In the early 1970s Estes offered a special bonus kit when your order was at least $5.00.

It was called the Stinger (Kit # K-53) and it was never listed in a catalog.

I made an order to Estes just so I could get this kit.

I built it soon after my order arrived. YEEECH, I didn't do a very good job building/finishing it but what do you expect from a 10 year old.

I still have it packed away.

Now, thanks, again, to the folks at Semroc and Excelsior Rocketry I have been able to recreate this model.

A simple design and finishing scheme but it looks nice.

Bob

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Ya gotta build one of those if you want to fill out your K-kit fleet. It's on my list to clone. Your cloned K-53 looks nice, Bob. The Stinger was never in the catalog, and if I hadn't read about it on this very forum a few years ago, I might not have never known that this rocket had ever existed. I believe it was only one of two Estes designs that ever used that nose cone (BNC-20AM).

Because it was never shown in a catalog, your photo and the one (in pink!) at the beginning of the plans on JimZ's site are the only two images of this rocket that I have ever seen. Where did you get the decal?

MarkII

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SAM # 0011

The decal is from Excelsior Rocketry (Sandman). The decal is available on two different decal sheets. Either the Gyroc decal sheet or the Mini Brute Set #1 decal sheet (Which also includes decals for the Mosquito, Screamer & Beta).

I still have the original instruction sheet and fin pattern from my Stinger kit.

Semroc is great (As always)! They had all the parts I needed to recreate the model in stock (Laser-cut fins, correct length body tube, BNC-20AM nose cone, etc.). Cloning this kit was easy!

Bob

I still have my original, it is on the right n the back.

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Cool!

With the exception of the Astron Spaceman, I have all those same models from my childhood rocketry days.

Bob

Glad I found this thread - I used this model a lot back in the 1970's for the B & C Streamer Duration events at NAR Sanctioned competition. Only I replaced the nose cone with the blunt shaped BNC-20 Estes used for the Astron Streak. An excellent model and would like to build a clone of it!

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

I remember getting one as a free kit....i also remember loading it with a B14-6 for it's only flight on a windy afternoon....

I flew mine so many times (competition) that it took a beating after so many flights. Plus, I was attaching the streamer line at the burnout CG to increase the duration during recovery. Still have my original model somewhere in my stash, but with one (or more) fins broken from bad storage over the years......

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Come to think, this would make a good kit of the month from BMS......

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.