Makes sense they'd release it as an RTF, and to match the scale of the RTF SV and SLS. I've seen those models at many launches, if it gets kids & parents into the hobby, great. I'll pick one up just for fun, it'll be a long time before I get to building my 1284 kit.

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Paul
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I have built several 1284 kits.
Always an entertaining build .

I didn't like Cox RTF plastic rockets when they existed and classify the 1/200 Estes offerings the same way. Would rather see more retro clone offerings like the K21 Gemini Titan, Mercury Atlas, 1/70 Saturn 1B, Pershing 1A, etc.

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Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
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Well look what showed up, 9991.

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Saw the ad in my NAR mag out of the mailbox today. I had forgotten completely about it being announced some months ago.

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
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Rocket-Brained Since 1970

There's a pretty good conversation going on here .
I will buy one or two, just me.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid...078069588922549

I'm happy to see that Steve Kristal and Matt Steele are schooling the person who's complaining about the new RTF model.

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Scott D. Hansen
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WOOSH NAR Section #558

This was my thoughts as I read the comments, but I like working with RTF.

Hey guys, thanks for the nice comments.

A little bit of some back story.

The quality of these RTF's is just truly superb. Far better than virtually any other static plastic rocketry models made. We think of these as flying models, but they were designed to be outstanding desktop scale models, which also happened to be flyable. Considering who now owns the company, there is no way they would produce these if they weren't truly dimensionally and graphically accurate.

The issue with such models isn't just the expense to have truly accurate molds designed and made. It is also in the extraordinary quality of the graphics. Poor quality finishes like seen on most of the toy rockets out there was simply not going to be acceptable. And contrary to what most of us suppose, getting such high-quality finishes out of China is extremely difficult.

I know he would be embarrassed and deny it but the quality of these models owes largely to the talents of Bill Stine. Unbeknownst to most of the model rocket community, among his many other skills Bill was a true genius at having products made. Bill had several small companies over the years that produced things like very high-quality scale airplanes which were sold in museum stores. I truly doubt that Estes would have ever proceeded with this line if it had been for the quality of the product that Bill could get China to produce.

I am not at all surprised that SpaceX used Estes to produce the Falcon 9 models.

Although Bill has since retired, I am really grateful to see that Estes is continuing to produce these. What a treat to have such great models available in a uniform scale that fit nicely on a desk or shelf. The fact that they are flyable, just a total bonus!


Steve

Steve, not much of a fan of RTF, but I agree the current crop of Estes RTF scale models is impressive (especially given their prices).
I picked up one of the RTF Falcon 9 models to grace my existing static display of 1/100 scale rockets (Juno, Mercury Redstone, Mercury Atlas, Gemini Titan, Titan IIIC, Vostok, Little Joe II, Saturn 1B, Saturn V, N1, and now Falcon 9). I'm well known and respected for my scale models (at least around the Pacific Northwest) and the quality of the RTF Falcon fits right in.

I might put together a static display of the growing fleet of Estes 1/200th RFT models, although I need to figure out where to put it first - my 'office' (aka "man cave", also aka "the rocket room") is getting rather full

BTW, a little curious what the construction of the shuttle orbiter is like - seems that normal injection molded plastic would be too heavy to work as a glider (and it's not like the relatively light vacu-form shuttle from the old Estes 1/162 scale Shuttle kit had good glider characteristics).

I'm impressed that Tim's impressed.

I guess I need to give the other RTFs another look. I have two of the Saturn Vs, one of which has over a dozen flights on it and the other of which is still in the box and will stay there for the foreseeable future.

And yes, I can see where Bill Stine's hand was crucial for these.

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