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  #11  
Old 03-31-2021, 01:46 AM
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Royatl Royatl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BEC
Steve beat me to it. I would have done the same thing (asked John Boren). That Starship Nova thing was a one-off problem so far as I know.

I have no idea about the BT-60 HoJo (though I do have one in my stash....I guess I need to take a look at it).


They have occasionally done tubes that have a different final wrap, like a dull white finish similar to the high power tubes, or the tubes for the U.S. Army Patriot. But if it was no final wrap at all, then it's gotta be something slipped past QA at the Tube factory and China didn't flag it.
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  #12  
Old 03-31-2021, 06:36 AM
frognbuff frognbuff is offline
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I am building the Low Boom SST, and my kit's long motor tube is also not glassine coated. The tube will be invisible - all but 1/4" is inside the boattail and main body tube, and that exposed 1/4" will be covered by the threaded motor retainer - but it still struck me as odd.

I too have a BT-60 Nike Smoke in my collection. I'll have to look for an ugly brown "paper towel tube" on that one too!
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  #13  
Old 03-31-2021, 02:44 PM
BARGeezer BARGeezer is offline
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Checked both a BT-60 HoJo and a Nike Smoke in my stash.
The HoJo tube is brown Kraft paper and glassine coated.
The Nike Smoke tube is brown and not coated, no glassine layer.
Was this another accidental omission at the factory?
Stamped date on the face card is 12/05/16.
The tube is firm, not soft and squishy like the Starship Nova lemon.
I think that once it's primered and painted you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
We'll see.
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  #14  
Old 03-31-2021, 03:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BARGeezer
Checked both a BT-60 HoJo and a Nike Smoke in my stash.
The HoJo tube is brown Kraft paper and glassine coated.
The Nike Smoke tube is brown and not coated, no glassine layer.
Was this another accidental omission at the factory?
Stamped date on the face card is 12/05/16.
The tube is firm, not soft and squishy like the Starship Nova lemon.
I think that once it's primered and painted you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
We'll see.


Apparently so.

As I mentioned back in Post #7 of this thread, my Nike Smoke, purchased in very late 2019 during on the Estes' special sales, had an non-glassined tube. My face card scan shows the same date as yours.

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  #15  
Old 03-31-2021, 05:27 PM
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From those dates it sounds like it may have just been indicative of Hobbico problems, or their general attitude. It was obvious, talking to everyday Estes employees at the field at NARAM 60, that they didn't like Hobbico, almost as much as they didn't like Tunick.
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  #16  
Old 04-01-2021, 02:36 PM
shockwaveriderz shockwaveriderz is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Royatl
From those dates it sounds like it may have just been indicative of Hobbico problems, or their general attitude. It was obvious, talking to everyday Estes employees at the field at NARAM 60, that they didn't like Hobbico, almost as much as they didn't like Tunick.

Did they say WHY they didn't like Hobbico? Any specifics?
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  #17  
Old 04-01-2021, 10:33 PM
rocket.aero rocket.aero is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shockwaveriderz
Did they say WHY they didn't like Hobbico? Any specifics?


Speculating here, but it probably has a great deal to do with the fact that the company was set upon by private equity vultures who wiped out the ESOP. Here's the money quote from: https://www.news-gazette.com/news/h...0285e043aa.html

"Last year, employees noticed that the value of the company's employee stock-ownership program declined by more than 80 percent, and the U.S. Department of Labor opened an investigation into deferred ESOP payments."

Again, just speculation. But probably right.
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  #18  
Old 04-01-2021, 10:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shockwaveriderz
Did they say WHY they didn't like Hobbico? Any specifics?


Management from afar; cheapness; neglect; stuff like that. I got the idea that morale had gotten quite low, though all of them seemed to be happy people having fun at their job, and most of the people I talked to had been there for a loooooong time, most joined as teens so they'd even been there when Damon was the owner.

All were VERY happy about the Langfords. This was three to five months after the purchase.
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  #19  
Old 04-02-2021, 10:11 AM
shockwaveriderz shockwaveriderz is offline
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The obvious solution to this is to quit making products in China. MOVE all your production facilities back here to the US and employ American Citizens instead of Chinese Communists. Folks,this isn't rocket science. Yes kits and such might cost more if you employ Americans versus using Chinese slave labor, but you're benefiting your economy and government and not a government that wants to see you dead. It amazes me how "WOKE" American companies are here when it comes to equality or whatever topic it is for that day, but here you have a country doing really bad things to it's Muslim citizens, and the WOKE American companies just keep on doing business with the CCP. Estes would get a big A+ from me if they closed their "sister" communist Chinese facility and built a warehouse here in the US and employed Americans at good wages.
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Last edited by shockwaveriderz : 04-02-2021 at 10:32 AM.
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  #20  
Old 04-02-2021, 10:32 AM
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I think Estes is in the best hands since Vern/Gleda were the owners 50+ years ago.

Agree about the above China comment.
Move all steps of kit manufacturing BACK HERE WHERE IT BELONGS.
Yes, kit prices will go up a BIT. Tough. It's a hobby.
Engines have never moved from their USA facility.
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