AAAAAAaaaaaaahhhh,
Cloning can be the most fun and rewarding part of being a BAR!
Here's some links that will be of great help to you:
https://www.rocketshoppe.com/info/estes_expanded_kit_list.htm
That is an expanded Estes kit list hosted by Ye Olde RocketShoppe. It includes HTML links to all (publicly) available plans for each rocket, where applicable (this includes Shasta's and JimZ's) Simply find the rocket you want on the list, and click the link to the plans. The plans will include scans of the original instructions, and in most cases scans of the fins and decals. Make sure you print your fin/decal templates to the correct scale! I suggest downloading the PDF file for the plans and that will print them at the right size. Or, if the PDF isn't available, check to see if the fin pattern is in *.TIF format. I've found (and this is cheap and dirty) that if you download the *.TIF file and then open it with Microsoft Paint (comes with Windows) that it will print to the correct size.
Now for parts interpretetations. Most of the parts listed in the plans will have part numbers that you will need to cross reference to get their correct size. For instance: How long is a BT 50B? Well, Ninfinger has a chart here:
https://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/body_tubes.html
Just reference the list to get the right dimensions.
Same thing for nose cones. Here's the Ninfinger chart:
https://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/custom_estes/nosecone.html
Next, where do you get all these tubes and cones? First, I'd try
www.BalsaMachining.com They have a very large selection of tube stock, nose cones, centering rings, launch lugs, transitions, motor hooks, you name it! Same with Totally Tubular (minus the nose cones and transitions) at
www.totubular.com Or you could try any of the vendors that regularly visit this board, like
www.FlisKits.com or even
www.thrustaero.com (check the link on his site to his eBay web store.) For nose cones that you don't see available from BalsaMachining or anywhere else, try emailing or pm-ing our very own Sandman - he does excellent custom work. It should be noted that the nose cone source cited here that the cones will be made of wood (usually Balsa unless you get something *really* custom from Sandman) but no one will know the difference if the original calls for plastic. DTomko mentioned the Moldin' Oldies site for the parts to clone the Interceptor.
So, now you have plans and parts. Just cut your tubes to the right lengths, trace your fin patterns on balsa stock and away you go!
Now to finish it off. You've already dealt with Astronboy's company, Excelsior rocketry. He does very, very good work! And if he doesn't have a decal already in his database, he's very good about putting together a set if the plans are available somewhere. Also check out
https://www.tangopapadecals.com/index.html for TangoPapa's site. I'd try Excelsior first.....
You could also try printing your own decals. However, for several on your list where there is "white" in the decal, a standard laser or ink jet printer just won't do. You'll need an ALPS printer setup for those. Astronboy and TangoPapa use ALPS printers.
Several of the rockets on your list make great cloning projects. Just at first glance, you could (relatively) easily clone the following rockets with the resources I posted above: Photon Disruptor, Photon Disuptor II, Mars Snooper II, Interceptor, Omega, Andromeda, Mini Tri Pak, Bomarc, Mars Snooper, Cobra, Vigilante, and Der Red Max. Some of the others on your list either have a bunch of "custom" molded parts or nose cones or the plans aren't readily available.
Good luck! I'm sure there are plenty of folks around here who'd love to be as helpful as possible in your future cloning projects.
eek: )
