I don’t recall any pre-printed lines on the Alpha II kit when I built it. And there sure weren’t any lines on the downscales I made.
I built my BT-50 (original) Alpha II kit a couple of years ago. It appears to have the standard motor mount. And the nosecone displayed is the one in the kit. As I recall, it was from a bulk bag for schools, so that might explain some differences. The red/white/blue was the color scheme it showed.
Here is the link to Jim Z’s information on the kit:
http://spacemodeling.org/jimz/estes/est1421.pdf
Thanks for that link. Note that in the kit picture in that package on JimZ, the body tube is pre-marked.
I got down my box O' Alphas and my Alpha II/III/IV/VI documentation notebook (this is separate from the Alpha notebook) and this is what I've found.
I have two early sets of instructions but no example kits of an Alpha II with a balsa nose cone. The oldest Alpha IIs I have (two of these) with the yellow face card, have the first edition blow-molded plastic nose cone, and the longer motor tube. I have NO idea why Bill Cannon did this, as the Alpha doesn't have a bunch of room in it for wadding and the 'chute even with a standard motor mount.
Then I have a later one, similar to the one documented on JimZ, but with the later Beta-series style blue motor tube and the single huge (and
heavy) centering ring. It also has the later, pointier nose cone shape (but still US made at this point). It is packed with tools and glue and motors. I have not opened the package to get those instructions out to see if the motor mount information has been updated vs. the version on JimZ, which matches a paper copy I have in the aforementioned notebook.
Even this latest (circa 1996, based on the date codes on the enclosed motors) Alpha II has the tube pre marked, as you can see. You can also see this newer kit on the left has the blue/red markings in waterslide form, so that also tracks with the model you built. The one on the right has no decal as it predates the creation of that big Alpha logo (which first appeared on the regular 1225 Alpha in black/red in the 1982 Estes catalog).
For what it's worth some of that educator content in the big package later got put in a plastic ring binder type affair and those packages had just a bulk Alpha kit (standard — no pre-marking) included. But that's a different bunny trail to follow.
Because it's circa 1996, this Alpha II example I have must be one of the last as it still has an assemble-it-yourself parachute, and premade parachutes from China preceded entire kits packaged in China starting just after the turn of the century.....
We now return to your regularly scheduled programming...