Here's one for those of you who were keeping track of things Estes in the mid 1980s:

I acquired from eBay a blue Electron Beam controller that is in kit form (with detailed instructions for assembly), just like its predecessor Solar Launch Controller. Now from my extensive research (paging through Estes catalogs posted online on ninfinger and the Estes site itself), the Electron Beam first appeared in the 1986 catalog, and one of the features touted there is that it was preassembled.

So......anyone know about how kits for the "no assembly necessary" Electron Beam came to be "in the wild"?

This is a continuation for a new fascination with old Estes GSE that started, I guess, with the two versions of the red Electro Launch.

Attached are screen caps of the salient 1986 catalog page and the front image from the eBay auction. It arrived today and it does match this image.

Bob Sanford? Any ideas?

Attached Thumbnails

   

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Bernard Cawley
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