Several years ago I bought an old Estes lot in an Ebay auction, all previously flown birds in various stages of biff/bam/pow, none of them pretty. There was a brutally flown Satellite Interceptor that was the reason I placed a bid on the lot. I figured that if nothing else, I could build a clone around the nose cone, which was unavailable at that time. When it arrived I didn't have the heart to toss the battered old bird out without a final flight, so I got to work on it and it turned out fine. It's the kind of bird you feel good about saving. Other rockets in the lot were an Astron Shrike that was missing the payload section, which I just happened to have a replacement for, a really far-out Beta, a Sky-Hi that was beyond help, (the body tube actually twisted like someone was wringing out a dishcloth, a flyable Honest John and a really odd looking bird that had once been an Astron Apogee.
The Apogee wasn't complete, and had obviously been crashed at some point. The booster section was there, but the tube was ovalled and the fins badly attached. The sustainer was present, but with a badly mangled fin. A payload section was present, but other than the balsa bulkhead it appeared to be constructed out of shop scraps, the BT-20 transitioning to a short section of BT-5 with a paper transition. The BT-5 section has four small fins and a small, pointy nose cone. The effect is that of a very tiny third stage. Interesting, and definitely something cooked up in the mind of a kid. I tossed it aside, never planning to fly it, but not planning to toss it out either.
Well, now I plan to fly it.
I got to working on it tonight, replacing the mangled sustainer fin and deciding to wait on making a new booster for it. I think the old booster will work okay with an engine in it to round things back out. All the sustainer needs is a new shock cord and some fresh yellow paint.

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2

Interesting choice for a replacement nose cone. The BNC-5S was used only once on a kit, in the Aerobee 300. Makes one wonder if there was a trashed Aerobee 300 somewhere in the past for this guy.

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2