OOP kit cone goofyness

[CTimm]

Searching thru my stash of kits, I came across 2 of the Estes #1360 TARTAR kits. I noticed right away that the nose cones were different. One has a pnc that matches the Bullpup cone. The other cone is the same length, but with a rounded tip.
The pointy tip cone has a sky-blue colored hang-tag. The rounded tip cone has a black hang-tag. So I examined the packages further for differences.

The printing of the facecard is bolder on the black tag vs the blue tag. The "skill level 3" has a thicker black square around it then the blue. The Tartar image (black tag) also looks to be cut&pasted sloppier than then blue tag. You can make out the black shadows around the image very clearly. This is not evident on the blue tag card.The rest of the kit looks authentic. Even the decals appear original.

Probably just a kit stuffing goof-up at the plant.

 

[mike_bar]

Yes, that kit sound “goofy.” Maybe a packaging error, but I hope now.

I looked up the nose cone for the Tartar at Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe. The Brohm shows the Tartar has having a PNC-55AC nose cone. See list below:

BT-55 Based Rockets
P/N 071070, PNC-55AC (Blow Molded)

Kit Number Kit Name
1247 Cherokee-D
1270 Nike-X
1290 Sky Raider
1302 CC Express
1360 Tartar
1924 Defender
1972 Bullpup 12D
2149 SM-3 Seahawk
2151 Big Dawg
2153 AIM-120 AMRAAM
2184 Meteor Masher
7000 Bullpup 12D

I am interested in what you learn. I wish to build some OOP Estes kits. I would like to buy a Meteor Masher at Michaels Arts and Craft store and build a Tartar, Nike-X, Bullpup 12D, SM-3 Seahawk, or AIM-120 AMRAAM.

I was researching OOP Estes kits for cloning/kit-bashing. I found some odd information on research materials posted on the Web.

Here is a link to the thread I started: BNC-50Y and PNC-50YR nose cones
I did not expect my cloning project to become so tedious but I still have some questions.

1. Did Estes change the nose cone of certain models during years of production?
2. Did Estes give models a new kit number when parts substantially changed (i.e., nose cone)?
3. Are the different nose cone listings on the Brohm list a typo?
4. Does it really matter?
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   Regards,
   Mike