Older Sirius Rocketry news and fun is archived on this page...as it gets larger, it may take longer to load, but older news tidbits are here for posterity. Click the "News" button at the left to get back to the main news page. Updated November 24, 2006 Hope you have had a happy Thanksgiving! Look for some after-Thanksgiving sale items in the online store, one day only! Updated October 28, 2006 We may have been quiet lately, but that means we are hard at work on more new kits we have in development! The Interrogator kits have been flying out our door as well. Spent a couple of weeks working on a new online store format, that should allow us to add more features as time goes on. Take a look! We'll also be running some specials for the holiday season, so stay tuned! Updated May 15, 2006 A Sirius amount of NEW! It is not often that we add this many new news announcements to our page at one time, but here we are with a whole lotta new! Scroll on! NEW! Interrogator and NEW! Mid Power Interrogator Our new kit releases are here! The standard Interrogator and the Mid-Power Interrogator. Same bird, two different scales. One for A-C motors and the other for C-F motors! Futuristic near-space fighter styling and, like the Refit U.S.S. Atlantis, LOADED with full-color decals to add lots of detail! Read all about the new Interrogator here and the Elite Line Mid-Power Interrogator here! NEW! Detail Decal Sheets #2 and #3      In addition to our highly popular Outlander/Mars Lander and our Detail Decal Sheet #1, we have added Detail Decal Sheets #2 and #3. The unique feature of both of these decal sheets is that all the images are printed in five different scales. The smallest images would scale to a BT-5, next sizes up then fit BT-20, BT-50, BT-55, and finally the largest scale to BT-60. Of course you can use these detail decals however you wish, that is what they are for. But with each sheet, you could build the same model in five different scales! Detail Decal Sheet #2 has roll patterns in black and red, and UNITED STATES block letter markings in the different sizes. Detail Decal Sheet #3 has umbilical hatch markings, warnings, hatches, CG/CP markings, and one of the most requested items: cockpit window markings in different shapes and scales! As always, these decals are full-color, crisp and detailed waterslide decals! Order them now in our (yup - more new stuff!) new and improved online store! NEW! Re-designed and Improved Webstore! Next, there is our re-designed and improved webstore. Our upgraded software allows us to do things we could not do with the old store. At the same time as the upgrade we also had the opportunity to give the store a new, cleaner look. We have also added some new items to the store, added some tips and information, and will be adding even more in the future. So, if you have not before, come on in and shop around! NEW! Sirius Rocketry Branded Merchandise And if that all is not news enough, Sirius Rocketry branded merchandise is now available through our friends at Cafepress! Shirts, caps, mugs, mousepads, bumper stickers and even more items coming soon! This store is a separate store from our online shopping, so make sure you come back here when done! Click the image below, or here to go to our branded item store! May 9, 2006 Don't forget about the National Sport Launch this Memorial Day Weekend in Texas! We NEED to get your photos and hear your stories on the Cochran Challenge going on there! If you can't be in Texas that weekend, well then try to be in Washington for Fire in the Sky 2006! Sirius Rocketry is throwing in a bunch of stuff for both events, and although we cannot attend, we want to hear all the coverage of these events you can send, and who gets what! And if you cannot make it to either event, well, we just may have to have you here to grill Wisconsin brats and talk rockets! Congratulations to Bob Cox, winner in the EMRR Big and Fat Virtual Rocket Contest. He chose our prize for his pick of prizes and his winning entry is on EMRR is here. Congratulations Bob! April 11, 2006 Stay tuned, some neat things coming in the next few weeks... back to top March 15, 2006 Sirius Rocketry, fresh back from one national event (NARCON 2006, report and pictures below) is sponsoring another event this year, at the National Sport Launch, which happens Memorial Day weekend, May 27th and 28th, 2006, and is hosted by the Dallas Area Rocket Society (DARS). Sirius Rocketry is sponsoring one of the fun events (since it fits right in with the theme of our Refit U.S.S. Atlantis), the Cochran Challenge. In what sounds like some typical "Texas-sized" fun, the Cochran Challenge has one simple goal. Slam as big an engine as possible in