Return of the Estes catalog
 

Yup, it's true. :)

There will be a 2018 Estes catalog.

It should be available in by the end of June.

Looking forward to it, Estes. :D

Great!

My wife and I met Ellis Langford and his wife at NSL. I was even more encouraged with the change in ownership and the new management direction after talking with them. Ellis also spoke for a few minutes at the banquet.

Really nice folks! :)

I'll be really impressed if the new ownership brings back port-burning BP SU 18mm and 27/29mm motors that were available in the 60's through 90's.
They ARE wanted; not doing so is just one more baloney excuse.

Might as well give it up, GH...............almost certainly not gonna happen. Truth is, YOU and a few others want them back, but it will be a niche business. Are you gonna pay substantially higher prices for them to offset the problem of low volume?

Gh:

If by "a few" you mean a few thousand, yes. Probably half or more of the current NAR membership would like some B14/B8's and C5's. Just about all of us NAR folks that still fly low power would like to have a box full of them to lift our bulky projects on small fields. The other half probably only cares about HPR. Most buyers that aren't NAR members wouldn't know what they had if they saw them on the store shelves. Unfortunately, that's where Estes makes their profit.

Bob,

Do you know if the catalog will be printed, or might it just be PDF?

Glad to hear that about the catalog!

I managed to talk to Ellis Langford for a few minutes outside the theater where the participants' briefing for the TARC final was held. He was there with Angela Everhart and one other Estes person whose name has escaped me. And of course his dad was running around like crazy since models shipped to TARC are sent to his business (Aurora Flight Sciences). Ellis was certainly saying all the right things. It is a very hopeful sign.

On B14s, B8s and C5s. Sure - I'd be happy to see any of these back. I still have a few B8s and C5s I managed to scrounge after becoming a BAR, but only have one B14.....but I'm not going to hold my breath. :)

It's at the printers now. :cool:

In a post over on TRF, John Boren said everything was being looked at.
The only product that was definitely NOT going to return were B14s.

Actually I was referring to the B14. If you started a petition to send to Estes, I doubt if you could get a few hundred signatures, let alone a few thousand. And most of the signatories would probably be signing just to support their friends who wanted them............especially GH.

Whoever's left in the hobby that had real B14's would want them again. Most of us that had B14's actually had the pintle version which was really a B8 initially labeled a B14. The vast majority in the hobby never had any of the core burners so if you never had them, you'd never miss them. As for a petition, we are so spread out, we wouldn't even be able to get a few thousand to sign for the very survival of the hobby unless it was an online petition. BTW, several that want them wouldn't sign the petition in order to thwart GH's quest for the holy B14 grail. :chuckle:

I still have a stash of real drilled-core B14's, some pintle-pressed B14's that are actually B8s, as well as correctly labeled B8's.
I'm VERY stingy when I burn a "real" drilled B14....I used one early this spring in a vintage Astron Sprint.
I have been able to create "pseudo" B14's with B4-2s and B4-4s as the base motor, but that still does not get one a B14/B8 booster motor which is what is really needed.
I'd be happy if Estes would bring back the B8-0 and C5-0/3.
An 18mm booster in B and C flavors with a real kick...the 24mm C11 just is not the same.

I hate the BOGUS "safety" argument against making them. I HATE SAFETY WEENIES.

Then go with the "profit" argument. It adds an extra step. That means design and build a machine which costs money, or pay somebody to drill them the old fashioned way, which will cost more than just the salary of the employee.

Well, I don't want them, but I'd sign for GH, if only to silence him on the issue............ :)

The B8/C5 don't require an extra step in production; they just press the propellant around a small pintle.

Or you can just keep reporting his ridiculous posts. Off topic thread stealer. Maybe eventually he'll just get banned. I'd ban him without any hesitation.

Was talking about the real B14. There's no safety issue for the pintle version. :rolleyes:

2018 catalog is in stock and for sale on the Estes website today.

No pdf online (yet...).

Yeah, I keep looking for the .pdf myself and just looked again a moment ago..... :)

They are SELLING the catalog instead of properly GIVING them away ???
Sheesh....

Nothing new. They charged me 25 cents for my first one ($1.42 in 2018 dollars).

I have always gotten them for free at the LHS.

in many of the past few years if you had an account on the website, and you bought the catalog online, they would give you credit for it on a future order.

Just got mine today. A few surprises in there, the return of the Multi Roc, the Explorer Aquarius, and the #2157 Apollo XI Saturn V with some kind of a mystery bonus! The Little Joe I is on the back cover and inside too. Listed at $32.99.

You should be able to get the Estes catalog at your local hobby shop for free.

John Boren

So buy something when you go in there for your free Estes catalog.

:D

That's actually a good idea.
Maybe I'll go in there and grab another LJII or something.

Definitely a good idea. I require another Citation Patriot.

Went to a LHS today to get a catalog.
None to be found and no kits I wanted/needed either.
Grabbed a pack of E12-0s for my Omega and some more F15-4s

As we all happily know, Estes surprised us and released a new 2018 catalog last week. What you may not know is that Estes generally only ships to distributors, so you can assume that most distributors won't get the catalogs until around mid-July at the earliest, as they will need to place an order of other rocket stuff to be shipped with the catalogs to meet the minimum order amount. That means your local hobby shops won't get catalogs until around late-July.

I ordered one today. There is no charge for shipping. I did pay 8 cents sales tax, a minor burden. :)

I assume we will all get a copy at NARAM.

;)

Yes, Catalogs will be at NARAM 60.


John Boren

All this talk of printed catalogs, but I am a website designer/developer, so I looked over the Estes site for anything significant, and I found something. Or rather, I found something missing. Other than the 'Specials' page, there are no airplanes, helis, or drones. Yes, the Zip Disc is still there, but at a fire sale price. So it looks like that "re-focusing" is indeed taking place.

Lots of other bits of the site are out of date, or just poorly styled. Definitely time for an update (By the way, Ellis, I'm available to work on it! :) ).

PDF Copy online
 

The PDF version of the new Estes 2018 Catalog is now online.



https://www.estesrockets.com/media/...WEB_VERSION.pdf



John Boren

Thanks for posting.


Interesting. The C11-x motors are still listed. There is a thrust curve for a D11.

Also, the E9s are all still there. Perhaps the reports of their demise over on that other forum were premature?

The D11 curve has been there for most of the past few catalogs.

Only the C11-0, C11-7 and E9-8 are still for sale on the Estes website. Until that changes, it's hard to believe the C11 and E9 series haven't been discontinued.