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Originally Posted by Gus
Real RSL shuttlecocks available here. |
A crazy thought just occurred to me: Looking up RSL (see:
https://www.rslshuttles.com/ ) and their products, I found that they are still in business, and have been in operation at least since the 1930s (new *and* "classic design re-issue" shuttlecocks, and rackets, are widely available). Here's my idea:
If we, and/or Estes, approached RSL and pitched to them a suggestion that they (perhaps in a limited batch each year) re-issue their All-American shuttlecock, it would be a great--and likely unique--opportunity for *both* companies to cross-promote their products. (Estes need not re-issue the Birdie kit, although they could; if desired, they could buy quantities of the re-issued RSL All-American shuttlecocks and offer them for sale [with the 13 mm version Birdie instructions] as "short kits," rather like their 3D printed rockets set where the builder prints his or her own plastic parts at home--they could also offer Birdie kits [or all of the parts, bagged, with photocopied instructions for the 13 mm motor version] as "bonus kits," included with direct online or mail orders.) Many model rocketeers also play badminton (my parents, brothers, sisters, and I did, even before [in their cases] Estes' Birdie kit appeared), and I'm sure that many badminton players also fly model rockets, including in competition as well as just for fun sport flying. For example:
My mate Stuart Lodge (in the English meaning of that term), a British model rocketeer (space modeler, in British parlance) who almost single-handedly got model rocketry legalized in the UK (the Explosives Act of 1875 stood in the way...), was--and still is--an avid Field Hockey player, who was initially attracted by model rocketry's competition possibilities. In the decades (!) since then, he has been a competition flyer--and a contest judge--at space modeling competitions and tournaments all over the world, in just about every--if not in every--competition category! Over those years, he also discovered, and has contributed to, the other aspects of the hobby (sport launches, odd rockets, whimsical rockets, etc.), and:
Now, imagine the possibilities that both RSL and Estes could avail themselves of (such as: "Our shuttlecocks are, thanks to Estes Industries, the fastest, highest-flying birdies on Earth!"), and ("Since 1968, RSL's spin-stabilized shuttlecocks have boosted the highest and straightest for Estes model rocketeers" [like the Astron Cobra and other models, the Birdie was a "Model Rocket News" plan before it became a kit; I wonder--was the kit ever called the "Astron Birdie?"]).