your rocket and let her rip at "Warp Speeds!" The rules are pretty simple, and can be found on the National Sport Launch events page here. We regret that we cannot attend the NSL in person this year, but we saw this fun event as one that was perfect to sponsor, and we will be sending some great prizes down for the top three places in the event, including the Refit U.S.S. Atlantis kit for the first-place winner! Take lots of pictures for us! back to top March 13, 2006 Back from NARCON, and I have to say, it was a pleasure seeing old friends, and putting faces with the names of new friends! I have to say, the highlights for me were having Lee Piester of Centuri Engineering sign an old (and yellowed) edition of the Rocket Times, listening to Matt Steele of the old North Coast Rocketry speak and having some great conversations with him, meeting all of the attendees and more! Of course, I also enjoyed the fact that our friends at Semroc were right next to us this year instead of across the room, and so we talked a LOT this year! You could not meet a finer rocket family than Carl, Sheryl and Bruce, the McLawhorn's! They had a smashing success at NARCON as well with the release of their new Mars Lander kit. People were (including me) literally waiting in line for this one! I had brought my own vintage original Mars Lander to NARCON, knowing that Semroc would be releasing theirs, and also managed to get a pic of the Semroc gang posing with my vintage Mars Lander. I hope to post some NARCON photos here shortly. Now, of course, I am not going to be only content with plugging another fine rocket company here, I also have to plug my own. Our booth at NARCON was again a success this year, we introduced two new detail decal sheets which will be up in our webstore soon, and we generated quite a bit of interest in our next kit release, the Interrogator. The Interrogator is in the final stages of getting ready for production, and hopefully we are down to under 8 weeks before release. The prototype display models (and kit photo beauty models) were also a hit at NARCON, and we only wish we had them in the bag already! It looks like the Interrogator models will join the ranks of the Saturn and Atlantis kits (which was introduced at NARCON last year and which sold quite well again this year) as a kit that will be very well received! NARCON 2006 Photos Along with a van full of stuff from other quality manufacturers like Flis Kits, Estes, and more, we also displayed our ever growing product line of craftsman kits, parts accessories, tools and decal sets. This was just part of the Sirius Rocketry Display at NARCON 2006. The forthcoming Interrogator models, our ever-popular Refit USS Atlantis, and our 1:64 Scale Saturn were all on display along with David's original classic Estes Mars Lander which....   ...we absolutely had to hand to Sheryl, Carl and Bruce of Semroc for a great photo-op in honor of their new Mars Lander Kit!   One of our new friends, John Dyer of Red River Rocketry. Great kits!   To end a sort of ongoing joke on the Rocketry Forum where I kidnapped, er, kept the JonRocket sign for safekeeping when John left NARCON last year (forgetting his sign), John (not Jon) Arthur (right) of JonRocket.com finally gets his sign back alive for an undisclosed sum of unmarked bills.   Team Outlander's Project was admired by NARCON attendees. That one could use our Mars Lander/Outlander Decal set, just like the little one below has!   Centuri Engineering Company founder and NARCON special guest Lee Piester looks over some Centuri memorabilia. Armed guards stood around the perimeter of the table... :-) Lots of CLASSIC stuff!   And then there is the micro classic stuff from the fine folks at.... Micro Classics!   Ric Gaff and Mark Bundick look over the Sirius Rocketry kit line at the Sirius booth.   "Mission to Mars" was the NARCON 2006 theme, and this is how we are going to get there! :-) One more long shot of the Sirius Rocketry booth. Sirius, Top Flight Recovery, Flis Kits, Estes, Bob Smith and so much more to choose from, oh my! Thanks to the NARCON attendees for helping us lighten the load so we did not have to pack it all up again for the trip home!   back to top | back to main news page March 9, 2006 Look forward to some forthcoming news on a fun contest we are sponsoring at NSL 2006! SEE YOU AT NARCON 2006! Stop by our booth this weekend! Join us again this year at NARCON 2006, the National Association of Rocketry's annual CONvention at the University of Wisconsin - Parkside, sponsored again by our friends at WOOSH. Want some Centuri Memories? Leroy Piester, founder of Centuri engineering will be there! If you missed Vern and Gleda Estes last year, this is