New Scans: Estes Wizard (1292) Original 1978-1992 Livery

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K'Tesh

.....OpenRocket's ..... "Chuck Norris"
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I'm sure that there are plenty of scans of this out there. However, I've got access to a very nice scanner, so I scanned the facecard, plans, decals, and fins for anyone who wants them. These weren't even out of the bag for an hour before I scanned them. I think my first Wizard was one of my first five (certainly first ten) rockets I ever built.


Images link to flickr. Full sized .tif images can be downloaded from there.











 
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Isn't it depressing to see how good the instructions used to be? I noticed that while rebuilding my Maverick.
 
Thanks for the memories. Wizard was my second rocket (after the Challenger starter set). That little bugger flew great! It's one of the reasons I love streamer recovery.
 
Thanks for the memories. Wizard was my second rocket (after the Challenger starter set). That little bugger flew great! It's one of the reasons I love streamer recovery.

Happy to do so. IIRC the Wizard was my 4th rocket... IIRC my earliest rockets were (in this order): the Estes Spin Fin (yuck)*, a Stiletto, a Cherokee D, the Wizard, Sizzler (1906), and a Patriot (Citation, but not labeled as such). The list only grows from there.

*I "won" the Spin Fin as my first rocket in a draw straws to get to pick from an assortment. I was clearly at the back end of the opportunities to pick. If/When I get to actually teach rocketry, I will pick one or two designs and everyone will get to build the same kit so there's no disappointment like I experienced.
 
Ok, worked up a .ork file for the Wizard. I learned in my research that it apparently originally came with a BNC-20N (Balsa), but later switched to the PNC-20A (Injection Molded) nosecone.



BTW, I figured out how to make color bands appear on the launch lug... The process is similar to my trick for creating them on the body tube. I use launch lugs the length of the band, and oversize the diameter by .001 larger than the normal LL, and move them into place. I'm happy with this trick, but a little concerned about how it's going to work for the real thing. In other words, is the decal long enough to wrap around the body tube and the launch lug, or will I need to trim it and paint the bands?

View attachment Estes Wizard (1292) Original Livery (Injection Molded Nosecone).ork
 
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BTW, I figured out how to make color bands appear on the launch lug... The process is similar to my trick for creating them on the body tube. I use launch lugs the length of the band, and oversize the diameter by .001 larger than the normal LL, and move them into place. I'm happy with this trick, but a little concerned about how it's going to work for the real thing. In other words, is the decal long enough to wrap around the body tube and the launch lug, or will I need to trim it and paint the bands?

Interesting how you got the color on the launch lug. I've never got that much into OpenRocket or RockSim.
I just finished two Wizards and found the band decal doesn't go over the launch lug,
but starts at the fillet ,goes around the tube and ends up on the other side of the lug.
It's not wide enough to go over the lug.

Wizard A.jpg

The purple color starts right at the end of the launch lug.
Masking that was tough.

If anyone is interested, the purple I used was Rusto 2X Gloss Grape.
The Rusto 2X Purple seemed too dark.
I thought I'd be stuck with a can of purple but this is a great color I'll be using again.
 
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Interesting how you got the color on the launch lug. I've never got that much into OpenRocket or RockSim.
I just finished two Wizards and found the band decal doesn't go over the launch lug,
but starts at the fillet ,goes around the tube and ends up on the other side of the lug.
It's not wide enough to go over the lug.

View attachment 271089

The purple color starts right at the end of the launch lug.
Masking that was tough.

If anyone is interested, the purple I used was Rusto 2X Gloss Grape.
The Rusto 2X Purple seemed too dark.
I thought I'd be stuck with a can of purple but this is a great color I'll be using again.

Yeah... When I read the instructions on where the LL was placed, and saw the painting instructions, I thought this was going to be a little more difficult than it could have been.

I think that the way to pull it off is to put a Q-tip or something inside the LL when masking the rocket. After painting it, any overspray could be touched up with a black sharpie to match the decal.

As to the paint... From what I can see of the colors that Rusto has to offer, the purple looks to be a close match to the original color (it probably was a Testors color in the day). The key things are: Does it look good to you? Do you like it? Those are the only things that really matter.

Now about the modern Wizard's color scheme... I don't know why Estes changed it. It just looks awful to me, and I didn't want to buy one of those and then have to get decals to reproduce the original livery.
 
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Other option (which I'd do in a heartbeat) - split the lug and put one half back in the purple and the other half up in the white above the decal. Or ditch the lugs entirely and use your favorite tower. Nice trick making OR color the lug, gotta remember that one :wink:

BTW I have uber quality scans for 15-20 kits including 1200 dpi decal art, we oughtta get a mini site going or send 'em to JimZ.
 
I'm thinking that black decals are pretty easy to come by/make. I was thinking that I'd just make my own and keep everything else stock.

1200 dpi? That's twice what I'm scanning all of my images in! I'd say add the images here (or like you said start a mini site going). I've got several designs that I'm keeping in reserve for when I'm ready to jump into kit production... Even got a name for the brand and everything.

Pointy Side Up!
Jim
 
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