Estes - (Astron) Alpha (K-25 or #1225) Gallery

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Hey Chris
I have a few question on the Black fin Alpha
1. Is the fin black on both sides ?
2. The Black stripe does it go all the way aft to the end of the BT along side the fin?
3. What is the width of the black stripe on the model shown?

I am working on a 4" Madcow Big Fizz And would like to use this design.
 
everyone usually shows the facecard side, here are a couple of the launch-lug side, you already know what the facecard side looks like.
 

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Here is another complete rebuild. This one was acquired from a seller getting rid of their collection. When I received it, all three fins were broke at the lower tabs and showed signed of various repairs over the years. The lower body tube was moldy and wet. The upper body tube showed signs of mold as well and had obviously been wet at some point. It was so soft it couldn't be used.

Thankfully the original builder used model cement on everything so the entire rocket just pulled apart. I was able to salvage the nose cone, Fins, Lower plastic rings and ironically the original motor mount and stuffer tube. Apparently the water dripped on it and it wasn't sitting in it as the motor tube was dry.

Let the fun begin. I gutted the rocket and took measurements of the tubes and decals. A replacement BT80 tube was used from Apogee and the lower tube was cut from a remnant of Estes BT80 I had from another project. The Stock Stuffer tube was sanded down and received a sleeve around the outside made from scrap BT55 I had laying around. A plywood upper centering ring was added to allow for a place to mount the recovery system.

The entire fin can, motor mount was reassembled using BSI 30min epoxy without the fins as the tabs were broke off anyway. Once dry the low assembly was fit to the new main body tube and secured with more 30 min epoxy. The fins then had what was left of the tabs trimmed up and they were attached into the slots using more 30 min. epoxy. The Fins then received an epoxy fillets to keep them in place.

Internally I added a 500# Kevlar leader and about 12ft of 3/8" Elastic for the shock cord. The lower portion of the rocket received two coats of Automotive surfacer which is basically spray on Bondo. Once sanded the entire rocket got a coat of SEM high build primer.

Finally the rocket was painted with Krylon Gloss White and Gloss Banner Red. I decided that I liked the theme of the original decals but they were way out of date for my liking. I decided to modernize them somewhat and came up with what you see below. To date this one has only flown once on a E9-4. Looking forward to a few AT motors and have an E30-7 waiting.

Pic 1 is from the original add. It looks way better there than it did when I received it. Here is can actually stand on its own. Not the case when it got to me.

Pic 2 is about half way through the rebuild. At this point everything was fitted and the fins were waiting on fillets. Here you can see the two different types of tubes used.

Pic 3 is just out of paint. Two coats of Gloss white and two coats of Gloss Banner Red.

Pic 4 is the finished product. Updated decals were designed by me and cut on a Cricut.2020-12-07_12-16-49 - Copy.jpgb2.jpg2020-12-07_11-59-45.jpg2020-12-07_12-03-29.jpg
 
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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.
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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.

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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.

F7EADE5B-46A5-42CB-AC9B-09B62EDD9BCE.jpeg

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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
 
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Alpha LTFO liftoff 9-23_closer.jpg
Liftoff of the fluorescent orange/white Alpha that was a clone of my first one, from a circa 1966 Electro-Launch. Image from our club's "Classics" launch on October 7th. Power is Estes B6-6 (but whose actual delay was a touch short of 5 seconds, as can be seen here: https://flightsketch.com/flights/4172/). Model is the one on the left in the first two pictures in post 97 above.

(We don't know when the camera was put into monochrome mode, but didn't catch it that day.)
 
Here is my alpha family
Front row L2R: Alpha from Estes Educators Model Rocketry Manual, Alpha 3, Alpha IV from the scrap bin with the wrong nose cone, Alpha VI, Back Row, Super Alpha.

IMG_2330_CROP.jpg
 
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