Aerotch and Quest merge?
 

So I took about 11 years off rocket making due to tons of things but recently decided to get back in it and introduce my son to this awesome hobby....uhhh LOTS have changed I see.
So Quest and Aerotech are merged? Quest no longer makes black powder motors they now only supply composite 18mm motors called Q-Jets?
Aerotech makes q-jets now in place of their D 18mm motors.
Shockingly Aerotchs actually finally came out with a couple new kits I see.
Estes now has F 29mm Black Powder engines!!!
Estes is taking polls to possibly bring back the Gemini Titan!
Some people are saying the Q-Jet motors arent that great. Why not?
Do you think Quest will come out with bigger kits now that Aerotech is making their motors?
Man did I miss a lot LOL.

Carl passed away and SEMROC is no more. eRockets now produces some of the SEMROC kits and components.

Quest has not put out any new rockets in years.

I’ve flown a lot of Q-Jets and quite a few have been flown here at NARAM both on the sport and contest ranges. Aerotech even supplied Q-jet A3-4s for the Fly It-Take It rockets.

In my opinion the A3s and B4s are OK, the C12 is marvelous and the D16 is a lot of fun in the right models. With the progressive time-thrust curve the D16 in particular makes models go really fast, but not much higher than a C because of the increased drag from going really fast. But it IS fun to watch a model continuously accelerate as the motor burns. With the D16 in particular you can really see that.

The D16-4 with the 18/24 adapter (iirc I had to shorten an orange engine spacer but that could be for a different rocket) in my Estes Vagabond is an absolute hoot! It just keeps accelerating...until it doesn’t. I’m developing an addiction to QJets.

I don’t have a flyable Vagabond at the moment....but I can see that would be a kick. I enjoy putting one of those in the slightly smaller Citation Patriot, which I do have a flyable example of right now.

Another is a good ol’ Big Bertha.....I flew that combination on Tuesday on the NARAM sport range. 732 feet.

Is there a booster version of the Q-Jet 'D'?

No, they don't. There isn't a fool prof way to do that with a composite motor.

Electronic staging while practical is not commonly adopted. There is an area that could use work. It is pretty common now in the HPR arena, but after seeing a full dataset on a 732 foot Big Bertha flight I have to believe it is practical for MR and LMR now. Featherweight Raven, Transolve P7?

I would like to see that software back out the motor thrust curve data from accel data. You may have to know rocket mass to know power.

http://v-serv.com/usr/kits/sonic2200.htm

If you offer a variation of a Thermalite igniter (pyro fuse that fits through nozzle), then direct staging is practical either with a BP booster or a APCP booster with the ejection and cap removed so the delay flame touches off the upper igniter. On an APCP booster motor the delay can be drilled down to as low as 2 seconds.

http://v-serv.com/usr/kits/mr2b.htm

http://v-serv.com/usr/kits/3stagedirect.htm

In the olden days (1978 till 1994) we had them selling.

http://v-serv.com/usr/igniter.htm

Jerry

If AT were to make a D16-2, it would be suitable for the Saturn V RTF as well as USS America like rockets. Free bonus! Good booster for direct staged BP or pyro ignited APCP uppers.

http://v-serv.com/usr/kits/tripletrouble.htm

Neither has Aerotech . . .

Aerotech announced the new 4” Initiator at NARAM. Not a rocket I particularly am interested in but it does look impressive.

Not true.
Aerotech introduced the Arreauxbee-Hi just a year or so ago.
https://www.siriusrocketry.biz/isho...ee-hi-1879.html

That would be cool. Here is the first second of the graph, zoomed in on the acceleration data, of the same flight.

Wow . . . an "ARREAUX" with different fins, slightly longer tubes, and a different paint scheme . . . Not exactly a "new kit" .

Aerotech has been "stuck" with the same overpriced, plastic-finned, snap-together "kits" for decades .

Ask yourself this . . . Why doesn't Aerotech have a line of HPR kits ?

Dave F.

As someone who made motors and kits at the same time and knowing Gary well, I can tell you he was singularly focused on the motor. The main reason he came out with kits as well, was getting the Enertek assets and offering mass market kits to go with mass market motors.

In the early days he had Ace and U.S. Rockets servicing the kit needs. Later LOC Precision gained popularity and has lived on forever since. Since Ron got started by making large nose cone molds and his best friend was the only tube guy, he was perfectly situated to dominate that.

You will also note the AT kit packaging is an afterthought. Compare that to how either a U.S. Rockets or LOC larger kit is packaged. Highest shipping efficiency.

So he got both Enertek and Enerjet out of bankruptcy.

If Estes or Madcow came out with a scale or sport scale kit based on an existing design would that not be, by definition, a new kit? The Arreauxbee-Hi is based on the Aerobee-Hi sounding rocket, so yes, it is a new kit. I stand by my previous assertion: Not true.

Aerotech has been "stuck" with the same overpriced, plastic-finned, snap-together "kits" for decades .

Yup, and they've been selling them for decades.
And people have been buying them for decades.
Or is it your assertion that American consumers are a bunch of idiots that don't know enough to shop around? I think not.
If a manufacturer put out an overpriced product with inferior parts and design against stiff competition they would not last a year in the marketplace, much less decades.

Ask yourself this . . . Why doesn't Aerotech have a line of HPR kits ?

Hmmmm…..Let me guess....
1. They don't need to
2. The demographics don't support the effort: More profitable to cater to the large majority of flyers who don't fly HP.
3. But of course, if you have some kind of secret insider information as to why Aerotech does not, then by all means please enlighten us.

Actually, Jerry Irvine's answers seem to directly address the issues the best . . .

Well, since you asked . . .

Dave F.

If you follow this story closely a few names recur. Gary Rosenfield, Lee Piester, Paul Hans, Enerjet (Brown, Wait, Damon, et al
).

For those saying Aerotech and Quest haven't put out new kits in years:
I always thought Aerotech put number one priority in their Motors. In the past 25 years or so their rocket lineup hasn't changed much, that being said I'm probably going to buy another Imitator kit from them. That's probably one of the best rockets ever made.
I don't know to much about Quest for me personally Estes always appealed to me more so I may have only bought one or two quest kits ever, the one I really do like is the Quadrunner from them and I might order that one soon, but its similar to Aerotech Imitator, I might just get an Imitator and modify the motor mount to a 4 x 18mm cluster.

Hmmm.
Immitated what?

Not that, Initiator is not flying on B through D.

LOL meant initiator
Sorry my spelling isn't very good and auto spell made it even worse.

Yeah. I was saying the Quad Runner is similar looking.
You could get a 4 slotted body tube and 4 initiator fins and add a 4 x 18mm or even 24mm cluster mount and have a pretty cool up scaled Quad Runner.....At least in theory.