your chance this year to meet another rocketry legend! There is a ton of fun packed into the weekend, we will be there once again with our booth, some new products, and lots of rocketry goodies in the vendors area. Stop by and say hello! back to top | back to main news page December 30, 2005 A quick HAPPY NEW YEAR to all! 2005 was great for us, and we are working really hard on some new stuff for 2006. We also did not anticipate running out of Saturns, but we did, and spent a good chunk of a month or two getting a new batch ready again. We also have some new kits in store that are just awaiting instructions, which have been delayed because of the Saturn re-stock. We hope to have a few new releases in a month or two. We will be doing end of year inventory for a couple of days in January, but order anything you want right now, and we will ship it a day or two before the postage rates go up on January 8th. back to top | back to main news page December 20, 2005 The Sirius Rocketry Saturn kit is now back in stock! Reservations for the the first of the batch have been filled and the Saturn is now back in our online store. This batch did wind up costing us more to make, and the retail price will be increasing soon. Time is running out to get the Saturn at the current price. Thanks to all those who reserved their kits at the old price! back to top | back to main news page October 12, 2005 This year, we have had a MAJOR run on the Saturn kits. More than we expected! They are quite expensive and time-consuming to produce, so if you did not get your foot in the door this last go-round, you are out of luck for a few months as we try to triple the production of these kits. The only problem is that some of the costs are going up on the raw materials that we need, and we are really not trying to pass that along to you in the form of increased retail right now, but we may have to. Unless you get a reservation in now at the current price. Just contact us by email, and we will work it out from there. Price increases across the board will be happening soon, and that is a given, but we are holding out as long as we can at the current prices. So, please reserve your kit if you wish at this time. It looks like otherwise that because of the increasing costs of all petro-products and products derived from them that the retail on the Saturn kit will have to be 369.95 for this next batch. Lock in your price now! The price will probably increase on our site at the end of November. There is also an increasing demand that the non-flying plastic/IMPS-type modelers have had for this kit, which is making our supply even shorter. These are the folks that will pay a grand for a 48" long Space 1999 Eagle, and just want a great display. So we are in short supply, and are busting as much as we can to get them out there as fast as we can. Right now, if you want one, ask for them now! We may also offer a really short and temporary sale on some of our other kits, just because we want you to have some fun this winter building! back to top | back to main news page August 6, 2005 Atlantis Spied at NARAM 47. Chan Stevens' build of the Refit USS Atlantis was spotted sport flying at NARAM 47. We so wanted to make NARAM this year, but could not, but it was nice seeing that the Refit was able to make it! Thanks to Art Upton and BoosterVision for selling our Atlantis kits at NARAM!    NARAM Photos courtesy of Chris Taylor and NARAM Live site. Used by permission. back to top | back to main news page July 20, 2005 Happy anniversary of the first moon landing! Thanks to all that are making our latest kit a success! We did have a minor problem with Refit U.S.S. Atlantis decals in LESS than 20 kits due to a vendor mistake, problem was, before a certain date we did not know which ones! We have replaced all decals that we thought could possibly be bad, automatically mailing new sheets to all who purchased our kit over the web whether we thought they had bad decals or not, we just did not want to have anyone unhappy because of a printing mistake we could not control. Thanks for your understanding! We have already seen instances of our Atlantis decals showing up in some other projects because the ones we thought we should replace are good, and the bonus set has been used on other projects.... While we automatically mailed replacement sheets to everyone whether we thought they needed them or not, our list is now down to less than 10 kits purchased at NARCON 2005 that we have no details on. So if you purchased a Refit U.S.S. Atlantis at NARCON 2005, and would like a new set of decal sheets, let us know. We will hold this offer open until we get the last ten or so that may need a new set of