Thanks to
@Back_at_it popping this thread back up, I figured it was time to add a few more since I last posted back in 2011….
In 2017 I went on a bit of an Alpha building binge as I was preparing for a 50th Anniversary of the Alpha event we were having at the Museum of flight (this was before I knew that the Alpha had actually been available since December of 1965, even though it first appeared in the 1967 catalog). This first grouping is a K-25 clone from Semroc parts, done in the colors of the one I built away back then, a “Golden Alpha” built from an actual K-25/1225 kit (note how much sharper the point is on the nose cone of the real Estes BNC-50K vs the Semroc one on the left). Finally one built from a mid-1980s Alpha kit, so with the first version of the blow-molded plastic nose cone and die-cut vs. hand cut fins.
Next is that same grouping, with a just-finished 1225 Alpha built from a 2019 kit and painted to match the most recent version of the face card livery, which leaves off the upper two-color band. I may still put it on. This one on the right, of course, has the post 1993 shape of the blow-molded nose cone, the laser cut fins (slightly reduced span and tips parallel to the root) and the motor mount pushed aft 3/8 of an inch. This last change was introduced ~2011.
Next, two 50th Anniversary paint jobs. This year is the 50th year of the Alpha III—it first appeared in the 1971 catalog and I haven’t found any prior mentions of it in MRN or other literature that I’ve been able to locate.
Next we have a several-times-flown Alpha VI, a K-25 clone from Semroc parts that my wife built, which is painted in the school colors of our college (New Mexico State) and a 1225 made from parts from a couple of partial early 1980s kits, with a variation in the color scheme. This one is my current regular flyer. The one I posted first in this thread died an inglorious death on its 93rd flight, and this yellow one is intended to be my regular Alpha flyer now.
Next, all commemorative Alphas. The 50th anniversary ones I did, bracketing an Alpha IV (for Estes’ 40th Anniversary) and an Alpha VI (for their 60th).
Next, three Alpha IIIs. The red/white one was from an eBay buy and was pretty nicely done. The two orange/black ones are both kind of tired flyers. The one in the middle’s fin can has shrunk a little around the motor tube (probably from using Chinese Quest BP motors). The main reason they are here is to show that there are two versions of the stickers/markings that are mirror images of one another. I have yet to figure out if there is any rhyme or reason to when you get which version.
Next, contemporary Alpha family members. On the left is the unnamed rocket that comes in the Rocket Science Starter Set, so I call it the RSSSR. In the middle is an example of the recently re-released Phantom, and on the right is the same just-built Alpha.
Finally, I’ve been wondering how an Alpha would be with the 18mm screw on motor retainer, so I threw together an Alpha VI with one. It works well and it doesn’t look bad either.
All of these models except the brand new 1225 Alpha and the Phantom have at least a couple of flights on them. Some of them are up in the 20s.
I should also get out the BT-60 upscale I did when on that building binge in 2017 as well as get down the first-version-K-25 clone I did—both are done in the original red/white paint scheme and the K-25 clone is signed by Bill Simon, the designer of the Alpha. But that’s for another time.