one trip through the laundry, let alone a hot ejection charge.

Their "regular" X-Wing was not much better. And if it survived a launch,

Now, the Centuri Rocket Times "design contest" X-Wing, actually flew pretty well. It was the first rocket I ever flew. Being a hardcore model-builder, with an interest in Sci-Fi...this modest little newspaper model is what brought me into this hobby. I got about 15 good flights from it.