Went to Chili Blaster today. It's an annual event hosted by the Southern Colorado Rocketry Enthusiasts (SCORE) section, and it's also where my company, United Launch Alliance, conducts their annual intern rocket launch. Estes was there with some new products, including the new Honest John (#7240) kit. To my chagrin, they said it was a pre-production kit, and the "real" kits wouldn't be available until September. Still, it gave me the chance to admire the new tooling. The nose cone is beautiful, with the spin thruster housings molded in (unlike the Maxi-Brute version, where you had to cut them out and attach them to the cone). The boattail looks fantastic too. They said they will make minor tweaks to the pre-production kits, so the production version is "perfect!" I can't wait!

As you can guess by the name of this thread, things got AWESOME at the end of the day. Michael Fritz, the Estes Marketing Director, called me over, handed me the kit and said, "Build it, and let me know what you think!" Twist my arm, right? So, with a huge THANK YOU to Estes, I'm going to attempt my first build thread (please be patient). The kit photo is attached. Will open her up later tonight, photograph the pieces, and start the build.

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