Estes BBIII, Mean Machine, AlphaVI now available

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EXPjawa

EXPjawa

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Title says it all. The reissued Black Brant III, Mean Machine, the Alpha VI have now all moved from their "Coming Soon" page to "What's New", and are shown as in-stock.
 
Yes they have, couldn't pass up on that alpha VI ordered 2 of them, my first estes rocket was an Alpha III with the red nose and fin can almost 30 years ago, and still own in, the kit is still around although these days the nose and fins are day glow orange. I couldn't pass up a back to orginal red, and the metallic look just sets it off...

kicking around getting a Mean Machine for old times sake, especially now its a split body from the factory, although I think I'd still mod is so it comes down in pieces on separate chutes...
 
I did that with my last-generation Mean Machine. I replaced the disconnect coupler with a balsa nose block. Rear on an 18" chute, the front on a streamer seems to work the best for matching descent rates.
 
EXPjawa said:
I did that with my last-generation Mean Machine. I replaced the disconnect coupler with a balsa nose block. Rear on an 18" chute, the front on a streamer seems to work the best for matching descent rates.
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pretty much what i was thinking, seems like a much gentler way to bring back over 6 feet of thin-walled rocket
 
DankMemes said:
pretty much what i was thinking, seems like a much gentler way to bring back over 6 feet of thin-walled rocket
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Although there's a lot to be said if i did leave the disconnect in there with a baffle behind it, because it woudl be load, click & shoot at the pad
 
Had to look to see what an Alpha VI was... Going to have to get a couple of those! The old red Alpha III was the first rocket I ever built and the first I ever flew, though they were two different Alpha IIIs!
 
The beauty of the Alpha III platform was it would and was designed to fly great on whatever motor you had rolling around your rangebox and could survive a hell of a beating... I’m sure many a rocketeer had a start or had this in there fleet early on
 
Mugs914 said:
Had to look to see what an Alpha VI was... Going to have to get a couple of those! The old red Alpha III was the first rocket I ever built and the first I ever flew, though they were two different Alpha IIIs!
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Same here still have mine although it needs re-tubing to fly again safely
 

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After tree-ing and ruining the Alpha III I picked up a year ago as my first rocket to fly since I was a kid.....I kinda like the idea of picking up that new one (or a couple) to shoot off in between the bigger rockets. That was always a fun one and, man, does it go on a C6!
 
HandsomeRob said:
That was always a fun one and, man, does it go on a C6!
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Indeed - I've been flying an Alpha III with a FireFly stuffed in the nose cone and I have recorded flights touching 1100 feet with it. I've been flying that one with a streamer just to improve the chances of keeping it on the field.

I am looking forward to picking up at least a couple of copies of the VI.
 
Hmm...C6-5 or C6-7 for this one? I’ve never braved more than a B in one of these. Alpha III are one tough bird and can easily handle fast streamer recovery.
 
I went back through my recent logs....I got consistently higher altitudes using C6-7 over C6-5. That tells me the longer delay let the model coast long enough while the C6-5 was too short. It's rather hard to visually confirm that as an Alpha III at 1100+ feet (I have two flights just over 1200) is pretty hard to see clearly :)
 
dlrflyer1967 said:
Hmm...C6-5 or C6-7 for this one? I’ve never braved more than a B in one of these. Alpha III are one tough bird and can easily handle fast streamer recovery.
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I definitely wouldn't recommend the C6 for small field launches. Love the idea of slapping a streamer on it too.

I only ever pushed it that far at club launches but it was so fun to see it go. I had also cut a spill hole into the chute in hopes of keeping it out of the trees but it was a particularly windy day when I sent it up. I did find it the next month but, unfortunately, it had rained quite a bit since then and the body tube was kinda mushy. It's still sitting on my desk though haha. Also, I salvaged the parachute and used it in a Der Red Max for a little while after the super cool crossbones chute got melted.
 
GlenP said:
My package of these 3 arrived today from AC Hobbies. Outer cardboard shipping box was crushed on one corner, but luckily all body tubes in the kits inside were fine, lots of airbags in there helped protect everything.
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I’m probably on my 5th or 6th order at least from AC Supply and I can say easily these guys know how to ship rockets, never once had an ovalled tube or crushed
 
Mugs914 said:
Had to look to see what an Alpha VI was... Going to have to get a couple of those! The old red Alpha III was the first rocket I ever built and the first I ever flew, though they were two different Alpha IIIs!
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Am I the only one that doesn't actually remember what the first rocket I ever built was? I feel like it might have been an Alpha, but I know I didn't have one in my fleet later on, so if I built it then I don't know where it went. Maybe it was built at camp, or maybe lost in the trees somewhere?

