At over 43" it was almost as tall as the Saturn V! Painted an overall black with high contrast orange decals and metallic trim.
In the Estes catalog it is called simply the "Andromeda". I don't know when the "USS" prefix was added. In 1975 the retail price was $4.95.
In the mid 1970s, I launched mine - once!
The main body was two 18" sections of thin walled BT-20 tubing. Even though there were balsa and dowel reinforcements down the body tube, it buckled and pinwheeled after it cleared the launch rod.
The new Semroc re-issue uses the heavier walled ST-7 (Centuri style) tubing. A great improvement!
Randy Boadway gave me kit parts at the last NARAM in August, 2018. I understand there were some hurdles getting the white water slide decals produced. Against the black paint, any decal would need a white undercoat to show up.
I have a real interest in this kit, I did most of the drawings and layout of the interior instruction pages.
The build starts tomorrow!
The kit is available now: CLICK HERE
Awesome, really looking forward to this build. This is an absolute classic.
ReplyDeleteTo my eyes, Wayne Keller was the greatest sci-fi rocket designer ever. No one else is even close.
ReplyDeleteErockets quickly sold out. They had some 25+ kits initially. Jonrocket has a few at a few dollars less. Add 2 bucks more of motors or supplies and you get free shipping.
BTW looking forward to this build, will help in building mine. Laters.
DeleteI built this in 1975 at the apex of my model rocket phase. The design of the original was so memorable, I think about it frequently. My electric bike colors are black and orange because of that original color scheme.
ReplyDeleteHi Daniel,
DeleteThe Semroc version is better than the original Estes kit in many respects. The BT-20 sized tubes are heavy walled. My original Andromeda buckled and pinwheeled under thrust!