Reference / Paper · 2016
Peak of Flight #433: 2016 - A Year In Review
Apogee Components' Peak of Flight newsletter, issue 433 (2016-12-27).
- peak-of-flight
- apogee-components
- model-rocketry
Reference / Paper · 2016
Apogee Components' Peak of Flight newsletter, issue 433 (2016-12-27).
Apogee Components' Peak of Flight newsletter, issue 433 (2016-12-27).
ISSUE 433 December 27th 2016 IN THIS ISSUE 2016 - Another Year In Review www.ApogeeRockets.com/Rocket-Kits/Skill-Level-2-Model-Rocket-Kits/Moondance 2016 - Another Year In Review By Tim Van Milligan • 2016 Christmas Ornament • Clear Egg Capsule with Padding • Plywood Centering Rings for 38mm tubes Another exciting year has come and gone, and because it went by in such a blur, I thought I’d take this some time to write about what happened From our suppliers, we also released these here at Apogee Components. But before you products: read this article, I hope you go back and peruse • Madcow Aluminum Bulkplates the review I wrote at the end of 2015 in Peak-of• Aeropack Minimum Diameter Retainer with Vent Flight Newsletter Issue #407 (https://www.apoHoles geerockets.com/education/downloads/Newslet• Atlas V CST-100 from Real Space Rockets ter407.pdf). I made some predictions, and more • Jolly Logic Chute Release importantly some goals for the company year. I • Semroc Kits - Mars Lander, Orbital Transport, hope you’ll see that I tried to stay on the path we Magnum Sprint, Magnum Hornet set out on. In this article, I’m going to make some • LumaDyne Tube Fastener Inserts new “stretch” goals for 2017, and I’ll probably • MadCow Fiberglass Nose Cones need your help in achieving them. • Aerotech 38mm Non-Hazmat High Power Motors Accomplishments for 2016 • Lamda 4S Rocket Kit First, here is a list of products that were an• North Hawk Boost Glider nounced in our newsletter that we developed • Sunward Ice Storm, Desertfox, The Liberator, internally at Apogee: The Maverick, Umbrella, Galactic Wave, Moon• SkyMetra Rocket Kit dance, Payloader, Shoot the Moon • AeroDactyl Rocket Kit • H3 Ematch Dipping Compound • Vacuum-Formed Canopy for our BT-70 Nose • MJG Ematch Starter Kit Cone • Aerotech 54mm Diameter Reload Kits • Rocket Display Stands (both cardboard and • plywood) Marketing Projects • U-838 HD Video Camera To be a well rounded company, you have to • Oblique Nose Cone for 24mm tubes • Camera Hoods (both opaque white and clear) tackle a few marketing projects too. The most visible ones that readers of this newsletter saw in • Rocket Dad Bumper Sticker 2016 were the “Patch Batch” promotion, which has • Apogee Logo Decal one sticker left to be released January 1st (https:// • Slotted Tubes for TARC www.apogeerockets.com/Patch-Batch), and the • Foam-Core Rings for TARC #Rocketober photo challenge that we did on social • Vacuum-Formed Transitions for TARC media during the month of October (https://www. • Conformal Rail Guides for TARC rockets apogeerockets.com/rocketober). Our team also • Universal Rail Guides made a cool YouTube “branding video” that is vis• TARC Success Packs for 2017 ible on our home page (https://www.youtube.com/ • BT-70 Egg Protector watch?v=JDC0SD6MYCM). • Starter Chipboards to make Ematches The other less-visible marketing projects • Lightweight 40mm Nose Cone for FAI rockets About this Newsletter You can subscribe to receive this e-zine FREE at the Apogee Components website www.ApogeeComponents.com, or by clicking the link here Newsletter Sign-Up Page 2 Newsletter Staff Continued on page 3 Writer: Tim Van Milligan Layout/Cover Artist: Chris Duran Proofreader: Michelle Mason Issue 433 | December 27th, 2016 2016 - Another Year In Review Continued from page 2 might suddenly disappear. The new menu stays in place and arranges information horizontally to make use of wider computer screens. And it stays put until you actually click your mouse. we accomplished were attending NARCON in Dayton, Ohio in late February, and going to the World Space Modeling Championships in Lviv, Ukraine, which happened in August. What you probably didn’t see was our participation in a few trade shows. We were at the Space Symposium here in Colorado Springs in the month of April, and at the HobbyTown USA trade show in June. We also did an experiment with social media advertising in May. By far the biggest marketing projects we accomplished were our newsletters and how-to videos. We feel very pleased knowing that we didn’t miss a week during the year. It is the number one Figure 1: Screen shot of the new website menu design. thing that customers comment on when they visit our web site. And we hope to