Estes Alpha Variation?

My son is participating in a classroom rocket launch. They purchased the Estes Alpha for the kids to build. I've seen several variations of the Alpha. His is the current Alpha.

The picture on the bulk pack box show the odd fin to be blue. All the pictures I have found show the odd fin to be blue or black (depending on era and decals). His decals are red and blue. The instructions say the odd fin is supposed to be red. Anyone ever seen an Estes picture with a red fin?

Alpha or Super Alpha? The Super is two red one white IIRC.

An "official" Estes picture ? No, I've only seen the fin a sorta sky blue to match the decal shade. Unless it matters for the class project, I say let him paint it any damn color he wants. What's his favorite color ?

He's wanting to paint this one traditional colors. I found the matching Testors blue. We pretty much stick to the "suggested" paint scheme around here.

For me it's the challenge of making my rocket look exactly like the display picture. For the boys, it's partly about matching and partly about "it's easy" to just go with that paint. They don't have to think lol.

when I built mine I painted it with the 'simple scheme' for 1969(according to the instructions), likewise painted the super alpha to match.
Rex

Kruegon said:

He's wanting to paint this one traditional colors. I found the matching Testors blue. We pretty much stick to the "suggested" paint scheme around here.

For me it's the challenge of making my rocket look exactly like the display picture. For the boys, it's partly about matching and partly about "it's easy" to just go with that paint. They don't have to think lol.

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Ok, that works too. Pictures ???

samb said:

Ok, that works too. Pictures ???

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We're working on it. It's hanging in white right now. The cone is done. I have till tomorrow night to get it painted, decaled, and cleared. He has to take it back on Tuesday. The launch is Thursday. I have to be there at 7:30 am to set up our club's equipment and get ready for the launch.

We have close to 300 rockets to launch this Thursday. It's going to be busy, to say the least.

Not that it'll help much, but here's the .ork file I've created for the modern version of the Estes Alpha (1225) (with the PN 071028 nosecone, as opposed to the older version using the PNC-50K nosecone). Paint scheme is based on the instructions copyrighted 2009-2013 (what's up on Estes' instruction page). I checked the catalogs from 1991 through 2016, and the Alpha was shown with a blue fin in all of them.



Please Note: Since I don't have a scan of the modern Alpha's fins (with a ruler), this .ork file is using the measurements of a 1980's Alpha that was provided by BEC. I had to guess on the length of the CR, as this version uses only one. If someone can provide me a scan of the latest version's fins (with a ruler, preferably in matrix), I'll be able to verify the accuracy of this .ork file.

I've posted two other variants of the Alpha on my .ork thread.

View attachment Estes Alpha (1225)(2000's Livery, PN 071028 Nosecone, Decaled).ork

Hmmmm....

I built mine a couple of years ago, and I painted my fin blue. I just checked the instructions and it says red. I could've sworn it said blue. I must have paid more attention to the card, which shows a blue fin.

Be careful with the "decals"--I put mine in water and nothing happened. I think they're really stickers, unless something has changed.

Yeah it was stickers. It's finally done. I'm so pissed. For all my work priming and painting, the tape on the blue fin failed. Minor overspray and a thin line along the fin base. The blue was not my friend. But it's still nice and clean over all. I feel confident he'll have the best looking rocket in the class.

Luckily I get to see all the rockets all day long. The advantage of being on the launch team lol.

Kruegon said:

For me it's the challenge of making my rocket look exactly like the display picture. For the boys, it's partly about matching and partly about "it's easy" to just go with that paint. They don't have to think lol.

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Why on earth is that your greatest challenge? Color is the ONLY thing we have control over to personalize our "KIT" built or Cloned designed model rockets..
I am just the opposite! I go out of my way to NOT paint my models to look exactly like the panel face card picture. This is expecially ture for small kit modes like the Alpha, Alpha-II or the newer Alpha-III which is almost all pre-finished.
It just amazes me that folks try so hard to make their hobby rockets look exactly like every other hobby rocket that happens to be the same design????

Micromeister said:

It just amazes me that folks try so hard to make their hobby rockets look exactly like every other hobby rocket that happens to be the same design????

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One of the greatest things about rocketry is the ability to choose. My painting skills have always been lacking. I've never mastered the process. I have, however, recently begun to improve in strides. But details like stripes and wedges with the detailed taping still eludes me. So the ability to tape and spray in the exact same way they are pictured is a challenge to me. And one I enjoy trying to achieve. It's my choice to do it. And I find it a challenging and enjoyable, if not sometimes frustrating, part of the build.

You may find it pleasing that my Partizon and Scion are not going to be that way. Custom paint jobs and hopefully decals.

Nice build & finishing! Don't forget to post pics of the rockets & launches!

Here's my kid's Alpha III despite my color suggestions. I'll admit, it's a lot more colorful than my all white Alpha that I built as a kid & launched on a C6-7 on a cloudy day (white rocket against white clouds ). The rocket gods were kind as I miraculously found my Alpha lying along the fence as I walked home.

Say, why's the rear end of the modern Alpha sagging & sticking out so much? It looks really weird...

Micromeister said:

It just amazes me that folks try so hard to make their hobby rockets look exactly like every other hobby rocket that happens to be the same design????

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I'd say that for some of us, it's the style of the rocket and its graphics that caught our attention, and that is what we are trying to capture in our stock paint jobs.

Prime Example. I took one look at Estes' Shadow, and hated it. Couldn't stand it, and still can't. However, the Optima, which is the exact same rocket save for the smaller motors (and thus motor mount) is the exact opposite. I Love that rocket.

Same thing goes for the Estes Wizard. The classic black, white, and purple is a look that many of us BARs are looking to reproduce. The modern paint scheme... looks like $*1+.

I'd say it's all about the aesthetic preferences of the end user.

Micromeister said:

Why on earth is that your greatest challenge? Color is the ONLY thing we have control over to personalize our "KIT" built or Cloned designed model rockets..
I am just the opposite! I go out of my way to NOT paint my models to look exactly like the panel face card picture. This is expecially ture for small kit modes like the Alpha, Alpha-II or the newer Alpha-III which is almost all pre-finished.
It just amazes me that folks try so hard to make their hobby rockets look exactly like every other hobby rocket that happens to be the same design????

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Why on earth not?
The catalog paint schemes are sometimes what attracted me to the model in the first place.
Usually it's the enclosed decals that decide if I go for the catalog colors or something different.
Why change the base color to red when the trim decals are orange or red? That'll just disappear into the paint color.
I go either way. The pro designers at Estes and Centuri came up with things that were far above anything I would come up with.

Micromeister said:

Why on earth is that your greatest challenge? Color is the ONLY thing we have control over to personalize our "KIT" built or Cloned designed model rockets..

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Really? Color is the only way to personalize a rocket, and there's no other possible way to make a rocket different because you want to be a little different?

I guess you've forgotten about Steam Punk rockets. They have a lot more than different colors.

And you must not remember that a huge number of people on this forum enjoy modifying a kit to accept larger engine sizes.

Some people even like to change the number of engines and make a cluster in a kit designed for a single. Ever seen the SR-71 that had 3 engines with channels from the nacelles up to the nosecone?

There have been quite a few rockets built where the kit built rocket has been changed to rear ejection because someone wanted to alter the way the nosecone would look and fill the gap between nose and body tube.

Gluing the fins on in a different orientation really changes the look of some kits. Grain direction on pre-cut fins may make this a less sturdy mod.

I'm sure I could think of a few more, but to say that color is the ONLY thing people can mod on a "kit" is short-sighted at best.