mercury atlas body tube

[Eric]

I need a Estes mercury atlas body tube (kit # 2111) Opened up the box for the first time and the tube was very creased.

Thanks for any help!!!

Eric
waltsbullies@comcast.net

[jetlag]

The tube, I believe, was a special one just for this kit (could be wrong), so I don't know what you might substitute. It appears to have an inner diam. of about 87mm (outer would be about 90mm). Have you tried Semroc for a suitable tube? BMS tubes don't appear to get larger than 3 inches; you need about a 3.54 inch tube. You can at least get close, I would think, and just cut the length you need. Might even call Christine at Estes to see if there are any 'on the shelf' still; you might get lucky! She's hard to get ahold of, but keep trying; she's great! The tube is a little smaller than a BT-100. Perhaps even Tom at Q-Modeling or Tim at Apogee can help as well. All the above are great sources and if they don't have what you need, they could certainly point you in the right direction. They all have helped me greatly! Flis kits is a possible source, as well!
Let us know if you find one, for future reference!
Happy Hunting!
Allen

[ghrocketman]

That tube was shared with the earlier huge 1/45 scale Centuri Little Joe II.
Good luck finding one...I have heard they are nearly UNOBTAINIUM !

[Carl@Semroc]

The tube is a BT-344 (3.44" OD) . It does seem to be the same tube that was used in the Centuri 1/45 Little Joe II. Length has been listed as 18.0" and 18.875" for Atlas. I don't have anything left of my 1/45th except the instructions.

[Royatl]

The tube is a BT-344 (3.44" OD) . It does seem to be the same tube that was used in the Centuri 1/45 Little Joe II. Length has been listed as 18.0" and 18.875" for Atlas. I don't have anything left of my 1/45th except the instructions.

One is slightly larger than the other. Can't remember which way, but it is on the order of 0.01-0.03". Enough to make one nose almost impossible to fit onto the other's tube, and the other's nose fits with no friction into the first's tube.

[Rocket Doctor]

I need a Estes mercury atlas body tube (kit # 2111) Opened up the box for the first time and the tube was very creased.

Thanks for any help!!!

Eric
waltsbullies@comcast.net

Eric

You could try Estes customer service, but, as stated, this is/was a special tube. Chances are, whatever had left over are GONE....

Call 1-800-525-7561 X216, Christine

[Niteowl]

Eric

You could try Estes customer service, but, as stated, this is/was a special tube. Chances are, whatever had left over are GONE....

Call 1-800-525-7561 X216, Christine

Having recently called Estes for parts, I'd like to comment. I'm one of those that insist on speaking directly to customer service. Somewhat of a dinosaur I suppose.

Up until two weeks ago I had no problem reaching Christine at x216, or Naomi at x276, or the receptionist for that matter. This past week when I called to confirm info, I got a generic voicemail. The message I had gotten trying Naomi's extension went somthing like this; "I you are not a current distributor, do not leave a message as we cannot assist you." Nice. After a few attempts and trying several options I was able to get ahold of an actual living human being.

I inquired about the difficulty of "getting through" and the fact that Christine's extension went to generic voicemail. I was told that due to the "high volume of calls" Estes is trying to funnel incoming calls to their answering service which can answer questions limited to info on hand. Any inquiry above the answering services ability will require a "Call-Back"...........:(

I expressed my views of Estes insulating themselves from the "little guy" FWIW.

FYI, the extension that worked was 329, Sandra in customer service. I got her through an "Educator" prompt.

Regarding the above, as usual, YMMV!


EDIT: 05-25-08 simply edited so as not to further clutter OP's thread.

Perhaps I should have posted my comments elsewhere, but I simply wanted to let the OP know how things may go trying to call Estes customer service, and got carried away.

While I am very aware the amount of calls Estes recieves may be in the hundreds daily, that is what a customer service department is for IMO. As is my nature, I have talked to many CSRs at dozens of companies for various reasons and found my latest call-in experience to Estes unique in nature, considering how earlier calls were handled.

HOWEVER....... I would like to say that Christine at Estes did a fantastic job rectifying my situation. :)

[ScaleNut]

it's quite possible that estes get 100's of calls a day.

I worked for a much smaller company and the calles never stopped, and that was without a customer service dept.

the company I worked for prior was a bit larger and the recptionist sometimes recieved 400-600 calls a day and these were just typical every day affairs type calls.

in this day and age automated answering systems are almost a necessity.

when I had problems or a need for parts In the past I simply emailed estes and they always responded , and christene has actualy called me back on a couple ocassions . I don't want to hound them over the phone if it's not of dire importance. they deal with alot more than just rockets these days

[Earl]

One is slightly larger than the other. Can't remember which way, but it is on the order of 0.01-0.03". Enough to make one nose almost impossible to fit onto the other's tube, and the other's nose fits with no friction into the first's tube.

I'll second that, Roy. They are NOT the same tube. *Real* close, but not quite the same. I think the Atlas tube is the 'bigger' of the two. The Centuri 1/45 Little Joe II plastic Apollo capsule pretty well 'rattles' loosely on the Atlas bodytube; what I would consider a 'sloppy' fit at best.

Earl