In the works
 

We need a new voting system for kits we are working on. Here are the next dozen or so that are in various stages of completion. Which five do you think we should concentrate on for NARAM?

9 Omega
8 USS America
7 Starship Excalibur
6 Egg Crate
6 AIM-54C Phoenix 1/10
6 Starlight
6 Nike-Tomahawk 1/10
5 Starship Correy
3 Nighthawk
2 Midget
1 Maxi-Micron
1 ThunderStorm
0 Arcon 1/4

Eggcrate
USS America
Omega

you pick the last two..... ;)



Earl

1 Midget
1 Egg Crate
1 USS America
0 Starlight
0 Starship Excalibur
:cool: :cool: :cool:

Egg Crate
USS America
Starlight
Omega
AIM-54C Phoenix 1/10

Egg Crate
Starship Excalibur
Nighthawk
Starship Correy
AIM-54C Phoenix 1/10

Omega
USS America
Starlight
1/10 Phoenix
Nike Tomahawk

My List
 

Omega
Phoenix 1/10
Nike-Tomahawk 1/10
Egg Crate
Omega

2 Omega
2 USS America
1 Starship Excalibur
0 Starship Correy
0 Nike-Tomahawk 1/10

My choices...Yeah, I am eclectic!:chuckle:

2 USS America
1 Starlight
1 Starship Excalibur
0 Nighthawk
0 Starship Correy

The USS America is what I'd really like to have! Love that Sci-Fi!
Thanks for even asking us.

Allen
SAM #50

Nike-Tomahawk 1/10
AIM-54C Phoenix 1/10
Starlight
Omega
Starship Excalibur

Starship Excaliber (Estes DOM?)
Nike-Tomahawk
Maxi-Micron
ThunderStorm (have to complete the series)
Omega

In order:

Egg Crate
MMMMMMidget !!!!
Nike Tomahawk
Starlight
Nighthawk


I would actually skip the Omega over all those as that is one of the simplest kits to clone just by slapping a 'parts kit' together of a BNC60AH Nose cone, 3 sections of BT60, a couple stage couplers, a BT60 nose block, a couple BT50 to BT60 motor mounts, some fin stock and a recovery system.

Well, of course, that one always gets my vote :)

What I like about it is that it can be done several ways. The stock Mini Brute EST-0840 would use stock mini (T) motors. The earlier, stock K-40 would use T motors with 18mm adaptors (or can be built with 13mm motor tubes).

BT-55 and BT-60 upscales work great with stock 18 and 24mm motors, respectively. These require somewhat non-scale changes to the length of the booster sections (as I recall) but it's not not noticeable, the changes are quite minor.

That said, the corps of Midget enthusiasts is quite small, so I question whether there's enough market to justify any of these.

Doug

.

I am not going to say Starship Excalibur since I just finished one last week.

The laser cut fins were nice though.

USS America
AIM-54C Phoenix 1/10
Starship Correy
Midget

I would prefer the Midget be the original size. I wouldn't mind using adapters to make "mini motors" into "shorty motors" but that's probably just me.

USS America
Starship Excalibur
Starlight
Nike-Tomahawk 1/10
Starship Correy

Nike-Tomahawk 1/10
Starlight
Thunderstorm
Maxi Micron

Latest votes:

9 Omega
8 USS America
7 Starship Excalibur
7 Nike-Tomahawk 1/10
6 Egg Crate
6 AIM-54C Phoenix 1/10
7 Starlight
5 Starship Correy
3 Nighthawk
2 Midget
2 ThunderStorm
2 Maxi-Micron
0 Arcon 1/4

Notes:
Omega comes with balsa "Cineroc" payload section. We will probably offer the 60AH payload section as a "free kit" to SAM's that purchase the Omega. Another reason for the Omega is the new Estes E12 engines! It has slotted tubes for straight flights if a camera is installed.

We have kept pushing the USS America out because of the cost. Still not sure if it would sell at $45. There is a lot of stuff in it. AND it really needs more than a standard Estes C6-3 to fly it. It was originally designed around the Centuri C5 with 50% more initial thrust. That makes it a 24mm version for now using C11 and D12 (maybe E12!)

The Phoenix in 1/10 scale was fun to build. Combination of 3/16" balsa for root of long vanes and basswood for the vanes and fins makes it look scale. It will have 1/2 oz clay weight in nose. The slowdown for it is the special stencil font to match the original. I started editing a similar font, but there are many letters and numbers left to do.

The holdback on the Nike-Tomahawk is the built-up fins from basswood struts and card stock. The result looks good, but it makes it like the LJ II and S1B fins which some don't like.

The "cabin" and split tubes on the SS Excalibur have been a challenge to produce. I wanted all the slotting and cuts to be done by laser, but it looks like the builder still must split the BT-5 lengthwise.

The laser-cut cardstock at the base of the SS Correy may be challenging to some.

We will probably re-release the Nighthawk as an xKit. Scott has a better drawing now. We dropped it several years ago when Estes announced it as one of the Classic Series, but I was told they no longer had any plans for it.

Thanks for all the input. It really helps make some tough decisions.

Carl wrote:

What about using the laser to cut down the sides of the tubes like you do the fins in a sheet? Leave some connecting tabs for the builder to finish cutting. That would keep the tubes relatively round during shipping, and would make the edges about as straight as possible. One addition to the kit might be some "new moons" of 0.07" matteboard to act as internal bulkheads (to help the tubes hold their shape).

How big is the Maxi Micron? Just curious . .