continue that sucWhile it requires a couple of more clicks, the cess in 2017 too. general response from customers has been The one marketing challenge that our custom- favorable. In real terms, this means that we have ers faced at the end of 2015 was that our web site gotten a lot fewer complaints. But it is still a work had gotten a bit disorganized. Recall from News- in progress, so if you have suggestions, we are letter #407 that we had switched to a new servopen to hearing your thoughts. er host in 2015 to speed up the site, but it was getting harder to find things. So in early 2016 we The Goal of 2016 made a switch to our current menu system. Among our team, our overall theme for the The drop-down menu choices at the top of year 2016 was “increased efficiency.” We started the page got reduced to just a few items: Shopthe year out by buying 30 new shelving units so ping, Information, Your Account Information, and that we could organize our warehouse to make Search (Figure 1). Clicking on any of these opens it more efficient. Our facility seems to be getting up a dedicated screen that lists all the options that smaller with all the new products we keep bringpertain to that category. In the past, there were ing in, so we had to go vertical to store everything multiple cascading fly-out menus that created in a more efficient manner. endless lists. The lists were so long that you had In the manufacturing side of our facility, I’ve to scroll down on the screen - in which case they also been investing in new Continued on page 4 www.apogeerockets.com/Rocket-Kits/Skill-Level-4-Model-Rocket-Kits/EggStorminator Page 3 Issue 433 | December 27th, 2016 2016 - Another Year In Review Continued from page 3 tooling to increase efficiency. This is important to keeping prices stable for you and our other customers. This past year we had to raise prices on a lot of our own products, and I really hated doing that. In order to increase efficiency, I ended up upgrading a lot of our TARC egg-protector molds (Figure 2), and tried to make our laser cutting machine more efficient by updating the cutting files. Another big efficiency project we worked on this past year was to better document and adapt our internal processes. My personal philosophy is that Apogee’s value to customers is logistics. We may not have everything-rocketry under one roof (yet), and we may not be the least expensive, but we are the fastest at turning around customer orders and shipping them out the door. Because of that, we continue to strive to streamline the way your purchases flow through the company from when you come to our web site to when the product gets delivered at your house. We want to be even more convenient and quicker, so our internal processes have to improve. New Faces In 2016 we had two employees leave the company (Amy and Emerito), for whom we eventually found replacements (Sharlene and Joe). But we also added two new positions to keep up with our current workload, and for future growth. One position was created in our rocket kit production area (Martina), and one person in the “order entry” office (Sara). All told, we now have 10 people working at Apogee! See them at: https://www.apogeerockets.com/Company/Staff Figure 2: New egg-protector molds. I’m planning for our next position in the company, and that person is going to help me with the production of these newsletters and the how-tovideos. If you’re interested in being part of our team, see our job opportunities page on our web site at: https://www.apogeerockets.com/Company/Job_opportunities The Year In the Rocket Industry I know that Apogee Components doesn’t operate in a vacuum. We are partners with many companies within the rocket industry. I don’t look at other rocketry companies as being competitors. We’re in such a mature industry that in order to grow, we have to grow the entire market. Our competition comes from new industries that are trying to take siphon off the time of our customers (like video games). It makes sense to me that our Continued on page 5 https://www.apogeerockets.com/TARC_Supplies Page 4 Issue 433 | December 27th, 2016 2016 - Another Year In Review Continued from page 4 partners in the rocketry industry grow with us. I predicted in Newsletter 407 that there would be some turn-over within the rocketry industry. That has been the case in 2016. The biggest industry event that occurred was the fire in late March at the production facility of Cesaroni Technology Incorporated. They are a major supplier of reloadable rocket motors, so the incident has caused a major disruption in our ability to