SkyTec rockets (link)

[blackshire]

Hello All,

I just came across--via an entry on Hans "Chris" Michielssen's blog [see: http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2014/05/skytec-rockets-from-argentina.html ], which came up on Google--an Argentinian model rocket manufacturer called SkyTec (see: http://www.cohetes-skytec.com.ar/index.htm ), whose kits are refreshingly different. I like the "old school-esque" configurations and decor schemes of their 'straight' sport kits, and they even make scale kits, and a counterpart to the Estes Interceptor...

[frognbuff]

I've known about these guys for years but have never figured out how to potentially buy their stuff. Obviously, speaking Spanish would help! There is a hobby store in Buenos Aires called "Hobby Mundo" (Hobby World - possibly a chain like HobbyTown USA??) that sells these kits (which used to be called CondorTec, I believe). If anybody ever cracks the code, please do tell!

[neil_w]

Hey, those are some nice-looking kits. Cool.

[blackshire]

I've known about these guys for years but have never figured out how to potentially buy their stuff. Obviously, speaking Spanish would help! There is a hobby store in Buenos Aires called "Hobby Mundo" (Hobby World - possibly a chain like HobbyTown USA??) that sells these kits (which used to be called CondorTec, I believe). If anybody ever cracks the code, please do tell!I've ordered hobby items (model rocketry and other products) in such situations by using FreeTranslation.com (see: www.freetranslation.com ). To avoid any potential misunderstandings, I explain in the e-mail inquiry that I'm using that website and include its URL, so that the seller(s) can use it as well (for their reference--in case anyone on their staff understands English--I also include my original message, below the translated version). Also:

As a further safeguard, I use only Basic English (the ~800 word, simplified [but not "pidgin"] version of English that is used as a second language worldwide), and avoid any idioms, as they could be unfathomable to the message recipients. I've had 100% success so far, and sometimes I get a reply in English. It takes a little longer to work the transactions than with "Anglosphere" vendors, but not by much. In addition:

The only time I ever had a problem making a payment (it wasn't a barrier; it just took longer because of a mistake I made) was when--several years ago, for a German immigrant friend of mine--I ordered a bettwäsche (she called it a "bettbezug," see: www.quelle.at/heimtextilien/bettwaesche-leintuecher/bettwaesche/#els=true&sview=extern ) from the German department store chain called Quelle. At that time, they (their German chain) wouldn't sell to the U.S., but their division in Estonia would, so I wrote to them and explained the situation (they understood English, which made things easier). They were somewhat intrigued and definitely surprised, but they were happy to fill the order, but they would only accept a U.S. Postal Money Order for payment. Unfortunately, there were two types, and I--like Colonel Klink in that bomb-defusing scene in an episode of "Hogan's Heroes"--sent them the wrong type! Some weeks later (after receiving their letter regarding the wrong money order), I'd sent the one they would honor, and the much-anticipated bettbezug arrived. All of the other times when I ordered items from international vendors, PayPal or a credit card worked just fine (so did [well-hidden] mailed cash, when I ordered several Esbit tablet-fueled mini-hot air balloons from a one-man company run by a former East German fellow).

[blackshire]

Hey, those are some nice-looking kits. Cool.I'm sure they would say, "Gracias!" :-) I do like their somewhat different takes on configurations and decor schemes, and they also offer scale models of Argentinian missiles (as well as the V-2).

[MarkB.]

Kinda pricey unless I'm missing something . . . .

1 Argentine peso is .57 cents

The V-2 is slightly smaller than BT-70 making it about 18" tall. but at the exchange rate, it's $212.92 U.S.. The Condor is even worse at $266 U.S. Ooch!

I'd love to build the V-2 and the Condor. I've got Spanish skillz. I don't have $500 for two smallish scale rockets.

Am I missing something?

[MarkB.]

Well, I figured it out . . . .

Its not 1 peso = .57 US, its 1 AP = .057 cents.

Decimal place is important as are zeros AND checking a different browser result.

So its $23 and $27 for the kits (+ shipping). I could live with that. Let me see how tough it is to order them.

[the mole]

MarkB, Please keep us informed of your ordering progress.
I would like to order one of there Raptor II.

