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Old 07-04-2017, 07:23 PM
Initiator001 Initiator001 is offline
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Default New Estes Alpha Paint Scheme

I was out visiting several local hobby shops this Fourth of July.

As I went through one stores small rocket display I noticed the new packaging for several Estes kits.

I stopped and looked at an Alpha kit and realized there had been a change in the finishing scheme.

It was the same body tube and fin colors along with decals.

However, the nosecone was painted...WHITE!

Huh?!

What's going on in Penrose?
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Old 07-04-2017, 08:11 PM
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Heresy! I may only buy one or two because of this. I have a clone with a vintage nose cone in the 60's (I think) finish with the stars and bars and one finished in the 80's red and black.
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Old 07-04-2017, 10:19 PM
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That same red, white, and blue paint scheme and decal first appeared in 1991, albeit with a red nosecone. The same scheme and decal in red and black was available from 1982-1990.
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Old 07-05-2017, 02:45 AM
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Bob,

Did the box rendering show the motor tube sticking out the aft end of the rocket by 1/4 inch? That's what the current instructions have one do (though I don't have any idea why).

I wonder, too, looking at what you posted, if the nose cone has changed again.....

On the red/white/blue color scheme.....sometimes the colored fin is shown blue, sometimes red. And of course at some point the markings went from waterslide deals to peel-n-stick. I'm not sure when that happened. One of the many Alpha evolution things I'd like to lay out on a time line in this 50th anniversary year of the Alpha kit.
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Old 07-05-2017, 07:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BEC
Bob,

Did the box rendering show the motor tube sticking out the aft end of the rocket by 1/4 inch? That's what the current instructions have one do (though I don't have any idea why).

I wonder, too, looking at what you posted, if the nose cone has changed again.....

On the red/white/blue color scheme.....sometimes the colored fin is shown blue, sometimes red. And of course at some point the markings went from waterslide deals to peel-n-stick. I'm not sure when that happened. One of the many Alpha evolution things I'd like to lay out on a time line in this 50th anniversary year of the Alpha kit.
...And speaking of the Alpha fins, has their planform been slightly "tweaked" again? (I have no particular reason to think so, but the 1/4"-protruding motor mount tube that you mentioned--which is puzzling to me as well--got me wondering...)
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Old 07-05-2017, 11:39 AM
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I discovered a possible reason for the protruding motor mount tube (and a solution). the (now) stock motor hook is too wide to allow for the tube to be flush, one can't get a motor in or out of the tube. fortunately semroc/erockets has old style motor hooks that will work.
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Old 07-05-2017, 03:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
...And speaking of the Alpha fins, has their planform been slightly "tweaked" again? (I have no particular reason to think so, but the 1/4"-protruding motor mount tube that you mentioned--which is puzzling to me as well--got me wondering...)


Jason,

I have a bulk box of very recent Alphas (using it to plan for what Pat commented on just above) and the fins appear to be the same planform as they have had since they went to laser cut. That planform IS different than the die-cut version , which is VERY close to the original SP-25 pattern.


I guess I'm going to have to see if I can find one in the new style packaging that Bob reported on. I've seen that packaging for awhile at my local Hobby Lobby - but they don't carry the Alpha. So maybe HobbyTown.....
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Old 07-05-2017, 01:06 PM
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....and one of the reasons Bernard is putting together a timeline on the Alpha is that the Museum of Flight is holding a 50th anniversary celebration workshop and fun fly on the weekend of September 23 and 24th.

Special guest and Alpha designer Bill Simon will be the guest of honor!
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Old 07-06-2017, 03:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BEC
Bob,

Did the box rendering show the motor tube sticking out the aft end of the rocket by 1/4 inch? That's what the current instructions have one do (though I don't have any idea why).

I wonder, too, looking at what you posted, if the nose cone has changed again.....

On the red/white/blue color scheme.....sometimes the colored fin is shown blue, sometimes red. And of course at some point the markings went from waterslide deals to peel-n-stick. I'm not sure when that happened. One of the many Alpha evolution things I'd like to lay out on a time line in this 50th anniversary year of the Alpha kit.


The facer card does not appear to show the motor tube extending out the aft end of the model.

I don't know if the shape of the Alpha nose cone has changed. The last Alpha I built was in the early 1970s and that model had a balsa nose cone plus I had to cut the fins out of a sheet of balsa.

I look forward to your postings concerning the 50th anniversary of the Alpha.
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Old 07-06-2017, 03:22 PM
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Bob,

OK - thanks.

I'm starting on this huge spreadsheet that will be based on using each different version of the instructions for the rows to try to lay all this out. That's the only way I'm going to even be able to try to keep it all straight.

Even the K-25 Alpha (BNC-50K, cut your own fins) has at least two different motor mount arrangements. Since then the big changes were die cut, then laser cut fins, going to a blow-molded nose cone (at least two shapes at different times) and several motor mount variations. And then there's the livery changes, culminating (for now) in the one you started this thread with.

I flew a BNC-50K/cut your own fins by tracing around the SP-25 pattern Alpha at NSL, done up in the simple two-color livery, but substituting the white with gold for the 50th year. That one was a little hard to find on the ground.... Parts for it came mostly from a late 1960's kit I got on eBay but which arrived with a crushed main body tube. Fortunately the one constant for all Alpha variations I've seen is a 7.75 inch-long BT-50 for the body.

Note to others reading this: by "Alpha" in this context I mean the K-25, later 1225 Alpha and it's bulk-packaged and starter/launch set packaged compatriots and not Alpha II, III, or IV (though I believe the Alpha IIs all have 7.75 inch BT-50s as the main body as well).
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