I'm not going to vote, because I am SO. TOTALLY. OVERLOADED. with unbuilt kits that I can't in good faith throw off the stats on "what seems most cool" rather than what I'd buy.

(I am likely to buy a bunch of Semroc kits as give-aways . . . and it can't hurt to keep and build one Sprite, right? :) )

USS America
ThunderStorm
Starship Correy
Starlight
Arcon 1/4

Nighthawk
Starlight

Nike-Tomahawk
USS America
AIM-54C Phoenix
Omega
Starship Excalibur

I want all of them! If I had to choose just five for now, though, they would be:

1. USS America
2. Egg Crate
3. Starlight (yes!)
4. Nike-Tomahawk 1/10
5. ThunderStorm or 1/4 Arcon

I was going to add the Sprite, but you've already taken care of that. :D

Oh, my shopping/wish list just keeps getting longer and longer... :o

This is hard - I know some of these and not others. So....

Starship Excalibur
USS America (can fly 18mm on D10-5s or D21-4s I'd think)
Starlight

After that, I'm not sure.....

The idea of a 1/4 scale model appeals to me - so the Arcon. And the Midget would be fun.....

I could definitely go for one as well. I'm not as bad (good?) as you, but I have already cloned three of them (different sizes).

Hurray! That's the only way to get those bevels outside of a machine shop. Definitely the way to go for the Nike fins, but would you do the same for the Tomahawk's? (They would be pretty small and quite thin, but I'd be game either way, built-up or solid.)

Gotta finish my 1/8 N-T now.

Omega!

Nighthawk
USS America
Starship Excalibur
Nike-Tomahawk 1/10
Omega

I vote for a 1/3 (not 1/10) scale Phoenix kit for under $50.00 with pre-machined to shape fins and a solid balsa or Fibreglass nose cone.

On THAT note, an XL sized Starlight (BT-60 based or larger) would be simply awesome!

Here's the last "standard size" Starlight I scratch-built from Semroc parts. The only variation I did from the original was I constructed the fins from basswood for stronger "pointyness(?)". This paint scheme is the later red/white version. I believe the very first color variant was a transparent blue over metallic silver. I've never actually seen one in that color, though.

Ditto

Latest votes:

14 USS America
13 Omega
12 Starlight
11 Starship Excalibur
11 Nike-Tomahawk 1/10

8 AIM-54C Phoenix 1/10
7 Egg Crate
6 Starship Correy
5 Nighthawk
4 Midget
4 ThunderStorm
2 Maxi-Micron
2 Arcon 1/4

Maxi-Micron is ST-18 based 1.84" OD x 21.3" tall
Midget is "Shorty" using empty casings like Sprite.
Arcon is in decision stage of either 1/4 scale or 1/3 scale (which wound be 2.04" OD and 44.7' tall in same scale as Arcas.)

I'm curious as to why the Omega is so high on the list. It's very easy to clone. It's just an 8FNC rocket. :p I built my first Cineroc downlink camera by turning my own nose cone and transition. SEMROC has the parts now, so the most recent Cineroc payload I built was a piece of cake. Looks to me like you guys would want the kits that are tougher to clone to be at the top of the list. :confused:

USS America and Starship Excalibur are the most interesting to me as kits instead of having to clone them. I don't recall what the Starship Correy is supposed to look like, but it sounds cool. The rest of the kits that I'm familiar with should be pretty easy to clone.

These things turn into popularity contests pretty quickly. Heck, I chimed in on the mention of Midget, yet it too is a no-brainer for cloning.

That said, for lots of builders, cutting the tubes is a hassle, as is dealing with decals. So having it all together in a kit bag is a big plus for those folks.

But, I agree, lots of kits are easily cloned, 3FNC's: Sprint, Cherokee-D, Omega-D and Midget, just to name a few.

If we focus on the really hard to find or make parts, the list would be dramatically different. For example, cloning a Mars Lander is much more difficult than a Midget, so (if it weren't already available) it would be a good candidate.

So, yeah, I agree, folks should wish for those hard-to-clone-but-popular kits and not simply their favorite kits.

Doug

.

+1 !

As for the Starship Correy:

http://www.semroc.com/Store/scripts...s.asp?SKU=KA-32

Good lookin' for sure.

Allen

Another vote
 

Starship Excalibur
Starlight
Starship Correy
USS America
Nike-Tomahawk

In the past, we have all the parts for particular models months before we released the kits, but very few sets were ordered. In some cases, we even released a bag of the parts (xKits) and they did not sell. But as soon as we released the actual kit, hundreds sold. It probably has something to do with having everything, including the instructions, in one bag.

The Omega Kit will not be exactly the same as the old kit, as all our releases are slightly different. It will work with 2.75" or 3.75" engines, including the new E12. The tubes are laser slotted with through-the-wall fins for less roll if a camera is used.

I agree that there are so many sources of so many parts that almost of the early kits can be cloned without having to buy kits. We do sell lots of parts, but once we release a kit, we notice that the number of orders that have parts to built that kit goes to zero and people buy the kits instead. I asked the question once and the answer I got was that he was not going to build the kit now, but when he opened the bag twenty years in the future, he wanted all the parts and instructions to be there.

3.75" motors would make an interesting CP/CG relationship in Cineroc configuration. It's a pretty short body without the payload section.

Speaking for myself, I just got excited and completely missed the Midget. :o Given the chance, I switch them on my list.

It would always be flown with either the simulated Cineroc payload section or the K-52P payload section (6" BT-60 + BNC-60AH). In Cineroc configuration, CP-CG=2.4" with E12-0 to E12-6. In 52P configuration it is 3.2". There is a lot of fin area on the Omega.