[Gus]

It is very difficult to order items in South America, and from Argentina in particular. It has nothing to do with not speaking Spanish. The Argentine government has taken big steps to try to limit foreign transactions (see https://qz.com/121829/this-is-the-labyrinth-argentinians-must-brave-to-get-paid-in-foreign-currency/ )

For that reason you can't use Paypal. And unless you can contact a company directly, you can't use your U.S. credit card online for Argentine (or most other South American) purchases. To use your credit card online in South America you also have to include your national ID number, (DNI) which as a foreigner you don't have.

There is a South American PayPal pseudo-equivalent called Mercado Pago but, again, you can't register a U.S. credit card with them because of the lack of a DNI number. Extremely frustrating.

For a time there were folks available on eBay under the title "I'll buy your items in Argentina" who would add a 20% surcharge, but I haven't seen any of them for a while.

I have attempted to contact SkyTec several times without success. If any of you get through to them I'd love to know how.

Steve

[blackshire]

Well, I figured it out . . . .

Its not 1 peso = .57 US, its 1 AP = .057 cents.

Decimal place is important as are zeros AND checking a different browser result.

So its $23 and $27 for the kits (+ shipping). I could live with that. Let me see how tough it is to order them.When I saw those huge dollar figures, I suspected that the prices were actually denominated in Argentinian pesos, but that the dollar symbol $ was just "carried over" from 'our side,' so to speak. The actual dollar prices that you computed using the dollar/peso exchange rate sound eminently reasonable (the shipping charges, however, may not be...).

[blackshire]

It is very difficult to order items in South America, and from Argentina in particular. It has nothing to do with not speaking Spanish. The Argentine government has taken big steps to try to limit foreign transactions (see https://qz.com/121829/this-is-the-labyrinth-argentinians-must-brave-to-get-paid-in-foreign-currency/ )

For that reason you can't use Paypal. And unless you can contact a company directly, you can't use your U.S. credit card online for Argentine (or most other South American) purchases. To use your credit card online in South America you also have to include your national ID number, (DNI) which as a foreigner you don't have.

There is a South American PayPal pseudo-equivalent called Mercado Pago but, again, you can't register a U.S. credit card with them because of the lack of a DNI number. Extremely frustrating.

For a time there were folks available on eBay under the title "I'll buy your items in Argentina" who would add a 20% surcharge, but I haven't seen any of them for a while.

I have attempted to contact SkyTec several times without success. If any of you get through to them I'd love to know how.

SteveWell...cash, while it has some risk, should be a form of payment that SkyTec would accept. It's too bad that Argentina is doing that, but their monetary policy has long been..."interesting." I don't doubt you, but I know of an Argentinian winery that is making a lot of money selling their wines in the U.S. (their owner was interviewed on a California-based wine & spirits radio talk show, "The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis," that until recently ran on one of my local stations on Saturday evenings). He didn't mention any international sales barriers, but maybe the Argentinian government doesn't apply its restrictions to this category of products?

[MarkB.]

Steve's right! Argentina's money policy is a nightmare!

There's a fair amount of international banking herein El Paso so I talked to some people and apparently the workaround is a prepaid Visa card loaded in Argentine Pesos. The trick is finding a bank to do that.

I'll keep working on it and let you know.

[blackshire]

Steve's right! Argentina's money policy is a nightmare!

There's a fair amount of international banking herein El Paso so I talked to some people and apparently the workaround is a prepaid Visa card loaded in Argentine Pesos. The trick is finding a bank to do that.

I'll keep working on it and let you know.It will make acquiring them sweeter, like stalking and capturing quarry... Also, the bank--when you locate it--might get more business from would-be SkyTec buyers, which might "sweeten the pot" for them.

[astronwolf]

I like the picture with the Mars Snooper II. Apparently there might be some like-minded "old rocketeers" down there.

[blackshire]

I like the picture with the Mars Snooper II. Apparently there might be some like-minded "old rocketeers" down there.Wow...I wouldn't have expected that, but then again, even in the early days of the 1960s, it wasn't just Americans and Eastern Europeans (adults as well as kids) who got into model rocketry; some people in still other countries partook of it. Also, Argentina and Brazil are two countries in which model rocketry--and even amateur rocketry--became popular with a relatively small but active community (even Lebanon, before their long civil war, had an amateur rocketry community that built and flew many vehicles, back in the 1960s).

