Ye Olde Rocket Forum

Go Back   Ye Olde Rocket Forum > The Golden Age of Model Rocketry > Model Rocket History
User Name
Password
Auctions Register FAQ Members List Calendar Today's Posts Search Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-03-2017, 05:20 PM
BEC's Avatar
BEC BEC is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Auburn, Washington
Posts: 3,634
Default Golden Anniversary of the second-longest running model rocket kit

Estes' K-25 - the Astron Alpha - first appeared in the 1967 catalog, so it has been in production for 50 years this year. Perhaps we should all build an Alpha with some kind of golden livery.

No, Estes Industries isn't doing a commemorative kit/livery - I already asked 'em.

Hmmmmmm......maybe we should have an Alpha gathering at NSL along with the already-planned V-2 mass launch.

Thoughts?


(Oh, of course the Big Bertha is the one that has been in production longer than the Alpha, in case anyone here didn't know that. It first appeared in the 1966 catalog, and was an MRN design before that.)
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:  Screen Shot 2017-02-03 at 3.18.08 PM.png
Views: 87
Size:  314.8 KB  
__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-03-2017, 05:40 PM
Scott6060842 Scott6060842 is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: NW Pennsylvania
Posts: 665
Default

Good old Alpha. I'll have to pull out a vintage kit from my stash for the occasion.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-03-2017, 08:06 PM
hcmbanjo's Avatar
hcmbanjo hcmbanjo is offline
When Pigs Fly!
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 1,102
Default

I did a build of the 1969 catalog Alpha a few years ago:
http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot...alog-alpha.html
Lots of home print decals on it.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:  Alpha 1969 1.JPG
Views: 112
Size:  137.3 KB  
__________________
Hans "Chris" Michielssen
Old/New NAR # 19086 SR

www.oddlrockets.com
www.modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com
http://www.nar.org/educational-reso...ing-techniques/
Your results may vary
"Nose cones roll, be careful with that."
Every spaceman needs a ray gun.
Look out - I'm the Meister Shyster!
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-03-2017, 09:06 PM
pterodactyl's Avatar
pterodactyl pterodactyl is offline
Opinions mine; not of NAR or MOF!
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 265
Default

Let's get designer Bill Simon on the thread to talk about his baby!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 02-03-2017, 09:08 PM
stefanj stefanj is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Hillsboro, OR
Posts: 2,845
Default

The Alpha was probably the first kit I built, or TRIED to build. My friends and I were able to buy motors from a couple of hobby shops, but didn't have the scratch to get rockets too. So we cobbled rocket-shaped things together and shoved motors in them. They often flew straight, surprisingly.

Eventually I mail-ordered the $2.25 "Here's a rocket, motors, and literature, go build your own launcher" outfit. I really horribly messed up gluing on the fins. I remember gluing on gauze reinforcement, having seen this in the technical manual, but that ended up making the crookedly placed fins impossible to remove. Poor first Alpha! I suppose I threw you away eventually, but your cone kicked around my parts box for a while. ( If my father had spent a an hour with me helping maybe it would have been flyable, but he was a neglectful jerk and I had to learn things on my own.)

I should build an original Alpha to commemorate the anniversary. I think eRockets has a all-balsa clone.

http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/no...a/70est008.html
__________________
NAR #27085 - Oregon Rocketry - SAM
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 02-03-2017, 10:01 PM
tbzep's Avatar
tbzep tbzep is offline
Dazed and Confused
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: TN
Posts: 11,604
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcmbanjo
I did a build of the 1969 catalog Alpha a few years ago:
http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot...alog-alpha.html
Lots of home print decals on it.

I did mine based on an old Boy's Life ad about 10 years ago.

__________________
I love sanding.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 02-03-2017, 10:29 PM
Jerry Irvine's Avatar
Jerry Irvine Jerry Irvine is offline
Freeform rocketry advocate.
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Claremont, CA "The intellectual capitol of the world."-WSJ
Posts: 3,780
Default

My first model rocket. B6-4.

Should have used B6-6.

1966.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 02-03-2017, 10:41 PM
BEC's Avatar
BEC BEC is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Auburn, Washington
Posts: 3,634
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pterodactyl
Let's get designer Bill Simon on the thread to talk about his baby!


I thought of that, too. I met him briefly at NARCON 2015 in Seattle and I know he lives in this general area....but I have no contact info and don't know if he gets on this forum or not. He helped me settle a big debate that was running on that other forum about what, exactly, was the real definition of the Alpha's fin shape......


My first Alpha was probably my third or fourth model rocket (did a Streak and a Sprite at least before). I remember I finished it mostly with fluorescent orange Aero Gloss (yes, there really were fluorescents in the Aero Gloss line back then) but I left one fin the white base coat. I have no idea what became of it (or most of my models from that time).
__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 02-04-2017, 07:31 AM
chrism chrism is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Greenville, PA
Posts: 1,291
Default

The Alpha was my brother's first rocket and mine was another one of Bill Simon's designs the Antares.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 02-04-2017, 10:05 AM
Rob Campbell Rob Campbell is offline
TRFugee
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: NOYFB, Egypt
Posts: 163
Default

The Alpha was my first rocket. My parents bought me the Alpha starter set for Christmas back in 1973. I love the Alpha, it's always a great performer. The current Alpha is actually more of an Alpha II. The original Alpha did not have die cut fins and the original had a balsa nose cone.

Just for fun, I just looked through the Estes 1973 catalog and there are only three kits from that year that have been in continuous production since '73, Big Bertha, Alpha, and Alpha III. Several others have been reintroduced as limited runs, such as the Sky Dart, Interceptor, Red Max, etc.
__________________
Friends Don't let Friends Do TRF
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:06 AM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe © 1998-2024