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  #1  
Old 02-24-2010, 09:24 PM
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mojo1986 mojo1986 is offline
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Default Ebay Alert

There is a very old Estes Sky Hook kit currently at auction on Ebay. I want to notify any potential bidders here on YORF that, although the kit is described as 'sealed in the bag', it has actually been opened and stapled shut. This will greatly reduce the value of this kit. I sent a question to the seller on the 22nd questioning the accuracy of his description but seller has not replied. Take a look......................

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

FAIR WARNING!!

Joe
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Old 02-24-2010, 10:08 PM
Ltvscout Ltvscout is offline
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Thanks for the heads up, Joe.
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  #3  
Old 02-25-2010, 07:30 PM
gerryfortin gerryfortin is offline
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Hi Joe..

My thanks also for sounding a head's up.
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  #4  
Old 02-25-2010, 08:26 PM
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mojo1986 mojo1986 is offline
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I would pay $5 for the parachute, $5-$10 for the nose cone and body tube, and perhaps $25 for the instructions. So $35-$40 for that kit max. I suppose you could add a bit for the shipping box and brochure. Let's see what it goes for...................

Joe
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  #5  
Old 02-27-2010, 04:49 PM
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SEL SEL is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mojo1986
I would pay $5 for the parachute, $5-$10 for the nose cone and body tube, and perhaps $25 for the instructions. So $35-$40 for that kit max. I suppose you could add a bit for the shipping box and brochure. Let's see what it goes for...................

Joe


I hope whomever bought it knew what they were buying.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

S
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Old 02-27-2010, 05:38 PM
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blackshire blackshire is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SEL
I hope whomever bought it knew what they were buying.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

S
Here's another interesting item from that seller (see: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-70S-FLY...533666887701567 ). It's a RTF Cold Propellant rocket (NOT Vashon or Estes). I remember seeing them in hobby shops at the time but never had one. The same company also made a large RTF jet airplane that used one of these Cold Propellant motors, along with smaller spring-loaded "catapult gun" and elastic Hi-start launched versions of the jet (if memory serves, the smaller one was called the "Dyna-Jet Whiz"). Their planes had fuselages made of thin red or blue vacu-formed plastic, with solid sheet balsa wings and tail assemblies that had laminated "decal skins."
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Last edited by blackshire : 02-27-2010 at 05:48 PM. Reason: This ol' hoss done forgot somethin'.
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  #7  
Old 02-26-2010, 01:38 AM
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Der Red Max Der Red Max is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mojo1986
I sent a question to the seller on the 22nd questioning the accuracy of his description but seller has not replied.
Looks like some else inquired as well regarding the stapling and the seller has confirmed it in the "Questions and answers about this item" section of the item.
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  #8  
Old 03-12-2010, 08:42 AM
lurker01 lurker01 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mojo1986
There is a very old Estes Sky Hook kit currently at auction on Ebay. I want to notify any potential bidders here on YORF that, although the kit is described as 'sealed in the bag', it has actually been opened and stapled shut. This will greatly reduce the value of this kit. I sent a question to the seller on the 22nd questioning the accuracy of his description but seller has not replied. Take a look......................

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

FAIR WARNING!!

Joe



Joe,

FYI for you and others here about stapled Estes kits...

They do exist, just very hard to come by.

If you have 62/63/early 64 kits, they are indeed stapled. I have a handful of such kits that were factory stapled and shipped this way directly from Estes. How do I know this, well I opened a sealed mailing box that contained Estes items (from an estate sale) and inside were a couple of 'direct from Estes' Astron Marks. Yes, they were stapled and yes they are mint from Estes. They date to ~1962/63. What is most interesting about them is that they come with the old hollowed out balsa nose block for a thrust ring... very nice.

There could be two reasons why early kits from Estes were stapled:

1) They didn't yet posses a heat sealer yet (applies to the very EARLY kit offerings)

or

2) The heat sealer was down, so they stapled kits until they got the sealer working again; same way the 'Blue Paper" Estes motors were released due to them running out of the brown motor paper for a very short time.

My money is on #1.

What I find so surprising from this group is that no one has picked up on the rarity of the Sky Hook that just closed on ebay ... it doesn't have a "K" number on the instructions and features a 'special price'! This is the kit version that you ordered from the Model Rocket News and not the commercial version that you later bought in 1964.

So not only isn't it opened, but its the 'pre-' version of the "K" kit catalog version; or the Model Rocket News kit (see MRN V3N4).

I believe that at the time MRN V3N4, Estes had decided to kit the Skyhook, but since the 1963 catalog had already been out for 7+ months, they offered the kit in MRN and then made space for it in the 1964 catalog.

So the take home message is: Don't assume that a stapled kit is an opened kit. Estes did in fact staple their early kits (I am not lying or making this up, as I have examples of their stapled kits direct from Estes). The early nascent kits had hollowed out balsa nose blocks for thrust rings and finding them is well a bit hard.
Also remember, Estes had paper hang tags that were stapled, but that was a later time and only deals with a handful of their kit offerings.

I know I know, go back under my rock ... so yes I will return. Hope you find the information above educational... or not.

Lurker01
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  #9  
Old 03-12-2010, 09:19 AM
Ltvscout Ltvscout is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lurker01
What I find so surprising from this group is that no one has picked up on the rarity of the Sky Hook that just closed on ebay ... it doesn't have a "K" number on the instructions and features a 'special price'! This is the kit version that you ordered from the Model Rocket News and not the commercial version that you later bought in 1964.

What's the eBay ID # of this auction? I'd like to look at it.
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  #10  
Old 03-12-2010, 10:30 AM
scigs30 scigs30 is offline
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I have an old Space Plane from Estes that is stapled........I just figured whoever bought it back in the day opened it and stapled it back. I bought it from a estate sell for 17 bucks. I am thinking about building it and leaving it unpainted for display. The Bt. is yellowish white whit no spirals, just one seam down the middle.
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