PDA

View Full Version : Airborne Surveillance Missile


kurtschachner
12-02-2009, 04:32 PM
In the Yankee thread the decals for the Estes Airborne Surveillance Missile were mentioned. Here is a redraw of that decal sheet.

They're white again, so these are in black for an Alps printer.

sandman
12-02-2009, 06:47 PM
I had them ready to print this afternoon but I had orders to fill.

Whenever somebody wants a decal I try to accomodate but if I'm a few hours late getting it finished someone else has it and sends it out.

So should I just let you guys do this and I'll stop?

No wonder Phred didn't want the business.

kurtschachner
12-02-2009, 07:34 PM
What are you talking about? The fact that I posted the PDF file?

What I post is generally for my own benefit first, and then I just make it available for those who wish to print their own. It is my opinion that people who print their own decals are a relative minority, especially when it involves a white decal like this one.

What you do is entirely different. Most folks either don't care to print their own decals or don't have the means to do so. You fill that need. And, like I've told you several times before you're free to snag any and all artwork I post to use as your own. If I ever intended my artwork to be restricted in its use I'd never have started posting it to public bulletin boards 12 years ago.

I don't post decals I post artwork. I have no intention of selling decals either. It's too much work.


I had them ready to print this afternoon but I had orders to fill.

Whenever somebody wants a decal I try to accomodate but if I'm a few hours late getting it finished someone else has it and sends it out.

So should I just let you guys do this and I'll stop?

No wonder Phred didn't want the business.

sandman
12-02-2009, 10:53 PM
What are you talking about? The fact that I posted the PDF file?

What I post is generally for my own benefit first, and then I just make it available for those who wish to print their own. It is my opinion that people who print their own decals are a relative minority, especially when it involves a white decal like this one.

What you do is entirely different. Most folks either don't care to print their own decals or don't have the means to do so. You fill that need. And, like I've told you several times before you're free to snag any and all artwork I post to use as your own. If I ever intended my artwork to be restricted in its use I'd never have started posting it to public bulletin boards 12 years ago.

I don't post decals I post artwork. I have no intention of selling decals either. It's too much work.

Just having a really bad day, sorry.

Keep it up, Kurt, I appreciate your efforts.

I just added it to my site.

kurtschachner
12-03-2009, 11:19 AM
Actually no, I'm sorry. My reply came off pretty mean and I apologize.

Lately I've been doing a bit more drawing because since Monday I'm unemployed. After 13 years our little airline was bought out and the new airline eliminated about 200 jobs company wide, including everybody in maintenance & engineering where I worked. Plus all the pilots and flight attendants. I do get four months severance which is a good thing but that won't last forever obviously.

I just like drawing, and like a boss of mine once said, it's therapy. But I also know you have a business to run.

PaulK
12-03-2009, 01:09 PM
Holy cow Kurt, thats a bummer. So much for the best care in the air.

Sandman, don't stop the Excelsior business, we need you! The decals are far superior to what I can do on my ink jet. The only decals I do myself are really simple things.

Pem Tech
12-03-2009, 03:46 PM
Holy cow Kurt, thats a bummer. So much for the best care in the air.

Sandman, don't stop the Excelsior business, we need you! The decals are far superior to what I can do on my ink jet. The only decals I do myself are really simple things.


I second that emotion on both counts...

sandman
12-03-2009, 06:09 PM
Kurt, actually I own my own business (other than the decal business) and for the last year I have to work every day and I haven't recieved a paycheck.

I'd rather be unemployed. At least I could get paid something!

So the decals are the only things generating any income.

Green Dragon
12-03-2009, 08:17 PM
Sorry to hear about both Kurt and Gordys situation - I know this one, my own business has been faltering all year, almost had to close the doors mid summer, but I'm scraping along at half pay :(

Not much for rockets / play money, but will send what I can ( after all, I am the one asked for these decals :)

~ AL

ps: Gordy, still another one I need two sets of is the mini shuttle, I think Phred was working on those, as it's somewhat goony-ish. but not sure... just checked and not on your site.
order soon :) .

zog139
12-03-2009, 08:33 PM
Gordon I've been going to friends within my club for years and years to help with scale models and clone models. I ordered quite a few from Excelsior pre Michigan. As was mentioned before, no one is out to take your customers otherwise they would be advertising what they would sell etc. Decals do take a lot of work to get just right. My .02 is to remind you to provide good service, a quality product and above all else stay away from any negativity.

What about the other half of your operation ? I've wanted one of your big LJ-2 kits for a while now and have asked you about it a few times. I'm sure not ordering from another vendor that will go nameless yet easily identified by ..... wait for it ...... ah you guessed it ! Negativity ! !

sandman
12-03-2009, 09:52 PM
Grren Dragon, I did find a file labeled Goony Shuttle, It's not much but it's a start. When I get time I'll look into it deeper, I promise.

