Which, in a way, is odd, because AC Supply raised their prices (or reduced their level of discounting) noticeably not all that long ago (beginning of the year?) Now, if Hobby Lobby sells it (motors, mainly), it's at the same or lower price than at AC Supply.

And AC Supply is just starting to carry Quest stuff including Q-Jet motors.

I wonder if this is the end of Amazon deals (for example, an Alpha for $11.41 right now, when the MSRP is $20.99).

Interesting times.

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

Given that the last two years have had very lackluster offerings, IMHO, I think I'll be doing more scratchbuilds.

It will be interesting to see what this does to Estes sales numbers overall. I buy very, very few ‘new’ kits…almost none. So, as far as kit purchases go, it affects me very, very little. Motor purchases will obviously be affected some, but there are other motor options these days.

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Absolutely. If I have to pay MSRP for Estes motors, Quest starts looking a lot more attractive in the C and D range.

That assumes you don't get some of the Q-Jets that blow up. I've had about a 1 in 3 CATO rate with them, and even though it was blamed on an older clay nozzle formula, I've continued to see some complaints about CATOs persisting.

Given that I had to throw away over 40 Q-Jets because I had totally lost faith in them and got tired of repairing/replacing blown up rockets... nah, not chancing it again.

Hope it works out better for you.

I buy very few new Estes kits as well, but this sure isn't going to help sales. Unless this is some kind of April Fools joke, higher quality kits like those from Semroc suddenly look much more competitive on price. I think we might expect the Estes product line (and catalog page count) to shrink further in the near future.

It seems like a great opportunity for eRockets, but only if they reverse the concerning trend of phasing out kits and especially ST-spec tubes and balsa. They should be going in the other direction with more (not fewer) Centuri- and Enerjet-based models, making and selling the necessary parts that haven't been produced or sold in the last 40 to 50 years - except by Semroc.

There was a recent post about the state of the body tube supply that was very enlightening. Discontinuing most of the lower-volume tube sizes once they sell current inventories may not be a move the rocket companies have any ability to decide; the supplier is making the decision for them. It's possible that we are currently in the sunset of a golden era with respect to cardboard tube rockets.

If a product is OOP and no longer listed on the Estes web site, is there any restriction on advertised pricing?

This may be part of it, but only part of it.


I just dropped an order to AC Supply and things that were in my cart from earlier in the week are gone (and completely gone from the site, not just marked “temporarily out of stock”) including A10-0Ts and the 13mm rocket stands. I was also going to pick up another Checkmate, and it and many other kits are gone. Clearly they’re having a run on their stock….and I expect that’s true at other vendors as well.

*sigh*

It will be interesting to see where this goes.

My order included some Q-Jet motors, too. I will be glad to have AC as a source for them, but REALLY miss them as a source for Estes motors and the occasional kit.

Also, I was in my closest Hobby Lobby store earlier today, and there are no signs of any changes there. In fact the rocket section was fully stocked (until I bought the two Olympus kits they had) with all the models they currently carry. All the motors they carry were well on hand and sporting the recent prices. We’ll have to look at their web site tomorrow and see if there are any changes, but past experience says that things will trickle down to the stores slowly if they are changing.

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

Happened to be in our local Hobby Lobby today as well. Nothing really out of the ordinary, except that a bunch of motors were on clearance as well as several Estes altimeters. Still have a couple of the Leapers as well (they have been on the clearance shelf for a long while - months!)

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