Ye Olde Rocket Forum - View Single Post

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpoehlein

Yeah - the Alpha was my very first rocket I ever built. I've always loved it - simple and classic. Still a great flyer - I built one of the newer plastic nosed units, but I recently started a new one using a balsa nose from Semroc - the plastic nose cone just isn't the right shape compared to the BNC-50K.

I've been away from rocketry for over a year (house remodeling, etc.) but recently started remodeling my wood shop. To make room for more equipment, I moved my large model rocket bench to an adjoining room, and had a chance to bring a few rockets out for display that were in boxes. Pulled out the Super Alpha I built when they first came out. Dissatisfied with the plastic nose cone in the kit, I turned a "faithful to the original" balsa replacement. The Alpha is painted red and white like the color cardstock insert in the kit (cannot remember what you call those ...).

I too think the Alpha is definitely one of the classic Estes kits. When my kids were in elementary school 20+ years ago, I ran a rocket launch program for several years. Helped kids build a LOT of Alphas. They were those horrid orange and black Halloween versions. :-)

I've heard from some of those kids that are young adults now, and they have really fond memories of building and launching those Alphas.