Sunday, November 16, 2014

Estes Equinox Background




The Centuri Scram - Jet was introduced in the 1973 Centuri catalog.
It featured off center fins and two BT-5 "jet" tubes underneath.

The newer Estes Equinox has a continuous fin over the top.
The Equinox also has added two small sub fins under the two jet tubes.
The Scram-Jet  design might have been influenced by the Top Secret design by Brett Simpkins. It was an Estes Design Of the Month winner.
The D.O.M. plans are HERE
(This original version seems short but has two lead nose weights for stability.)


The Estes Equinox is really closer to the Centuri Scram Jet, but you can see some similarities.

This is an older production version that still had the stenciled U.S. NAVY decal on the side. The sub fins aren't in this picture.


Here's how the final production model looks.
The decals now say "EQUINOX"

1 comment:

  1. > The Scram-Jet design might have been influenced by the Top Secret
    > design by Brett Simpkins. It was an Estes Design Of the Month winner.
    Maybe, maybe not. The plan for "Top Secret" appeared in MRN Vol 13, No 2, though I'm not sure of the date of publication. I did find an online copy of MRN Vol 12, No 4 ( http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/mrn/mrn1204.pdf ), which indicates November 1972 -- which would lead me to guess that MRN vol 13 was printed sometime in 1973.

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