New kits at Estes
 

Links

https://estesrockets.com/product/001946-boosted-bertha/

https://estesrockets.com/product/001207-phantom/

https://estesrockets.com/product/007271-sasha/

https://estesrockets.com/product/007279-double-ringer/

Put the Double Ringer together tonight - takes about 45 minutes and you need scotch tape, plastic cement, and scissors. I used medium CA to glue the plastic fin unit into the body tube.

Very interesting looking bird - hope to fly it soon.

Nice to see the Phantom back!

Like the Two Stage Big Bertha to.

I have to wonder about this Boosted Bertha. The booster will surely come in ballistic - must be heck on the forward end of it.

I've seen this configuration several times over the years. Seems like 40% off coupons at Hobby Lobby and plentiful Baby Berthas led to many different bashes, some of which were stagers like this.

But I can't see that booster tumbling in, not unless weight is added to the fin tips.


Doug


.

The booster on the Bertha does in fact Tumble.


John Boren

If you follow the Boosted Bertha link posted above, there is a link to “Download Instructions”. Besides having moderately larger booster fins, it has a screw-on motor retainer (as does the upper stage). With that added mass toward the aft end, it looks like it would tumble or possibly come in fairly flat to me.

Two features I really like — booster venting thru centering rings, out the aft end, and TTW booster fins. Looks to be a fun rocket.

This looks very cool.

The Double ringer gliders are rolled from card stock so lots of replacement decoration options are possible.

I'm a little puzzled by the use of artwork instead of finished models on the linked-too pages.

I have such a huge back-log of kits that I'm not sure that I'd buy any of these, but the staged Bertha and the Double Ringer are neat ideas.

It would be neat to convert the Boosted Bertha into a Boosted RANGER with a payload section and 2 stages of 3x18mm cluster power.

The fact you have to say it is amusing to me. :D

How about a 29mm bigger Polaris or Comet. 3"?

A few things from the forum at NARAM last night - a new boost glider that appeared to have some Shrox-like characteristics, a single stage SAM 83(?) that looks like a companion to the Sasha, confirmation that the current BLACK POWDER 29mm motors are as big as they’re going to get BUT a very strong hint that more powerful PSII motors are coming, and that new PSII builder kits will be upscale versions of classic Estes/Centuri designs. Plus it sounded like B14s are coming back. Oh, and a little fly and forget mini rocket called the Luna Bug - think Mosquito with curved footpad equipped fins.

One other thing from the forum - if there are things you want to see from Estes, posting about it on either the company Facebook page or the Estes fan page is the best way to get your message to Estes leadership.

Wait, what?!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3PUu88nOcw


(Not far from Penrose...)

Reply to post #12:
Awesome news! Did anyone get pictures or video of the presentation??
As for the glider, I assume the new one on the Estes website is what you saw:
https://estesrockets.com/product/007280-gryphon/

Will buy a truckload of B14s if they truly come back.
In all delay flavors... Hope for a -3 along with the -0, 5, 6, and 7.

I had to chuckle at this...in a good way.

Scott_650's verrrry passing and semi-buried comment "Oh, and B14s may be coming back" to this YORF audience is akin to stepping into the house and casually saying "Yes, honey, I'll mow the grass...after the alien space ship in the back yard takes off." :chuckle:


Earl

Absolutely! It's one of the few small motors I never got to experience. They were around when I started, but I never bought any. I've done A8-x clusters which kinda-sorta parallels the thrust curve, but extra weight and bulk comes with it.

The question I've had is, does Estes have any direct involvement in the fan page? Assuming they mean "Estes Model Rockets." Or do they just monitor it?

even a B8-ish motor (and it's C5 companion) would be nice.

I was wondering about the recent re-posting of the graphic designer position on Indeed.com. Might be all they had available. The one that did the last of the Hobbico packaging (the pastel colors with oddly length distorted rockets) looked CG too. Maybe they haven't had anyone that knows how to do product photography in awhile.

The B14 discussion started about competition rocketry in Europe and how B14-0 motors worked so well which led to the quick comment about bringing that motor and others back. Though my favorite motor comment of the evening was the Aerotech guys gently and humorously poking at the Estes guys for saying the QJets were the best motors for the RTF Saturn V.

I don’t have any specific memory of flying B14s as a kid though I’m sure I did - I flew whatever motors the hobby store (or Woolworth) had on sale :)

Sorry these posts have been so scattershot but I just remembered another Estes tidbit - that the next plastic RTF display/flier could be an N-1 as a companion to the Saturn.

