Well, you probably know about Estes and Quest. They're the 'big two' so to speak. I have to say Quest has had a lot more interesting offerings until lately; now Estes seems to be coming back in a big way... They both make good motors BTW...
Semroc is terrific... they have a lot of REALLY cool kits, and a lot of them are the kits we remember from years ago from the likes of Estes and Centuri, though they do have a lot of their own designs. Their customer service is absolutely FIRST RATE and they are REALLY good folks to deal with.
Same goes for Apogee Rockets. They've got a lot of neat rockets and supplies, and top notch customer service, and they're good folks to deal with.
I LOVE Dr. Zooch Rockets-- his 'ant scale' (semiscale) kits aren't very difficult to build, but they ARE skill builders in that they'll help you sharpen and hone your modelling skills. The materials are first rate, the instructions are witty cartoons themselves, and the support is excellent... if you have a problem Wes (Dr. Zooch) will usually send you whatever you need to get it right for free. There's also some pretty innovative and interesting tricks you'll learn along the way...
There's a lot of other manufacturer's out there... among the best are squirrel works, pemberton technologies, fliskits, sunward, mad cow, sheri's hot rockets, etc... there are even MORE vendors out there than there are manufacturers....
Good luck-- you've got more to choose from right now than we've EVER HAD in the history of rocketry!!!! OL JR