Zog, as for the LJII well eventually I'll get back to it but I've been..."busy". I wasn't happy with the escape tower which after all the Saturn 1b thread is everybody's favorite thing. :o

That one armed paperhanger guy does come to mind. :rolleyes:

Now don't feel too bad about my other business, it is paying bills like cell phones, insurance, electricity and gas and since it's based out of my home that does help but there is nothing left for me at the end of every month.

I'll get to stuff, I will!

rokitflite
12-04-2009, 11:15 PM
I had them ready to print this afternoon but I had orders to fill.

Whenever somebody wants a decal I try to accomodate but if I'm a few hours late getting it finished someone else has it and sends it out.

So should I just let you guys do this and I'll stop?

No wonder Phred didn't want the business.


OK Gordon,

I was printing decals for people for about 3-4 years before you bought Excelsior. Do you want me to stop now since you own it?

I helped Phred out by getting him Alps cartridges at cost while I had an account with a wholesaler. I don't think I made him quit.

BlackBrant
12-05-2009, 04:40 PM
Kurt, actually I own my own business (other than the decal business) and for the last year I have to work every day and I haven't recieved a paycheck.

I'd rather be unemployed. At least I could get paid something!

So the decals are the only things generating any income.

Hey Gord ,I`m doing my best to keep you in some green :)

Paul (BlackBrant)

blackshire
12-06-2009, 03:05 AM
OK Gordon,

I was printing decals for people for about 3-4 years before you bought Excelsior. Do you want me to stop now since you own it?

I helped Phred out by getting him Alps cartridges at cost while I had an account with a wholesaler. I don't think I made him quit.

For me, the late G. Harry Stine has a "philosophical hand" in this series of events, as I shall explain below.

Scott, I just received both your four printed Yankee decal sheets and a vintage Yankee decal sheet from DaveR (who also threw in a vintage Wizard decal sheet), and I want to express my thanks to both of you for your help. (The decal sheets you printed have a "micro-weave" pattern on the decals which does not detract from their appearance [one must look at them closely to see it], and I think this may confer some extra strength to the decals when they are being applied to the rocket.)

This week I also ordered two of Sandman's Yankee decal sheets because I promised to do so when I asked him for them some time back. Awhile back he had informed me about the severe constraints on his time (which I understand from my own home business experience), and I was pleasantly surprised to see him bring them out so quickly. I well understand what he says about having a successful home-based business that doesn't provide him with a paycheck, because a friend of mine also had such a business that "paid the bills" but usually didn't produce enough profit to allow him to write himself a paycheck each week. He still loved his electronic services business because he didn't have to work for anyone besides his customers.

Where G. Harry Stine fits into all of this is as follows. Although my personal interactions with him were very few and brief (all via e-mail or postal mail), I consider him a mentor in other matters besides model rocketry. As can be seen here (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Harry_Stine ), he was interested in the concept of non-immediate profit-driven free markets, which dovetails nicely with his "pay it forward" philosophy that he learned from an older rocket engineer. This is relevant to this decal situation (please bear with me for just a few more lines...).

I have been putting Stine's "creed" into practice by helping the owner of an art-themed trading post/grocery/deli/dessert shop-type store that opened recently next door to my apartment building, by introducing her to new specialty & ethnic food items and recipes, glider kits, and model rocketry. I bought sample glider kits and model rocket kits, motors, and accessories for her. I also helped her to build up a customer base of local teachers by e-mailing every one of them to inform them about her store and the fact that she carries the White Wings educational glider kit bulk packs. They began coming in and discovered her unusually wide range of culinary offerings, and many of them are now her regular customers. She is getting ready to carry model rocketry educational products (as well as consumer rocket kits), and when she is ready I will again e-mail all of the teachers to let them know about her new educational product offerings.

What's in this for me? Besides the fact that most draft horses--including those who happen to be in human form at the moment--like to be of service to (kind) human beings, helping a full-service store that is just a few feet from my disabled public housing apartment building to succeed ensures that we disabled residents need not have to go very far to do our grocery shopping, which is particularly important during our severe winters here in Alaska.

Scott, you and DaveR have also done a similar thing by sharing the reproduction and vintage decals with others as well as with me because your actions help Sandman, who is in the business of (among other things) producing reproduction decals. Your decal "samples" demonstrate to other model rocketeers (tenderfoot newcomers as well as BARs) what classic decals he can make, factory-fresh and in quantity. I have also helped Sandman by posting about his decal offerings here on YORF. To put it in its most simplified terms, what you two and I are doing is a form of assistance to a non-immediate profit-driven free market, which could also be called "charity for business." Over time, our help enables them to thrive, which in turn enables them to provide more needed and wanted products and services to their customers.