The Estes Converter appeared in 2007 and was designed by Ken Montayne (Rocket Dr.). His original name for it was K’wick K’nect. Before it was released as the Converter, the original version released by Estes had some differences and was offered as the, I kid you not, Screw Machine, in the 2002 Catalog. Since Ken published This Post, I have been looking for one of these, since it was such a good story. I think it is pretty wild that marketing thought that Screw Machine was a good name. One finally became available for a very good price and I got it. The kit itself is interesting in a few ways for its differences with the Converter, it has longer tubes and three sets of interchangeable fins that are trapped in slots with the usual BT-56 twist lock retainer. The plastic parts are molded in white, I have never seen the BT-56 nosecone molded in white. The “Screw Machine” sticker is pre-installed on the aft tube. With all the tubes installed it is 45.75 inches. The shortest tube attaches to the fin can and there is a coupler just for the upper launch lug and a short section of tube between the launch lug coupler and the aft screw connector.

The Converter fin can has fixed fins molded in, and the longest length is 38.5”. It eliminates all the fin sets and the launch lug coupler, it uses the plastic lug strip used in the MAV and many other Estes E2X kits.

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