get motors for customers. The other issue concerning Cesaroni was that they had a bad batch of forward closures that were discovered. Those closures probably got into the system before the fire occurred, but that also created some confusion with customers. Fortunately, that separate issue has been resolved. But at the time of this writing, Apogee is still unable to get new motors from Cesaroni due to the fire situation. The other big news is that Rocketry Warehouse and LOC Precision have new owners. I see this as positive, and we are looking forward to working with them in the future too. Looking Forward to 2017 - A new place Last year I wrote that I wanted to keep everything in our current building for at least one more year. Well… that year is up. I am now actively looking for a larger building to move the company into. With the two extra teammates, we don’t even have room in our front parking lot for everyone to park their automobiles and still leave room for our customers. And inside the building, we’re out of offices too. I’m now sharing my own personal office! Even though I agreed to it, I am beginning to think that it was a ploy by my team to nudge me to look for a bigger space. At this time, I’m 60% confident that we’ll be in a new building sometime in 2017. This is a big move, and I’ve been telling the team that one thing will not change. That is our shipping guarantee. If we make the move, we will NOT inconvenience you and our other customers. We will not shut down during normal business hours to make the move. We will find a way to keep shipping merchandise out the same day that you place your order (Figure 3). In 2007, when we moved into our current facility, we were able to keep everything going, so I do not consider this to be an insurmountable obstacle. We did it before, and we can do it again. Figure 3: Screen shot of our same-day shipping guarantee from our website. The possibility of making a move to a new facility is both exciting and scary. What I’m obviously most scared of is the expense of the new facility. A bigger building means a larger monthly lease payment - a lot bigger. If we move, we need more income coming in, or the com- Continued on page 6 Experienced HPR Builders Use Thrust Plates • Eliminates Shear Forces on Centering Rings • Mates with AeroPacks Flanged Engine Retainers • Fits Standard HPR Tubes, Blue Tubes, and Fiberglass Tubes • Made from Aircraft Grade Aluminum https://www.apogeerockets.com/Building_Supplies/Thrust_Plates Page 5 Issue 433 | December 27th, 2016 2016 - Another Year In Review name on a kit. What I’m most interested in are rockets that operate differently than normal rockets. I like rockets that “do something.” And finally, they have to use standard parts that Apogee already has in our inventory. I probably wouldn’t have attempted this goal if we didn’t make a couple of big changes to the way we develop kits. Technology has improved things, and I’m trying to leverage that. For example, when I worked at Estes in the early 1990’s, I designed rockets with just a pencil. Then RockSim came out in the 2000’s, and designs became a lot safer using it. In the past year, I’ve learned a new CAD program and that also changed how I look at development. No longer am I limited to simple geometric shapes. They can be more organic and swoopy. What’s more, we can now 3D print some parts and build short-run tooling to make those parts. The last piece of the rocket kit production puzzle is getting the instructions drawn. Just this past week we discovered how to export the images from the CAD program into beautiful and detailed technical drawings. This will allow us to make instructions faster than ever, plus ones that Figure 4: Vapor Rocket Kit. are significantly better than anything we could pany could be at risk. have done in the past. I’m really excited about the Therefore, the theme we’re going to follow in possibilities for the future, and how fast we might 2017 is: “Let’s GrOwth!” get new kits out. Here’s where I’m starting: I’m publicly making a I can say that I’ve already got four kits in the commitment to add 12 new Apogee rocket kits to queue. A non-flying rocket kit called the “Vapor” our line during 2017. will be first. It is a see-through rocket intended That is a bold goal, considering that we might for teachers and for use as a static display to move and that we only added two new kits in get new modelers interested in the hobby and 2016: SkyMetra and AeroDactyl. specifically in how rockets work (Figure 4). The And this is where I’m asking for your help. I am cool thing is that it is a big