[luke strawwalker]

Wow...I wouldn't have expected that, but then again, even in the early days of the 1960s, it wasn't just Americans and Eastern Europeans (adults as well as kids) who got into model rocketry; some people in still other countries partook of it. Also, Argentina and Brazil are two countries in which model rocketry--and even amateur rocketry--became popular with a relatively small but active community (even Lebanon, before their long civil war, had an amateur rocketry community that built and flew many vehicles, back in the 1960s).

Yeah now they just lob explosives into Israel... ;)

Later! OL J R :)

[blackshire]

Yeah now they just lob explosives into Israel... ;)

Later! OL J R :)*SIGH* And they do it using honey (for the homemade Qassam rockets' fuel), too. In those relatively distant days (when Nasser was President of Egypt), even Egyptian rocket engineers--while they were developing V-2 derived [although they looked different] liquid propellant ballistic missiles to use on you-know-who [to quote the Tom Lehrer song] next door--were also launching instrumented payloads on them. If one were to add up all of the newton-seconds of total impulse that have been expended (and stored for future use) to kill people over there, Israel's irrationally-hostile neighbors could probably have built their own "Jew-free paradise" O'Neill-type space colonies by now... :-) / :-(

[Glasspack]

Just to bring up the past ……………

I too found out about SkyTec from Facebook recently. I REALLY like their new Antares Kit....but have had no luck getting one, for all the reasons Gus and the others talked about. So.... I am taking an old High Power Kit from my stash, and using it to upscale the Antares Model. I would like to add that the people I talked to on line were great.

From what I've seen they have a nice club...and program!

Glasspack

[blackshire]

Just to bring up the past ……………

I too found out about SkyTec from Facebook recently. I REALLY like their new Antares Kit....but have had no luck getting one, for all the reasons Gus and the others talked about. So.... I am taking an old High Power Kit from my stash, and using it to upscale the Antares Model. I would like to add that the people I talked to on line were great.

From what I've seen they have a nice club...and program!

GlasspackA thought: If you have a local hobby shop, they could order small batches (or large batches, if they fancied doing so) of the SkyTec rocket kits, parachutes, and parts & accessories. Some hobby shops like to carry rare and/or unusual product lines, because it makes them unique go-to vendors (at least for many miles around them). If you offered to demo the SkyTec rockets for them (maybe in exchange for a reasonable number of standard U.S. motors that fit them, or for a discount on your SkyTec kits), that might interest the hobby shop, as they would be the only place that sells these "new rockets from the southern celestial sphere" (where they're from, the Alpha Centauri system--our nearest stellar neighbors--can be seen high in the sky). Also:

Tim Van Milligan at Apogee Rockets does the same thing with the Chinese-made "Sky" line of model rocket kits, parts, launch pads, and launch controllers. While he had to--if memory serves--provide English instructions for them, I suspect that SkyTec, like many German and Japanese hobby companies, provides "universal" pictorial instructions and/or multi-lingual instructions, and:

Since English is the official language of Belize (which is--generally--in SkyTec's region), Skytec may provide Spanish/Portuguese/English (and perhaps also French) instructions. OR, they may do what Modell-Bauplane (or bauplan, a German model plans service) does. Modell-Bauplane's catalog provides ordering instructions in all major languages, and lists all of the various plans' important features in a short, *German*-language listing. At the front of the catalog is a brief, German-to-English/Spanish/Dutch/Italian/French, etc. glossary (which describes the model types ["Segler = glider," for example], their construction materials, the number of RC channels and their control surface names [they also offer some old model rocket boost-glider plans, including for Mini-Birds], the languages the various model plans are printed in ["Englishe Sprache" for English, etc.], whether glass fiber fuselages are available, etc.). The German-to-"X-language" glossary enables anyone to understand the main features of their various model plans, ^without^ having to have a huge, largely-duplicative catalog that's as thick as the New York City telephone directory!