Hello All,

I apologize in advance if someone else has already featured this, but I just wanted to give an appreciative fetlocks-up to Estes' new parachute designs, which are all apparently (based on other YORF members' comments) made of the same new, "eager-to-open" thicker plastic as their red 'chutes (which I also like and hope they continue to offer). Here (see: http://www.estesrockets.com/store/c...rachute&x=8&y=9 ) is a link to photos of all of them. The canopies' checkerboard patterns, which include an old-style Estes center logo, all have a "cut-off" appearance at their edges, but I suspect this is just an image cropping artifact. The 'chute colors are red/white (24"), blue/white (18"), orange/white (12"), and black/white (6").

Because 8" parachutes do not reduce descent velocity as much as the drag equations indicate they should (according to the results of an experiment that G. Harry Stine reported on in his Handbook of Model Rocketry), the new Estes 6" 'chutes should be ideal for small, lightweight rockets as an alternative to streamer recovery. The 6" 'chutes might also be useful as pilot parachutes to help extract larger parachutes from big models.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

The price sure is cheaper. Estes chutes used to be like 7 bucks.

I picked up an Estes 24" chute at the not so local HobbyTown for $1.99 for my SNXL and remember thinking that in the old days, the chutes used to $8 a whack.

Haven't used the chute yet but I'm glad to hear they're some good.

__________________
Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

Yes--I noticed the considerably lower prices too, which I was very pleased to see!

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Having just bought my son a new rocket in the last couple weeks that still contained the generic parachutes, these look MUCH better. I also bought a Baby Bertha last year to use as a launch vehicle for my gum camera and it had just a plain white parachute, with instructions that I could color it with markers myself if I was so inclined. Nah!

I'm glad to see the old-style checkerboard 'chute canopies back as well, but I must say that the red parachutes *are* highly visible against cloudy as well as clear sky backgrounds, as folks (and not just me) posted in this thread: http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showt...54&page=1&pp=10 . I'd like to see Estes continue to offer both (the solid red and checkerboard 'chutes). My only beef with the solid white ones is that they show stains much more readily.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

So fly them a couple of times with red tracking powder...

I will personally attest that the red chutes are very visible against an overcast sky. I worked an outreach yesterday where a lot of the kids used those red chutes. I also do not remember a single one of them not opening except for those intentionally reefed, though that may have been the result of this particular bunch of scout leaders making sure everybody used wadding. Too bad they had some problems with motor retention as we had an unusually high number of lawn darts due to ejected motors.


Bill

Give this friction-fitting method a try: http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showt...1238#post101238

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Fetlocks up????? Now that's funny.

__________________
Arizona Rocket Consortium's "MLAS Project"

MLAS Photos

Not possessing thumbs (in our natural forms), doing that is safer than suddenly raising our heads indoors (heads-up)--some overhead barn beams are pretty low to us! :-)

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR