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  #1  
Old 12-22-2019, 10:10 PM
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Earl Earl is offline
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Default Estes Body Tubes: All Foreign Sourced Now?

Just got to thinking about Estes body tubes.

Finally opened one of the recent Black Friday sales kits. Nike-Apache. I don’t build many ‘new’ kits these days; way by far I build just vintage kits. The Nike-Apache parts all looked good and ‘fresh’, compared to what one deals with sometimes with vintage kits.

Anyway, I am wondering what with Estes kits being imports from China now (for how long I don’t really know...a good handful of years now it seems), are all Estes body tubes made in China as well?

As I recall, there were/have been a couple of domestic tube suppliers that supplied Estes and Centuri their tubes in decades past, but are those domestic suppliers cut out of that business now? Can’t imagine domestic tube suppliers shipping tubes for cutting and inclusion in kit packing in China and then shipped back to the US in packaged kits. But, maybe so.

I don’t see or haven’t seen any quality issues with the tubes in Estes kits, but, as I mentioned above, I don’t build that many new kits.

I’m just curious I guess whether domestic tube suppliers still have any of the ‘model rocket’ business any longer.

Anyone know? John Boren?

Earl
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Last edited by Earl : 12-22-2019 at 10:43 PM.
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  #2  
Old 12-23-2019, 01:17 AM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Believe it or not, Estes still gets their body tubes made from the same supplier here in the United States and ships them to China for use in kits.
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  #3  
Old 12-23-2019, 04:06 AM
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GOOD !
It would be better if they brought kit productiion back here to the USA WHERE IT BELONGS !
I would say something far WORSE about china but it would be far too 'adult' for this site.
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  #4  
Old 12-23-2019, 07:01 AM
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Jerry Irvine Jerry Irvine is offline
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I tried for over 10 years to find an alternative vendor of similar quality. Nope. None in the entire CONUS. They have a special sauce that has not been duplicated so a company just bought it.

Jerry
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Old 12-23-2019, 07:36 AM
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Shreadvector Shreadvector is offline
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Famous for their tubes and their geometry.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Initiator001
Believe it or not, Estes still gets their body tubes made from the same supplier here in the United States and ships them to China for use in kits.
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Old 12-23-2019, 09:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Initiator001
Believe it or not, Estes still gets their body tubes made from the same supplier here in the United States and ships them to China for use in kits.

Euclid is the old company, which merged with Parmount Tube fairly recently.
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  #7  
Old 12-23-2019, 01:43 PM
samb samb is offline
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A linky for the holidays: https://paramounttube.com/euclid-sp...tion-joins-ppg/

Festivus for the restofus !

If I'm not mistaken, Estes kit packaging went offshore during Barry Tunick's watch. Early aughts ?

Last edited by samb : 12-23-2019 at 03:59 PM.
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Old 12-23-2019, 02:50 PM
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ratchetman ratchetman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by samb
A linky for the holidays: https://paramounttube.com/euclid-spiral-paper-tube-corporation-joins-ppg/

Festivus for the restofus !

If I'm not mistaken, Estes kit packaging went offshore during Barry Tunick's watch. Early aughts ?


The link comes up as #blocked
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  #9  
Old 12-23-2019, 03:48 PM
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The actual link under that text is blank. Trying again: https://paramounttube.com/euclid-sp...tion-joins-ppg/
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  #10  
Old 12-23-2019, 04:04 PM
samb samb is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BEC
The actual link under that text is blank. Trying again: https://paramounttube.com/euclid-sp...tion-joins-ppg/



Thank you Bernard. I fixed the link in my post too.

Anyway that page says Euclid joined the corporate parent of Paramount Tube, PPG, Inc. in 2015. I wonder if the model rocket tubes are still made in Ohio ?
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