Thanks for the kind words, folks;

Work-related reasons prevented me from participating in NARAM this year, and frankly didn't afford me the time to build a Scale entry either. Disappointing was all that, but my teammates Steve and Rod were kind enough to truck the STA to Pueblo for the Classic Model event. While I'm at it, let me say congratulations to our good friend Mark Chrumka of the Uncertainty Principle team for his outstanding first place finishes in both Scale and in Classic. Well done, Mark!

Tbzep is quite right; the STA made its debut in 1980. It's a model not often cloned, I suspect, in part due to the special plastic parts and the corrugated wraps.

Wolf asks if those plastic nozzles were used elsewhere - not to my knowledge, at least not in any other Estes kit that I'm aware of.

Verna asks about the flight impulse - well, as recounted by my teammates, and as noted by Jim, our first flight was on a B6, and turned out to be significantly underpowered. The guys made a second flight on a C6, and that seemed to go much better. It's a big and draggy model, so in hindsight we should have just jumped to the C6 in the first place.

As for Jim, thanks for the RSO service, and Lori and I are hopeful we'll see you this October for CMMF VI. Don't forget the Friday night barbeque!

One note about the corrugated wraps: they took a bit of effort, but as mentioned in the initial post I found that I could craft a decent representation from a sheet of Styrene cut to size, and then applying 0.010" x 0.060" Styrene strips over top. Tamiya Quick Setting cement did the trick. The photo below shows the finished main body wrap before application. I wasn't aware of the Apogee generic corrugated wraps (thanks for that tip!), and I'll have to check those out.

I think your homemade wraps give the model a better look and match up well with the perfect edges on your wings and fins. A vacuum molded wrap with it's rounded corrugations would detract from the precision that your built up wraps give the model.

Very nice, I remeber every rocket on those pages, but I could not recall that one as well.

Slick! I've had the plans out recently trying to figure out if I thought I could make a go of it. I think I saw some parts somewhere and was considering picking them up. Never came to anything.

John,

Wow! Just outstanding. First time I have seen one built. You did a fantastic job on it. I have an unopened kit that I have had for years in my basement. I haven't been able to decide whether to build it or sell it.

Greg

Another option is you can also 3d print all of the plastic parts, including the nose cone with raised separation lines.

You can find the 3d files here.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3035892

You really had to see John's Space Transport in person to really appreciate it fully. It was an amazing finish. It was through mission points (3 stage) that we were able to leap frog the Flying I-beam Kids.

Mark, Al, and I missed seeing you John. We're looking to catch up with you at Muncie. We did hang out a lot with Rod and Steve. I hope Rod's truck didn't give him any trouble on the way home. Again, looking forward to enjoying the company of the Flying I-beam Kids in a year, though we may try to come out to one of your launches this year. You all are a class act and the model for competition should look like.

Cheers,
Buzz

I have a recent redraw of the decals I can post when I get back to my pc.

kj

Beautiful clean work John!

A model I would like to see an Estes bring back.

I saw this build at NARAM, to me it was the standout!
Amazing, clean work.