Translucent white Alpha III/Quasar fins/nose cone
 

I know that in one of the other Alpha threads I had a conversation with someone who said he had a model with translucent white fins and/or nose cone of the Alpha III variety. I was skeptical. (And try as I might, I can't find that conversation now.)

Well, this afternoon I was outbid literally at the last second (and after my bid was far higher than I wanted to go) for a lot that included two Electro-Launches, one built and one unassembled, and this:


Anyone know any more?

I saw that listing a few days ago and was a bit thrown by that nose cone and fin unit. Are the fin tips clipped, as like the Quasar fin can? It is somewhat hard to tell but kinda looks like they are.

Does make for an interesting variant.

Earl

That has the Quasar fins, clipped on the end. Those were the fin cans/cones that were sent to be chrome plated for the original Citation Quasar's.

I have one of those "Alpha III's" somewhere in my collection.

That image is all I have, since I lost the eBay auction. But yes the tips are clipped like a Quasar, but the fins can is neither chromed nor white like the later Quasars.

Those are the second-generation Quasar fins/cone just after they stopped chrome plating them.
The third generation they were no longer clipped and Opaque white.

That is pretty interesting.

It looks like Estes still had some of the Quasar nose cones/fin cans molded in the plastic used for chrome plating left over and just sold the kits with those parts.

Thanks, GH. That fills in a couple of blanks in my mind down that branch of the Alpha family tree.

I have no sense of how common or uncommon those parts were, or why they were being sold as part of what I took to be an Alpha III/Electro-Launch starter set, but that still helps. I thought they were uncommon (I'd never seen them before or even pictured) and apparently whoever I was bidding against this afternoon thought so as well. I doubt he really wanted to pay $200 (including shipping) for two Electro-Launches, neither of which were Phantom E-Ls. :eek:

They are definitely the most uncommon Quasar cone/fin sets.
The non-clipped opaque white fins/cone are the most common and existed in bagged Quasar kits far longer than the chrome ones in boxed Citation Quasar kits.

The first rocket kits my father and I built/launched were the bagged Quasar and Patriot kits.
Bought both at Toys-R-Us one Saturday in 1978, built both that day, launched both on that Sunday. The Patriot was painted but less decals on first launch. Quasar launched on A8-3, Patriot on B4-2. I was all of 7 years old that summer and remember it vividly like yesterday.

I was watching that too, but went far higher than I was willing to go. Looked like two electro-launch pads were included, 1 never used. I hadn't even noticed the clipped fin.