On Y.O.R.F. a question was raised about the availabilty of the Estes C11 and E9 engines.
Bob Sanford answered:
"Yes, the C11 and E9 motor series are being/have been discontinued.
For that reason I have purchased a bunch of C11-3 motor packs.
Get'em while you still can.
"There has been problems with E9 engine reliability. I don't know if the C11 engines were popular. I still think of a C engine as 18mm, not 24mm.
Bummer. Major bummer. I really love the C11's.
ReplyDeleteI know Lonnie,
DeleteYou've had great results with them.
I put a D12 in my Goblin. It was the only recommended engine. It flew well over 1000 ft. and I lost it drifting over a residential neighborhood. I was planning to put a C11 in my replacement Goblin. Guess I'll have to stock up.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I won't be crying over the loss of the E9 because there isn't a rocket that flies on the E9 that cannot be flown on the E12. You might miss the "slow and majestic" takeoffs, but slow and majestic in real terms means marginally stable ( or unstable) coming off the launch rod. That plus the E9's reputation for exploding.
DeleteHi BAR,
DeleteI don't see many C11 engines at hobby stores. AC Supply is out of C11-3s and the listing says "Discontinued".
I haven't had any E9 engines explode but I did have one where the ejection charge didn't go. The clay cap was still in place when I picked up the model.
Was able to place an order this morning for a couple of bulk packs of C11s from Belleville. Hopefully they don't come back to me and say it's out of stock.
DeleteThe C11 is a real loss for me. Our club's main launch site is not very big and the C11 is the perfect motor for those 24mm rockets that I like to fly. On an even moderately windy day, I risk losing my QCC, Expedition or STM if I fly them on a D12. Oh well. Here's hoping those Quest composite Cs and an adapter will do the trick.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
DeleteFingers crossed for the more powerful Quest C and D engines. They might bridge the gap.
If the thrust graphs floating around the internet are accurate the new Quest D motors are close to the Estes C11 but I guess we’ll all have to wait and see. Disappointed that the C11 is going away - one of my favorites for BT60 based rockets - most of my fleet are BT60 body tube rockets, guess I’ll need a bigger flying field if I have to use D motors.
ReplyDeleteE9 - good riddance. C11 - Nooooooooooooooo!!!
ReplyDeleteI noticed that a couple weeks ago when I was shopping on AC Supply, and the E9-6 was listed as discontinued, and they'd disappeared entirely from the Estes website.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty bummed out about it. I love the E9, and have never had a CATO - perhaps I've been lucky, but when those suckers work, wow... Nice long burn.
C11-3 is my go to engine for the Astron Sprint XL to keep it low-ish and recoverable.
ReplyDeleteI'm always surprised at the negative reaction everyone has for the E9. I've burned a lot of them over the years and never a failure (though it's been a while since I burned the last one.) I particularly enjoyed two E9-8s and two E9-Ps in an upscale Ranger. Lots of smoke and noise. I'll miss them.
ReplyDeleteI will also miss all forms of the C11 but mostly C11-3; burned a lot of those too.
I was at a LUNAR launch last year and in the first few hours of the launch 50% of the Estes E-9’s CATOed. Every time one was being launched the MC made sure everyone was aware - more for the spectacle then a safety concern. I put two up in a Mega Mosquito and both were fine. By end of day the E-9 CATO’s we’re down to only 30% or less of the total.
ReplyDeleteI've had 2 spectacular E9 Cato's. They were so good, I wasnt even worried about losing the rockets!
ReplyDeleteEstes replaced with like rockets no quesions aske when I sent photos.
I've found their customer service to be great.
years ago the same thing happened with the D13's, and Estes "fixed" the problem by scaling back the core burning section, resulting in the current D12. So why is the issue with the E9, which has LESS of a core burning section (and therefore less internal pressure) than the E12? Anyway from the graphs the E12 has a bit more takeoff thrust than the E9, and burns for about 100ms less total time.
ReplyDelete