Estes Rocket Science Kit

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SCIGS30

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I was at a local Target and bought two of these kits, pretty fun little rocket just another renamed Alpha III. I built the first one like the box art, but to be honest it looked much better before applying the peel and stick and decals. When I build the second one I will not add the decals. Or I may just add the old Alpha III decals.

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I’m assuming this is a current kit? And in what section did you find it? I’m going to have a look at my local Targets later this week.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Jon
 
Look online to see what Target stores have it and save gas money.

It is the only Rocket in the store and in the STEM / educational toy section. Starter set has 3 motors. No other motors in the store.

I hope that changes as Spring approaches.

I’m assuming this is a current kit? And in what section did you find it? I’m going to have a look at my local Targets later this week.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Jon
 
And not all Target stores have such a section. There is only one in the whole Seattle area that does - and it’s far enough from me that I’ll probably do the “ship to store” option to get one of these unless I have some reason to go that far north for some other purpose as yet TBD.

The next nearest store that has them is in a suburb of Sacramento, CA!
 
I picked up one of these too. I used an old gift card I had laying around and only paid a few bucks for it out of pocket. I bought it online and had it shipped to the store.
 
Cool. I might try to get one of these for the toys for tots bin this christmas

That is a great idea!

I've been know to slip a small quantity of motors into a launch set when I give them as gifts. This one doesn't require that. All one needs add is 4 AA cells (and the glues needed to build an Alpha III) to be entirely complete.
 
Looks a lot like the old Estes Phantom kit, except that it doesn't have the clear parts.
 
frogs_box.png

Fun Rockets or Great Science...

Did the Target kit come with just the one paper AltiTrak?
 
Looks a lot like the old Estes Phantom kit, except that it doesn't have the clear parts.

Well it should - the second and third versions of the Phantom were essentially clear Alpha IIIs though the third version used a shorter (4 inches vs. 5.5 inches) piece of PST-50 as the body tube. The fin unit and nose cone are clear Alpha III parts.
 
Well it should - the second and third versions of the Phantom were essentially clear Alpha IIIs though the third version used a shorter (4 inches vs. 5.5 inches) piece of PST-50 as the body tube. The fin unit and nose cone are clear Alpha III parts.

Thanks for the confirmation. I couldn't tell from the photograph if the nosecone had the same style of mounting the eye bolt (or if the the kit included an eye bolt). But that shape was just too familiar not to be the same as the Phantom.
 
Would that actually be MATH and you use the MATH to do something SCIENTIFIC?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigonometry

The universe is made of math


Two of my favorite essays Wigner and Hamming

Actually, the second after I posted that complaint about lack of rigor, I googled my way to this

Glenn Research Center Altitude Tracking Activity

In which the student is to make one altitude sight with a 30 meter baseline, do a graphical computation of apogee height -- too which is then added the height of the student holding the theodolite (!). It is not, apparently, an investigation into experimental uncertainties and significant digits.

Still, the current kit may represent an advance. I am fairly certain that the F.R.O.G.S. kit did not include any tools for altitude tracking. The 5th grade was a long time ago for me, but my recollection was that there was a booklet with instructions for building an AltiTrak-like sighting tool with a protractor and weighted bit of string.
 
Thanks for the confirmation. I couldn't tell from the photograph if the nosecone had the same style of mounting the eye bolt (or if the the kit included an eye bolt). But that shape was just too familiar not to be the same as the Phantom.

Jim,

As it turned out I had an errand that took me north of that one Target in the Seattle area that carries this yesterday, so on the way home I stopped and bought two of the three that were on the shelf. I'll post a picture of the model in it alongside a Phantom - probably on Sunday. I just opened one of them and can confirm it is the same nose cone as the Alpha III/IV/Citation Quasar/Phantom - black like the Alpha IV.

That nose cone has appeared in red (first version Alpha III and for four years in some 1225 Alphas), black (Alpha IV and now Rocket Science kit), chromed and white (Citation Quasar variants), clear (Phantom K-12A and later) and orange (Alpha III for at least the last 20 years or so). There may be other uses of it that I'm not aware of....
 
OK - here’s a comparison picture of all the different models I have to hand that use the Alpha III nose cone (and that tiny screw eye).

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Left to right:
  • Early Alpha III (this nicely built but unflown one actually came in an eBay buy)
  • More recent Alpha III (this is just the fins, body tube and nose cone put together from a late 1990s bulk pack of Alpha IIIs - just before the move to Chinese production)
  • Third version Phantom but with the body tube replaced with a 5.5 inch long section of PST-50 rather than the stubby 4-inch one it came with
  • Rocket Science Kit model (which has no name of its own apparently). Note that its body tube is 6 inches long, not 5.5 inches of Alpha III/IV. A little more room for a parachute.... Again, right now it’s just the fins, BT and nose cone mocked up
  • Alpha IV


I don’t have any Citation Quasars which is the only other place save for some Alphas in the 1989-1992 time period which came with a red Alpha III nose cone/screw eye that I know of where this PNC-50K/PN 72627 has been used.
 
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