Also, we can expect to see a pretty complete slate of US manned spacecraft rockets - the conversation went along the lines that Estes has produced all the man rated rockets just not all of them at the same time with that being the goal.

On the B14s just be aware that Estes now employs someone who is notorious for black powder vaporware.

I learned about interpreting thrust curves at an early age. I put a B14 into a Flying Jenny biplane glider. It exceeded the speed of balsa shortly after liftoff.

I still have some B14s dated 1968. I’ve wanted to try them, but now maybe I’ll be able to just use new ones.

Yea,

I wouldn't count on the B14 coming anytime in this life time. I did fly something even better at Estes this past Thursday though.



John Boren

Shoot, now you're just playing with us.

There was not a presentation per se. Dr. Langford just took questions....and there was some mention of B14-0s but I didn’t interpret what he said to say they were coming back. John Boren’s post just above is very intriguing.

There were a bunch of new models of various types in a box Dr. Langford opened after the “forum” was officially over. They included a wide range of things from simple to not so simple. Also on display were display models of the Boosted Bertha and the re-release of the Multi-Roc, through I was surprised to find a balsa nose block at the base of the payload section on that model. My model from the re-released kit uses the plastic nose cone base as is done in the Nova Payloader and I’m sure others.

The booster’s fins on Boosted Bertha aren’t “just a little bigger” they are LOTS bigger than the sustainer.

And I held in my hands one of the re-leased Phantoms. There were two in that box. Very very glad to see that back.

Both John and Ellis Langford were out at the night launch on Sunday night (over a couple of hours ago). Good to see them both here.

I would agree with this - the conversation wasn’t a presentation on what motors were or could come back. There was some back and forth about motors and B14s were talked about but you’re right, he never made a direct statement saying they were going back into production.

John Boren’s post is indeed very interesting - here’s to hoping we’re going to see some more power from an Estes black powder motor!

A new display model of the Multi Rock has not been made yet so the one seen was the original display model from when it was introduced back in the day.



I may be playing but my playing is based in fact not dreams.

John Boren

I would be SO happy for a high-thrust D booster.

Like the trial-manufactured D38.

A high-thrust E or F would be nice too. The F15-0 is kind of flabby.

A D38 booster would be great.
Would capably boost a substantially massive rocket.

I would guess -- barring an Estes entrance into the composite field -- that a high-thrust black powder motor in the D thru F range is what we'll be seeing. Probably something in the lower end of that scale, say D or E.

A good E60 that doesn't explode (a la the old FSI E60's) would be nice.

Earl

Would be glad to see any hi-thrust port-burning B through E BP SU motor.

Upscale classic kits for the PSII line would be great. If the upscale is modest, like the Interceptor-E, they could work nicely with the current E16/F15 motors; If reliable higher thrust BP motors can be made, that's even better.

Any talk of improving the BP starters?

I doubt it. Regulation is too crazy. But, you can enhance them. The clear coating on them is water-soluble. I soak them for about 30 minutes, and the coating turns to a goo that wipes off easily.

I then mix FFFg BP with NC lacquer, dip them, and hang to dry. These work great!

No BP? Just dipping in NC lacquer works well. I bought my NC lacquer from Firefox, but you can make your own by dissolving ping pong balls in acetone. I bought the “better” ping pong balls at Walmart, but the cheap ones are probably fine.

The commercially available NC lacquer is about $16 a quart, which for me is more than a lifetime supply. If you love to tinker, try the homemade stuff.

Firefox ignition supplies, including pyrogen kits:

http://www.firefox-fx.com/ignition.htm

Finally, ematches fit in nozzle of 24mm and 29mm engines and are excellent igniters for BP. I’ve not tried them on 18mm but that recent launch of 5000 rockets used ematches under each motor. They do throw a flame, so apparently they are very good for 18mm engines, too.

Fingernail polish is nitro cellulose lacquer and you can even pick colors to match your rockets. ;) Just don't let your wife catch you. If you just want to try a few, that might be the way to go.

Could you recommend a specific e-match,please?

Aren't E-matches BATFE regulated now requiring a LEUP ?
A really effective igniter can be made by stuffing a 1" piece of cannon/visco fuse in the engine nozzle. Wrap the base of the fuse with a 2" piece of bare nichrome to ignite the fuse electrically.
Fuse does not even have to touch the grain. Sparks from the end shooting upward WILL ignite BP propellant.
Back in the 80s and 90s I used to ignite Composite Dynamics AP E and F engines the same way.
I vividly remember a launch in around 1990 where I gave a Composite Dynamics E to a buddy to launch his Maxi Alpha 3. Ripped the fins KLEEN OFF !