My votes are:

1 - Gemini Titan
2- Little Joe I
3- Vostok or Soyuz

a 2" diameter(1/6 scale) Wac Corporal would make a fairly impressive rocket, well so would a bt60 based bird for that matter . unless of course Boing is one of those companies that is fussy about someone doing a model of an old Douglas design.
Rex

I would prefer having to build up fins like the Honest John or Saturn 1B (at least the Semroc Saturn 1B version required building up fins). For those rockets which don't have fins, i would prefer clear plastic/acrylic/etc instead of wood fins.

Paper transitions or blow molded or injection molded plastic transition.
No preference, unless the transition is not conical. If not conical, blow molded.

Wood conduits along the sides of the body that need to be shaped by you or molded plastic conduits.
If conduits are tubular on the real rocket, wood dowel is fine. Strip styrene works for me when rectangular. If some other shape, then prefer molded.

If it’s a multi stage model in real life, with fins on both stages would you prefer the model to actually stage, be a one piece model or maybe be flexible enough in its design to allow the modeler to make it a multi stage model with some extra design work that they need to come up with.
Don't make it multi stage (at least if rocket). I can't think of any scale space rocket kits that are multi-stage. Cluster is another story...


Space Rocket Suggestions:
Please try to make all space rockets the same scale. I prefer 1/70th. If you produce a 1/70th scale kit of a rocket i don't have, i will buy. Any other scale, and i will likely pass. That is just me though.
I believe the previous Estes Mercury Atlas and Mercury Redstone were 1/35th and the Saturn V and recent Little Joe II were 1/48th, so those might be scale family sizes to consider as well.
I like 1/70th, because other than Saturn V and N1, rockets will still come in under 40 inches tall or so.

As for which rockets, here is a dream list:
Atlas 5, Ariane 5 or 6, Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Antares
Any Long March, Soyuz, Proton, H-IIA/B, GSLV.

I would favor Atlas 5, Ariane 5 or 6, or Soyuz.

Bob

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Thanks for all the feed back. Please keep it coming. As you can see many people have different opinions on what they like and dislike about the type of materials used in building a model. Currently I am pretty much stuck with balsa, paper, card stock, wood dowels and plastic to design with.

I see mentioned a couple of subjects that I've already built and test flown so they should be out sometime next year.

I have posted my question in another rocket forum and many of the replies are quite similar.

John Boren

I like larger models that can still fly on smaller motors on small fields, so I like paper shrouds, built up fins, etc. such as the Saturn 1B. However, if a model has details that can be blow molded, or if it needs plastic wraps, I don't mind that at all. Plastic conduits are easiest to deal with, but I don't mind wood as long as the wood is decent quality. I just don't want the models to end up needlessly heavy like the all of those heavy plastic tabbed-fin and plastic fin can E2X models that have come out over the last 20 years.

I'd like to see these at about 2.0-2.6" dia: Thor (any configuration: IRBM, TAD, Thor-Able, etc), Gemini Titan, LTV Scout. The Vostock/Soyuz that has been mentioned would be cool in just about any scale as a skill level 4/5 kit with as much detail as the price point allows.

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I love sanding.

Oh yeah, a Thor-Able with a 24mm mount would be cool.

kj

Hey John!
Thanks very much for asking for our suggestions - you know you would get a lot of ideas from this crowd!

I agree with those that would like the LTV Scout to make a comeback. That would be a great model to re-release!

One no one has mentioned yet, and one of my favorites is the ABM Sprint. I think there's only been one manufacturer to create the kit, and I believe it's been oop for awhile...


I hope to see you at NSL or NARAM this year!

John

I would vote for the following:

- Bring back the 1/100 Saturn 1B, with cluster option.
- A more detailed (closer to scale) Nike-Ajax, followed by Nike-Hercules in the same scale
- Bring back the LTV Scout
- Any current space launch vehicles (Long March, Ariane, Deltas,)
- Bring back the Mercury Atlas

I prefer scale plastic fins more than anything other choice
Second choice on fins are built up vs sheet balsa

Accurate plastic parts vs balsa for any detail parts.

If it was practical for Estes to do so, I wouldn't mind basic scale kits (easy builds for the masses) with separately purchasable 'detail packs'.

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Buzz McD.

Avid rocketeer since 1967.
NAR 13559 / L2

So far, unless I missed it, nobody has asked for a full stack space shuttle.

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"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run"

http://sandmandecals.com/

And the real thing had fins, though they were small.


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I love sanding.