Bill writes:
I do not now nor have I ever had any financial interest in a hobby shop. But I do love to patronize them and have seen too many either go out of business or stop carrying rockets in the last several years.
Estes motors sold by "big box" retailers include recovery wadding; those sold in hobby outlets do not. If you would only include wadding in all motor packaging, you can not only reduce the number of SKUs you have to manage, but also put the hobby shops on more of a level playing field so that they may be better able to keep selling rockets.
I can’t answer this—the hobby shops want the separate sale-it doesn’t allow direct price comparison-since we added WM sales have tripled-they have a short line and they feed the hobby shops.
BEC writes:
I would like to raise another poster's second question to the position of a first question from me: Where does Mr. Tunick see the hobby 5-15 years out? Does he see growth, or does he see decline due to competition with everything from video games to television? This is key to me deciding just how enthusiastically to attempt to share my recently rediscovered joy in the hobby with students (and my grandchildren - who are not yet old enough to get involved).
I have answered this-you are the teacher-if I haven’t done a good job tell me –I will try again.
And since I'm also a model airplane person, my second question: I have heard that the tooling for Cox engines was damaged in moving the equipment to Penrose. Is this true, and if so, has that sealed the fate of Cox engine production. If not, what are the chances that some Cox engines and parts will be produced again?
Some chance, but not much.
Rocket.aero writes:
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions on this forum, Barry.
Has Estes considered how they might leverage some of the new technologies in the park flyer RC market to expand the rocketry market?
We are always looking at those.
James Pierson writes:
Design Testing?
Barry, thanks for taking the time to answer few questions.
My main question is:
What are the current Estes procedures to bring a rocket design thru flight testing stages before it is released to the public. A brief summary will be fine.
Oy—let me answer this separately—it takes 9 months to go from concept to first shots for approval and then four months to get to production and then three months to get it here—we are usually 14-15 months out.
Bazookadale writes:
Others have asked about composite E,F,G motors I will ask specifically about the F62 Darkstar, the sweetest motor ever. Can they bring it back, if not would they sell the design and manufacturing equipment to someone who could produce it?
Don’t know.
CPMcGraw writes:
I know the question concerning a "two tiered" production for beginners and hobbyists has been raised already, but I would be curious as to whether Estes has already approached the "big box" distributors with such a product separation idea, how it might have been presented, and what their reaction might have been. As a second question, to what degree does Estes feel their decisions have been "directed" by the "big box" distributors, and does Estes feel there is still improvement that they and the distributors could make in terms of shelf-space visibility?
We can always be better at what we do-we try to direct the big box guys and not have them direct us—I think we have done a good job at walking the two lines.
DAllen writes:
What is Estes' mission statement? This is proprietary.
Or...if no mission statement exists then what are the business goals for Estes?
I think the answer to this question will shed a lot of light on to what Estes does and why.
Foose4string writes:
Where are you in terms of selling Estes? Estes is not for sale (and where did you hear that nonsense!?
), still looking for a buyer, serious offers, sale already pending, etc.?
If a deal is already underway, are you at liberty to say who?(probably not, but worth a shot)
We are for sale—absolutely—I want out and that is that-no deal as yet-lots of buyers-over the last five years I have refused over 25 unsolicited offers as I wasn’t ready to go.
Gus writes:
Barry,
First, thanks for agreeing to participate here.
Almost all of the general questions I have about the company have been asked so I will instead ask two questions about Estes personnel.
1. Can you conceive of any way to more fully utilize the services of the Rocket Doctor? Nobody loves Estes more or has a better understanding of Estes relationship with the hobbyist. Your presence here today is because of Ken's concern for Estes' relationship with us, some of your most devoted customers. I think it speaks volumes that he worked so hard to better communication between us. Your thoughts on how to better put his interests and abilities to use for Estes would be interesting to hear.
I love Ken—many of you don’t know how long he and I have known each other-Ken is involved with many of our decisions-I ask his advice all the time.
2. When was the last time you gave Christine, of customer service, a bonus or raise? She is, bar none, the best customer service person I have ever dealt with at ANY company. I have NEVER heard anyone on any of these forums ever do anything but lavish praise on their dealings with her. To many of us she is the only personal interaction we have with the company and she represents you phenomenally well. Your plans for recognizing what Christine does for Estes would also be interesting to hear.3
She gets raises all the time—ask her that.
Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us Barry. It is much appreciated.
Motley16 writes:
Do you peek at ebay and see the numbers the older kits pull? If so does any of that "action" influence future releases?
Yes and yes.
CenturiGuy writes:
PLEASE take the BOOM out of Ejection Charges!
If there was only *one* thing I would ask Estes to change, it would be the following issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmbanjo
Could the ejection charges be a little less strong, or at least more consistant? I've had a few models ruined by the "shotgun" charges.
Mr. Tunick,
I agree with Chris. I've had "*thermonuclear*" ejection charges obliterate some of my rockets.
(chuckling) While I see the need for Estes to have repeat customers, I'd *really* like to get *lots* of flights out of any given rocket instead of having to rebuild it completely from scratch, or buy a whole new kit.
Apollo 1 writes:
Mr. Tunick, thanks for taking your time to respond to our questions , and a special thank you for responding to requests to bring back some great classic rockets like the Interceptor, Interceptor E, Der Red Max, Scissor Wing Transport, etc. and the upcoming classic series.
1. I understand some of Estes' early models are in the Smithsonian Museum but unfortunately are rarely displayed. Would it be feasible to create an Estes factory on-site museum of Estes model rocketry for public tours and a direct sale-store for visitors, similar to how factory tours were done in the 60’s? I think it could generate a lot of interest from your customers.
We had public tours-the state of Colorado did away with them—I miss them especially the kids.
2. In the last few years, Estes has had several forays into digital camera or video rockets (Oracle) and several other electronic type payloads. Are there any plans to develop improved digital video rockets that take advantage of new improvements in technology including smaller size, higher resolutions, increased memory, as well as sales of the new tiny electronic altimeters, such as Quest recently announced?
We do.
Sunward writes:
BRS has already asked about problems with small stores competing with large ones. So my 2 questions:
1) E motors - currently not available in Canada. Any chance your company will pay for the testing so they can be sold?
It is not the test costs.
2) iHobby October 2009: Your company did appear at last year's event. Do you plan to appear this year? Would you be open to a get together of rocket related companies during the event? It seems that I may be by myself this time.
We will be there.
LeeR writes:
1. Kudos for the two Interceptor releases last year. (I personally bought 5 of each). Can you elaborate on any plans to bring back some of the terrific sci-fi and fantasy kits, including Centuri models?
2. There is a lot of scale model interest on the forums. Any plans to reintroduce some of the classics, such as the 1/100 Saturn 1B, or maybe the Pershing?
Yes to all.
A Fish Named Wallyum writes:
What are you wearing?
thongs-want to get together?
Leo writes:
Is there any truth to the rumor that Estes will no longer make plastic parts (e.g. nose cones)? The upcoming classic series seems to support the suspicion.
I can’t say anything about that categorically-we are moving more to balsa and wood –thank you CPSIA—we were going there anyway-started three years ago but we have sped up the process.
While I have no problems with balsa nose cones I would miss having nose cones the likes of the Interceptor.