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Old 02-04-2017, 04:49 PM
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LeeR LeeR is offline
Retired with Way Too Many Kits
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Colorado
Posts: 3,222
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I never had the Alpha as a kid, but I ran a model rocketry program when my kids were in elementary school. I continued doing classes after they moved to junior high. During those 4-5 years we built a LOT of Alphas IIIs. Unfortunately, most were the Halloween-ish black and orange models. A little hard to customize by allowing paint or markers.

The last year we switched to the Generic E2X since it was all white, and the kids could color them easily.

I'll bet I have a couple of those Alphas in the boxes of kits somewhere in the basement, since we bought bulk packs I ended up with a couple extras.

I've always loved the classic lines of the Alpha. I bought a Super Alpha when they came out. I was irritated that mine had a non-scale plastic nose cone, so I turned one on my lathe. I seem to recall that the body tube was the wrong length, since the plastic nose cone was too long, I did replace the body tube as well. Somewhere I recall reading that a realistic balsa cone was offered, but not sure if that was before or after the plastic nose cone.
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Lee Reep
NAR 55948

Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor
In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold!
Launch-Ready: Farside-X, Maxi Honest John, Super Scamp
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