View Single Post
  #1  
Old 11-26-2011, 10:10 PM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
Too Many Initiators is Never Enough
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 2,394
Default Estes Dark Star # 2045 or how to get a kit discontinued

There has been quite a few threads/posts about how does one get a specific model rocket kit put into production but not many, if any, about how a kit becomes discontinued.

A kit can become discontinued due to low sales volume or a kit specific part is no longer available.

Or, a kit can become discontinued because you like it. Rather, because 'I' liked it.

It's time for another installment of "Bob's Wacky History of Model Rocketry".

The time is December 1990.

I'm working at AeroTech in Las Vegas, Nevada. AeroTech's parent company, Industrial Solid Propulsion (ISP) has brought out a line of reloadable HPR motors in 29mm, 38mm and 54mm which has made it less expensive for folks to fly larger rocket motors.

Now, attention has turned to smaller reloadable motors such as 18mm diameter.

AeroTech President Gary Rosenfield has had a prototype 18mm x 70mm reloadable case made. According to his calculations this case should be able to contain a full-impulse 'D' or possibly a low 'E' performance motor. We wouldn't know for sure until some reloads were made for the casing and fired.

Jump forward a few months.

The nozzle, o-rings, paper tubes for the 18mm reload case were now in stock along with the cast propellant. The motor was tested and it produced a full 20n-sec impulse and works out to be a D13.

Now it was time to flight test the motor. Gary asked me if I had an Estes BT-60 model like a Big Bertha that could be used. I said I didn't but I would check to see what I had that we could use.

By now the 1991 Estes catalog had been released and one model had caught my eye. It was a new kit called the Dark Star which was BT-60 body tube and 27" tall. Black and gold finishing scheme.

Thoughts of building and flying a Dark Star model had to be put on hold as AeroTech prepared to attend the 1991 Los Angeles RCHTA Hobby Show. As usual, I was in charge of all the logistics concerning AeroTech's appearance at the show.

New for 1991 at the AeroTech booth was the Phoenix RC rocket glider designed by Bob Parks. The show went well, hobby distributors placed orders, the general public asked if the rockets really flew, etc.

Estes had a booth at the same show staffed by their west coast sales representative, Bill Dilllman. Bill was a great guy and retired from Estes a few years ago.

Anyway, I stopped by the Estes booth to check out the new Estes products ands talk to Bill. Estes had a new General Manager named Barry Tunick and I was trying to get a reading from Bill about his new boss. While talking with Bill I noticed the Dark Star model on display and mentioned to Bill that I liked the kit.

"Would you like to have one that was already built", said Bill.

"Sure", I said.

It turns out that Estes asked the local NAR section (LARS or maybe it had been renamed SCRA by then) to build several Dark Star kits. It was one of these models that Bill presented to me. I thanked him very much and walked off with my new Dark Star.

(To be continued)
__________________
Bob
S.A.M. # 0014
Reply With Quote