the fickle nature of E's and F's

[Ghrocketman]

Unlike many others, I NEVER have had an Estes E9 cato, and I have flown lots of those low-thrust barely E's. NOBODY around me including the huge Hobby Lobby as well as 3 mom-n-pop hobby stores carries Estes E12's and I've been to all of them in the last 3 weeks. Wish the local Hobby Lobby (that does carry 29mm E16's and F15's) would carry the E12 as I'd like to try em with the 40% off coupon. I still have a stash of Estes E15 engines from the 90's in E15-4 and E15-P flavors (that I convert to E15-0's by removing the plug) that have always worked well. Never had an Estes E15 failure of any type.
My local (10 miles away) Hobby Lobby used to carry Aerotech motors...when they closed them out, they were really cheap in the clearance section. I picked up over $300 worth of D thru G level SU composite motors for under $50, went back a week later and they had more that I snagged

[blushingmule]

I'd like to try the E12s but nobody local carries them and I hate to pay HAZMAT fees to get them shipped, unless I really stocked up on them, from some place like AC Supply, that discounts 40%.

Lee,
I recently received an order from HobbyLinc http://www.hobbylinc.com/ that contained
18 packs of motors including 2 of Estes 29mm E16-6, the Estes Little Joe II, some FF jr. igniters, Monokote
trim, etc. all in a ~ 3'x10.5"x6" box. Shipping was $11 and change.

The "hazmat" is 3rd class ground as opposed to the "high power" hazmat.

Bob
p.s. do they still ream us on high power shipping?

[Rocket Babe]

Over the years I have seen quite a few E launches, many were successful... above 60*F. The cato's I've seen (too many) were below 59*F and above 40*F.

Fly what you wish and good luck but for me I only need 1 word when it comes to E's ... NEVER!

I'd rather use multiple D's anyway.

[Ghrocketman]

I had pretty decent luck with the FSI D18 and D20 motors.
Had a couple catos with each, but nowhere near the rate of the E60 or even the F100.
Out of the 4 catos I had with the FSI D's, only one did any significant damage, the very first D20 I tried to fly blew my 24mm-mount original Citation Patriot to smithereens.
That happened around 1987 or 1988 I think.

[Joe Wooten]

I had pretty decent luck with the FSI D18 and D20 motors.
Had a couple catos with each, but nowhere near the rate of the E60 or even the F100.
Out of the 4 catos I had with the FSI D's, only one did any significant damage, the very first D20 I tried to fly blew my 24mm-mount original Citation Patriot to smithereens.
That happened around 1987 or 1988 I think.

I never had a CATO with either the D18 or the D20. I flew a D20/D18 stack at a PSC launch about 12 years ago that flew perfectly after sitting in my motor box for over 20 years. E60's OTOH.......

[Ghrocketman]

E60's are BY FAR the WORST POS motors I ever had the DIS-pleasure of attempting to fly. I think approximately 75% of all those I had went "Kaboom" and I always started to expect it.

[Joe Wooten]

Speaking of E60's.....I did a space exploration MB launch for the local Scout troop yesterday. All the boys wanted to know if I'd launch one of my exploding rocket engines, as they have heard the older boys and Scouters talk about them over the last year. So I did....



That is the remains of an old FSI kit I had built over 30 years ago. It went up about 30 feet then went KABOOM. Hopefully one of the boys got a good video of it. He did get a great one of my G78 taking off....

[Joe Wooten]

Over the years I have seen quite a few E launches, many were successful... above 60*F. The cato's I've seen (too many) were below 59*F and above 40*F.

Fly what you wish and good luck but for me I only need 1 word when it comes to E's ... NEVER!

I'd rather use multiple D's anyway.

How about multiple E's??????

[Rocket Babe]

Multiple E's ???

Suicide!