I emailed Estes and got this response:

The leg span is: approximately 30 inches

Yes, the rail tilts to horizontal so that you can load the rocket.

The 2 piece rail is held together with screws.

The rail is attached to the stand via a pin that can be removed.

The legs move up and down and are secured with a wingnut.

30 inches seems a bit small for a rail....even though what they are using looks considerably lighter than a regular 1010 rail (where a six foot section weighs an ounce short of 3 pounds). The span between the bases of the legs on the 2-inch-pipe-based tripod rail pad I make for tARC teams (May/June 2022 Sport Rocketry) spans just short of 50 inches. My pad design can be adjusted for launch angle via two adjustable length legs, but you have to tip it over to load it.

For a cost comparison, the last two of these I made cost about $110 each complete with rail, well above the ~$70 I call out in that SR article. Everything that goes into it, especially the pipe itself, has gone up a bunch since early 2021 when I actually made the pad in that article.

I am intrigued enough about this new Estes pad to at least see what some of you early adopters find out.

I will order one of these once AC Supply has them in stock.

Is it just me or does the 'stand' part of the launcher remind you of the old home movie projector screens families had for showing off their vacation slides and home movies? ;)

I wonder if Estes got a good deal on a bunch of these stands. :D

Yeah, kind of reminded me of the same. We had one of those screens for years back in the day.

Earl

Here's hoping AC Supply gets them. I would happily wait for that as well. (I need to order a few more motors, too....)

I was thinking folding music stand when I saw it, but if it really spans about 30 inches, it's bigger than that. Maybe PA speaker stands or work light stands?

For those of you that are waiting for AC Supply to get the Launch Rail Pad, maybe you should turn to page 61 of the new catalog. There is clearly states "Available Only at EstesRockets.com", it's the last line of the description. It means that the Launch Rail will not be available at any hobby shop or online source other than directly from the Estes website. That also applies to the F15-4 bulk pack, and the 3 weights of Aramid Cord.

I only skimmed the catalog when the .pdf first dropped....but in the back of my mind I was wondering about that.

The aramid shock cords don't bother me....there are LOTS of places to get kevlar cord and I have a pretty good supply already. But that launch pad is unique. I'll be interested to see what Vanel finds and then I'll decide if I want one anyway or not.

Hi Bill,
Did you receive your new Estes Pro Series Launch Rail System #002311 that you ordered? If so, could you share some photos of it please and let us know how well you like it? Thanks!

Kind regards,
Jeff Jenkins
aka: Faithwalker
NAR #46879 SR

..Happy 64th. revolution.
 

The Launch Rail System and other goodies arrived Friday the 22nd.

After reading the instructions a couple of times, it all went together/made sense.
The 2-piece rail is assembled with 4 nuts and bolts and a steel channel; laid it flat
on the carport...the only other assembly was the burger-flipper, uh blast shield; shield
steel slider and 2 screws.

The tube that the rail mount is attached to is spring loaded and is secured in position by an "oversized" thumb screw.
The pivot, mount, and 6 position rail base are factory installed and appear to be made
of glass filled nylon, yay! The pivot pin has a spring/detent style ball for security,

Whew!
Overall I like it. After measuring the distance between 2 legs with a tape, it was ~38" Notice the yardstick in photos. Overall height is ~ 85"

I'm not the "Central Scrutinizer" but the approximate weight is listed @ 3.6 oz ;)

On to the rest. The SLS and Space shuttle are pretty neat models and look great with
the Saturn V. The DRM t-shirt is very nice.

Bob

A buddy mentors ARC teams and had a recent launch where he said that the teams were all choosing to use the Estes rail launcher and the North Coast Rocketry LaunchMaster controller. He said that his opinion of the rail launcher was very positive and the teams liked it. He felt that the rail launcher was more robust than he was expecting.

Chas