Mike, I'm real glad you are here!!! WELCOME!

WOW! Where do I begin?

I guess everybody on this forum knows, especially through my kits, that I am a scale nut.

My impressions of Mike D is you are too. ;)

First question for today.

In your tenure at Estes did you ever come up with a scale design that you were excited about but just never made it to production or even the light of day?

Second question.

I know you did a lot of designs but specifically what was your favorite "scale" design?

Hello Mike. Thank you for your time and willingness to post and answer questions.

My questions are mainly about motors. Has the overall performace of some of "todays" motors diminished since the motors of the past? It seems that the "C" impulse motors are a little weaker than the bygone days (then again it could be memory loss on my part :o ).

Secondly, why have the longer delays for the 13mm motors been discontinued? A 3 sec delay in most little rockets usually results in shredded chutes, etc.

Thank you once again. I really look forward to hearing of your time and experiences at Estes. The knowlege, insights and asides will be priceless to all of us, I'm sure! :D

How did you go about designing the Cineroc ? Was it a kitbash of a regular movie camera, or did you have to design every single part?

Mike, Welcome.
1. Can you give us some finishing tips used by Estes to build catalog modes, also do catalog models actually fly?
2. What was the actual color of the Estes Scrambler last produced in 1977?

It's too late, you've already painted it!

Wow, Mike, welcome aboard!! Had the feeling that something really great was about to happen here.

I was the one who traded several e-mails back in 2004 regarding the Cineroc. Your suggestions and tips proved very valuable. Afterwards, managed to fly it three times, got
very good footage on the second flight, but got destroyed on the third flight due to the core
engine's ignition failure. Subject is on another thread posted a while back.

Again, welcome and we're looking forward to learning about the history of this wonderful
hobby, Estes, and the people behind it.

Can you list all of the kits that you have designed and that were made into kits?

What was your favorite one and what was your least favorite one.?
?
What about the Classic Series and the WM Sustainables?

Will motors, especially boosters be availabe at WM for the above mentioned kits?

Mike,

Please tell Barry I have juice to proffer ORM-D for BP, APCP, and APCP/KPCP, a Jerrypro from the 80's.

Jerry

Of course you are, Bill. Keep posting.

Welcome Mike, and bravo!

Only last August did I finally get my hands on my own copy of your initial contribution to the hobby, a Cineroc (I have a long story somewhere else on YORF about mowing lawns to buy one in 1971 only to have the funds diverted to a 35mm camera to cover my trip to NARAM 13 that year).

When it went away in the mid 70's, the scuttlebutt was that Estes could no longer obtain the motors used in it. I thought this was a rather odd reason, as from my examination of John Langford's and Mike Myrick's Cinerocs (usually after they had crashed!), the motors looked like standard issue motors you could find in Allied or Lafayette catalogs back in the day.

My first question: Was motor un-availability the real reason the Cineroc was discontinued?


(and of course, by "motors" I mean the small electric ones, for our readers who are more easily confused! :) )