decals. In other news.... We had a wierd experience at about 32,000 feet a couple weeks ago on a plane flying out to our summer vacation. Snapped a picture out the window of something not seen before. I have been studying the picture, and hope to post some details soon. Needless to say, I am doing my best to make what I saw into a kit..... We do have some more kit releases around the corner, it just takes so darned long to write those manuals! :-) We just finished test flying a couple of new ones this past weekend.... back to top | back to main news page March 29, 2005 Deepsky Rocket Shop Announced as Exclusive Sirius Rocketry Distributor in Europe Deepsky Rocket Shop will be carrying our Refit U.S.S. Atlantis kit, making this kit available to our friends overseas with quick shipping and friendly service. They will have this kit in stock by mid April, watch their Web site for details and availability! We have recieved several requests from overseas to somehow make the Refit U.S.S. Atlantis kit available in Great Britain and the EU. Deepsky Rocket Shop will make it available to you! In the United States, Sirius Rocketry kits remain at this time available exclusively here at Sirius Rocketry. Deepsky Rocket Shop is the exclusive distributor of Sirius Rocketry Products in Europe. Check out their online store for a wide selection of rocketry products, and make them your stopping point for Sirius Rocketry products in Europe! Ye Olde Rocket Forum is a new place to go and talk to your heart's content about old rockets. With a focus on the classic OOP kits, cloning oldies but goodies and more, this is the place for pure, fun, rocket nostalgia! We even stop by in the Vendors section. Scott Hansen and Co. have a great new forum for lovers of the classic kits! Check out the Forum! back to top | back to main news page March 16, 2005 It's HERE!!!! Had a wonderful time at NARCON 2005! We debuted the Refit U.S.S. Atlantis kit to RAVE reviews, and sold more at NARCON than we expected! Now, our latest Sirius Rocketry Elite line kit is available in our online store! Order your refit today! For details on the Refit U.S.S. Atlantis, click here. December 29, 2004 As the New Year comes upon us, we wish to wish you the best, and the greatest year yet! 2004 has been good to us, with the re-launch of our online store, the re-release of the Saturn 5 kit, lots of fun at NARCON, and several well-recieved decal specials! This coming year we will have a presence at NARCON as a sponsor, and as a company who is trying to make the event even better than last year. Our resolution for 2005 is to come out with several new kits, and market even more that you will enjoy! Have a wonderful 2005, and remember us at Sirius as we grow even more in 2005! back to top | back to main news page Older news items from the earlier days of Sirius Rocketry have disappeared into the sunset.... ------------------------------------------ Sirius: pronounced as "serious." The dog star. Other names: Canicula (--No, Canicula Rocketry did not work in 1998, besides it had a wierd and pretty warped Roman feel to it if you know what I mean!) and Aschere (which sounded like the forces ripping off fins at Mach speed...) Brightest star in the sky after the Sun. Over 20 times brighter than the sun, and twice as massive. Not the closest star to us, but only a short 8.6 light years away. What is the closest star? It is Proxima Centauri, the nearest member of the Alpha Centauri triple star system. Light takes only 4.22 years to reach us from Proxima Centauri. In the constellation Canis Major. But that sounded too much like an old model rocket company! (old-timers know who I am talking about) Back to being "serious"... The star Sirius-- Absolute Magnitiude 1.4. Translated as "scorching" (Something one would not really want to do with a model or high-power rocket!) A name for Satellite Radio (used to work in radio but finally got out myself!) Actually Sirius just played right in with our slogan, and happened to be a celestial object....thus the solar/star theme in our logo, taken from the viewpoint of the setting sun from a satellite planet of Sirius. Gotta be serious about rocketry (like I have been for 27 years) to be here in the first place, after all we are: Sirius Rocketry "For the Serious Rocketeer" See how that works? :-) (woof) How many channels do we have? None. No music here. Unless you love the sound of BP and AP roaring in the morning! ______________________ back to top | back to main news page Cottage kit makers: Contact us to find out how we can help market your quality kits to a wider audience. E-Mail us at seriousmarketing@siriusrocketry.com ! ©1998-2006 Sirius Rocketry, LLC. All rights reserved.