I have much clearer recollections of the models I built afterwards.
 
You're not the only one. I only remember two rockets that I had. One was a Big Bertha and was very impressed by the "slowness" of the launch. The other was the orbital transport which flew great the one time I launched it but the glider flew into an un-friendly neighbors pool and by the time I got it back, it was mush.

-Bob
 
neil_w said:
Am I the only one that doesn't actually remember what the first rocket I ever built was? I feel like it might have been an Alpha, but I know I didn't have one in my fleet later on, so if I built it then I don't know where it went. Maybe it was built at camp, or maybe lost in the trees somewhere?

I have much clearer recollections of the models I built afterwards.
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Mugs914 said:
You probably painted it with Aerogloss dope then...
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<smile>

I remember all of the rockets I built as a kid.

I cannot, however, remember the first rocket that I built as an adult; the rocket my students had to build for the rocket lab we taught in grad school.

I recently found some of the engines that I must have purchased for that launch, along with a length of rocketry fuse (!).

It was not an Alpha, but it was something about that size/complexity. I've looked at 1988-89 Estes catalogs -- no bells ring. The other TA for the lab and I both built the kit, and flew them with the class on launch day. We've corresponded about this, but his recollection is worse than mine. It bothers me more than it should that I cannot remember what the kit was.
 
GlenP said:
I was going to build the α VI stock, but decided to add an ejection baffle and a Kevlar cord, then used the included shock cord at the end of that, which looked to be adequately long by itself anyway, seems like Estes has been trending to including sufficiently long shock cords these days, if I am not imagining things.

The cone and fin can are really shiny, like those little rocket ornaments Estes makes. And the body tube has a nice sheen to it also, really hard to see those reflective highlights in any of the photographs on a computer screen, so I won't bother including another picture here, get one and see it for yourself! The sticker sheet includes two 60th annivesary logos, but the face card placement leaves room on the back side for a second one that would fall under the launch lug line where it might get rod rash, so I might just put the 60th sticker on one side. The assembly of this Alpha VI kit, how you capture the plastic fin can between the engine mount tube and the body tube, kind of reminds me of the Centuri Screaming Eagle kit assembly sequence.

This is my first Alpha kit. My first rocket was the Centuri Viking I got at a Cub Scout Day camp. First kit I "bought" later from one of those sales clubs advertised in the Boy's Life Magazine, by selling greeting cards to neighbors, and mostly to my mom, so I could earn a prize, the Centuri Big Shot launch set with the Screaming Eagle and Excalibur kits and a launch pad that attached to a lantern battery. Very similar to the current Estes Tandem-X launch set with the Crossfire ISX and Amazon kits, which I bought for my son a few years ago when he was a Cub Scout.
Issue Jan 1977 with the Big Grizzly on the cover was my first issue: https://boyslife.org/wayback/
View attachment 359330

View attachment 359331

BigShot color picture from the 1980 Centuri Catalog
https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/nostalgia/80cen006.html
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I did the Kevlar shock cord as well on mine I have an almost 30 year old alpha III, that’s been through many of the Estes rubber band cords, so I put a Kevlar leader on this one run through the upper CR, the the band on that... did you have to sand the nose cone shoulder quite a bit in yours too?
 
Received an Alpha VI and BBIII recently. Interesting to note that, although they were both released at the same time, the production date stamp for the BBIII is 12/21/17, while the Alpha VI is 3/26/18. Seven months lead time between manufacture and release for sale seems inefficient. Wonder if the bankruptcy had anything to do with that.
BTW also picked up a recently released Rocketarium BBIII. Interesting kit. 3D printed nose cone. Same id as the Estes kit but thicker tube, so marginally longer in length to fit scale. Thin plywood fins, hard to sand the tapers into those. And no engine nozzle! Big fail compared to the cheaper Estes kit. I guess I'll have to make one out of cardstock.
 
Enjoy the Alpha 6, but carefully. It's limited release for the 60th anniversary and once it's gone, it's gone.

Everyone at NARAM 60 got one in their bags
 

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