So... a few things from John Langford's keynote at vNARCON.

[user 35280]

https://boyceaerospacehobbies.com/c...t-john-fin-upgrade-for-estes-maxi-honest-john

 

[Ez2cDave]

https://boyceaerospacehobbies.com/c...t-john-fin-upgrade-for-estes-maxi-honest-john

They also weigh a ton ( almost 4oz. ) and are pricey.

Dave F.

 

[dpower]

.

 

[user 35280]

They also weigh a ton ( almost 4oz. ) and are pricey.

Dave F.

Dave you can get their Builders Kit too,
https://boyceaerospacehobbies.com/c...products/1-9th-scale-honest-john-builders-kit

 

[Ez2cDave]

Dave you can get their Builders Kit too,
https://boyceaerospacehobbies.com/c...products/1-9th-scale-honest-john-builders-kit

"Completed kit weighs 1lb 3oz; before nose weight and recovery system" . . . The original Estes Maxi-Brute weighed 14 oz., complete, without motor.

A "tank", and still using the lightweight BT-80 tube . . . For the money and weight, might as well substitute a thin-wall fiberglass tube .





Dave F.

 

[user 35280]

"Completed kit weighs 1lb 3oz; before nose weight and recovery system" . . . The original Estes Maxi-Brute weighed 14 oz., complete, without motor.

A "tank", and still using the lightweight BT-80 tube . . . For the money and weight, might as well substitute a thin-wall fiberglass tube .

View attachment 506330

View attachment 506322

Dave F.

No need to use a fiberglass tube when you can use a LOC thick walled 2.60 tube, just send them an email. 29mm motor mount, so much nicer than the 24mm D12-3 pucker factor launches from back in the day

 

[shockie]

iirc they don't exactly have to be lit at the head end of the motor like APCP motors.

This so true. You can light them at the bottom or the top or even in the middle: by doing this you alter the thrust curve profile.

See Trip Barbers 1970's R&D report where he tested differing igniters and igniter ignition points on B14 engines.

If you ignite at the bottom versus the top, you get an lower thrust and thus a lower chamber pressure; lighting at the top results in higher thrust and higher pressures.

 

[sjh1]

To me the big news is that the Langfords are positioning Estes to become a much more comprehensive aerospace company. John mentioned that when they arrived that Estes had mostly lost its motor development capability, but they have since assembled the engineering team needed to produce a large composite motor and had acquired an R&D contract to do so, and were looking to go beyond propulsion into the rest of the systems. John has the industry contacts and experience building an aerospace company to make it work. Overall I think that's great because it will make the organization less dependent on consumer spending cycles and allow them to build up a broader technology and engineering base, while providing more resources for the STEM efforts.

Closer to earth, I'm with John and think they should do a Russian rocket series, both builder and flyable desktop types.

And based on his aside about the Javelin, $5 says he's either got or is going to get one of Matt Steele's scale Javelins.

If it don't fly I am out. Everything should be a buildable kit,except for starter set.