Originally Posted by PeterAlway

One of the more interesting bits about Estes and the Little Joe I was the BNC-60T nosecone available in the 1966-1977 catalogs. It was a reasonably accurate boilerplate style Little Joe I balsa nosecone for BT-60. For all the years it was available, I was baffled by what seemed to be a Mercury capsule that was wrong for both Mercury-Atlas and Mercury-Redstone. Finally, more than a decade after it was discontinued, I figured out that it was for a Little Joe I.

Fortunately, I was able to find one at the old Commonwealth Displays store in the 80's at a reasonable price (They had apparently gotten it by clearing out a hobby wholesaler's stock of old Estes parts), and I built a model. It's had some accidents, but one of these days I'll be restoring it.

I find it fascinating that none of Estes's literature ever hinted what that cone was for, let alone gave plans for the model that the part so obviously implied. You can find the profile of this cone in the pdf versions of the Estes catalogs from the late 60's. After about 1971, the graphic becomes microscopic and unreadable.

Peter Alway