The other thing that caught my eye was the layout of the workbench...looks a lot like mine
(things are a bit scattered about...).

But the Snipe Hunter looks really super. I can recall when I first looked at the Centuri catalog in 1969 how cool that model looked (hell, almost all the models in the catalog were
cool!!). Those models with the clear payload sections were always fun. I still have my Estes
vintage Astron Farside (still in the bag) awaiting assembly, and that, my dear friends, also
has a payload section (can't remember if it's clear; I'll go check it out after I post this).

__________________
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Just checked, yes, the Astron Farside does have a clear payload section too!

__________________
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Yes... I have a half finished Outlander and a completed EAC Viper on the table. There's a Semroc Mars Lander in the box. The Viper has it's base coat of white, but I haven't gotten around to painting the purple and yellow yet. I also have some more plans buried under the stuff that I intend to clone this summer.

The farside kit is an original, not a clone correct ?
A clear payload section on an Original Astron Farside kit is an oddity.
Any idea when the kit was produced ? Maybe this happened very early or very late in the life of this particular kit offering.
In all catalog shots of the Farside or Farside X, the payload is most certainly NOT clear.
The kit I have as well as all I have seen use a plain section of BT-50 for the payload (the farside X used BT60).

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

My mistake; just checked the kit in the bag itself and saw the payload section is a standard
BT-50 bodytube (when I made the previous post, I simply checked the on line catalogs in
the Ninfinger website, who's pics of the Astron Farside's payload section appears clear).

My Astron Farside is an original, the package seal header has the Damon/Estes logo as does
the instruction sheets.

On a related note, there was a message thread on The Rocketry Forum a while back with the
topic being what is the highest flying Estes kit, and my answer was...the Astron Farside! I think the starter of that thread meant Estes kits using standard Estes 18 mm and 24 mm
motors.

__________________
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.