rocket, so it has a size going to open this up to our customers to subadvantage that gets noticed. mit ideas for new kits for 2017. I’ve never taken Continued on page 7 submissions before, but I wanted to have a little fun with this project. So if you have ideas, start putting them down on paper. Note that nothing is guaranteed, and there probably won’t be any significant compensation other than getting your Continued from page 5 Page 6 Issue 433 | December 27th, 2016 2016 - Another Year In Review Continued from page 6 After that will be a competition style egglofter rocket (Figure 5). This model is built around our new see-through egg capsule that also comes with molded foam protectors (https://www.apogeerockets.com/Building-Supplies/Nose-Cones/ For-up-to-24mm-Body-Tubes/Vac-Form-EggCapsule-CLEAR-1-pk). The rocket will also come with the fly-away rail guides that you may have read about in Peak-of-Flight Newsletter #387 (https://www.apogeerockets.com/education/ downloads/Newsletter387.pdf). The other goal for Apogee is to expand our selection of products from other suppliers. We do want to carry more kits from other manufacturers, because they are also doing some really neat things. The issue is that we build and test the products that we carry in our store. So I’m going to need help building some rockets. If you’re interested in building test models for us, I’m starting a list of people that I’ll contact when an opportunity becomes available. Again, shoot me an email, and I’ll get you on that list. And if you are a manufacturer and want Apogee to carry your products, now is a great time to contact us. We’re always looking for new items to carry in our store, and I anticipate having a lot more room to store products in a bigger building. Figure 5: Egglofter Rocket Kit with flyaway rail guides. The third kit will be strap-on rocket boosters. This “component type kit” (Figure 6) will allow you to add parallel staging to your rockets with very little modification. See a video of what strapon boosters look like at: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=VMIkqMU5myM. The fourth rocket coming out after that will actually use the strapon boosters. With this rocket kit you’ll get both a core-vehicle rocket plus two strap-on boosters. I think you’ll like the look of it too, as we’re giving it a cool steampunk flavor. Figure 6: Strap-on rocket boosters. Continued on page 8 www.ApogeeRockets.com/Building_Supplies/Parachutes_Recovery_Equipment/Shock_Cord Page 7 Issue 433 | December 27th, 2016 2016 - Another Year In Review Continued from page 7 Conclusion This next year looks to be very busy for Apogee. As you’ve read here, I’m committing our team to some very big goals. I’m putting it down in print because I want you to hold me accountable. By late December 2017, I want you to ask the question: “how did you do on your goals?” Hopefully we’ll have good news to report. About The Author: Tim Van Milligan (a.k.a. “Mr. Rocket”) is a real rocket scientist who likes helping out other rocketeers. He is an avid rocketry competitor, and is Level 3 high power certified. He is often asked what is the biggest rocket he’s ever launched. His answer is that before he started writing articles and books about rocketry, he worked on the Delta II rocket that launched satellites into orbit. He has a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and has worked toward a M.S. in Space Technology from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. Currently, he is the owner of Apogee Components (http://www. apogeerockets.com) and also the author of the books: “Model Rocket Design and Construction,” “69 Simple Science Fair Projects with Model Rockets: Aeronautics” and publisher of the “Peakof-Flight” newsletter, a FREE e-zine newsletter about model rockets. You can email him by using the contact form at: https://www.apogeerockets. com/Contact Minimum Diameter Motor Retainers! Apogee is your one stop shop for your minimum diameter rockets projects! • Fly High We Have: • Minimum Diameter Retainers • Motor Extenders • Threaded Forward Closures • Adapters for • Fly Fast Cesaroni Cases • Impress Your Friends! www.ApogeeRockets.com/Building_Supplies/Motor_Retainers_Hooks Need Rail Buttons And Stand-Offs? www.apogeerockets.com/Building_Supplies/Launch_Lugs_Rail_Buttons/ Rail_Buttons High Power Nose Cones • MONSTER Nose Cones from LOC-Precision • Durable Heavy-Duty Plastic • Fits Standard LOC Tube and Blue Tube • Get That Big Project Off The Ground • Affordable! www.ApogeeRockets.com/Building_Supplies/Nose_Cones/ Page 8 Issue 433 | December 27th, 2016