Info on the Estes Spin Fin (1355)/Estes Wizard (1292)

[K'Tesh]

[FONT=&amp]I know that the length of the streamer is 30", but I can't find its width , and I forget if it's plastic, or crepe paper. I seem to remember plastic.
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[FONT=&amp][EDIT] The streamer is the same part number as that found in the original Estes Wizard, and the current version.[/EDIT]

[/FONT][FONT=&amp]Can anybody fill in the info?
[/FONT]

 

[Tramper Al]

Can you tell from this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Estes-Rocketry-Screaming-Eagle-36D-Squared-2119-2-others-Launch-Pad-More-/381719913532?hash=item58e047a43c:g:cLQAAOSwTZ1XnNcw

 

[K'Tesh]

Can you tell from this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Estes-Rock...913532?hash=item58e047a43c:g:cLQAAOSwTZ1XnNcw

On FB I was told that the streamer for the Estes Spin Fin (1355) was plastic, but didn't get the width. The link you provided has a Quest Spin Fin, which isn't the same thing.

 

[Tramper Al]

On FB I was told that the streamer for the Estes Spin Fin (1355) was plastic, but didn't get the width. The link you provided has a Quest Spin Fin, which isn't the same thing.

Oops, sorry!

 

[K'Tesh]

Oops, sorry!

It's all good.

Pointy Side Up!

 

[smarra01]

It used a RS-20 streamer 38278 according to the instructions if that helps.

 

[K'Tesh]

It used a RS-20 streamer 38278 according to the instructions if that helps.

As does the Estes Wizard of the day (and today)... problem is... I can't find any info on the part number's dimensions (other than 30").

In my Wizard .ork file, I've got the length as 30", and width as 1.125"... But now I want to double-check that.

 

[caveduck]

I checked both of my stock-built Wizards. The streamer is a textured orange/pinkish plastic, 1 1/8" wide. The more pristine one is exactly 18" long, while the other is closer to 18.5", but it is rattier and may have gotten stretched slightly. I'm not sure where the 30" came from but it definitely looks to not be correct for the actual kits (mine were probably bought in the early 1990s). The colors of the two streamers are fairly close but not exactly the same.

 

[K'Tesh]

Thanks caveduck, and everybody else...

Estes made quite a point on the face card and in the catalog to say that this had a 30" streamer. I'm going to stick with that.

The sim is now posted.

 

[Tramper Al]

If this is late, then at least it may serve as confirmation. This is the ebay listing that I recalled seeing but could not find the other day.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ESTES-VINTAGE-ROCKET-MODEL-394-/371848795470?hash=item5693ea554e:g:ZcIAAOSwo4pYiT1x

If you look in the 8th photo from the left, there is a zippered yellow bodied Spin Fin (Estes, I believe). Follow the offending shock cord to the streamer, whose width I think you can easily estimate - in relation to the known body tube diameter in the same pic.

 

[caveduck]

Thanks caveduck, and everybody else...

Estes made quite a point on the face card and in the catalog to say that this had a 30" streamer. I'm going to stick with that.

Heh, just because Estes prints something on the face card or in the catalog doesn't mean the contents of the bag are actually that. In one fairly recent catalog I found 8-10 obvious errors including blatantly wrong dimensions, incorrect oz/gm units conversions, etc. In the era of the Wizard, because of how expensive it was to have facecard art created and printed, once they did the art it would typically not be revised even if there later were minor changes in the bill of materials. So I guess you just have to pick if you're going to make your sim "as advertised" or "as shipped".

FWIW they seemed to have fewer outright errors in the old days.

For the Wizard, Estes used the same (verbatim) description of the kit from introduction in 1978 through the late 1980s, at which point the wording was revised slightly - clearly a rewrite of the original to save a few words - but still mentioned the "giant" 30" streamer. The Wiz was gone from the 1997 catalog with its vastly shrunken fleet, but reappeared in the 1998 catalog with completely different wording, higher mass (0.8 oz vs 0.7 previously) and lower max altitude claim (1500 vs 1600). This might have reflected the change to self-adhesive decals. It's anybody's guess when the streamer length actually changed in the package, but it's clear that it did change.