"I won an Estes "Mystery Box" at the NARAM 59 Auction. These are pretty large, sealed boxes with a bunch of stuff thrown in. Kits, parts, etc.... When I opened mine I found a kit with a note taped to it explaining it was a brand new kit that wasn't available yet. Sure enough, I can't find a mention of it anywhere after a short google search, so here is a photo of it, plus a Flip Flyer in red white and blue colors. The Red Nova has a "Talos" look to it. It's single stage, but could easily be converted to two."
EDIT: Comment from John Boren on YORF:
"All six boxes donated to the Canon Auction should have had one of those kits in it.
I'm not allowed to officially say anything about a new kit coming out until it is announced. I still haven't said anything about this kit to date.
I would LOVE to know where this BT-60 Ram Jet nose cone was used in the past since it's one of the old tools I found. I know of several kits that used the BT-55 Ram Jet style cone but I can't find anything on the BT-60 style cone.
This kit started life with three sets of fins that all looked different but it didn't fly very well so I switch it to two sets of fins. with similar outlines."
John Boren
This might be what the Red Nova was based on, the Talos. As Mr. Boren wrote: "... three sets of fins that all looked different but it didn't fly very well so I switch it to two sets of fins. with similar outlines."
The Flip Flyer is a hoot! A real favorite with kids when I do demo launches. I like the chunky scale-like look of the Red Nova - if I read the dimensions correctly from your picture it's a BT-60 body tube?
ReplyDeleteHi Openroad,
ReplyDeleteYep, it's a BT-60 based model, 24mm engine.
I don't remember ever seeing that plastic nose cone in a kit before.
Those fins definitely are inspired by the front fins of the Talos SAM. The nose cone looks like a cross between the ramjet and MX missile nose cones. Looks like my build pile will be growing (and my pocketbook shrinking) pretty soon. Laters.
ReplyDeleteThought this looked vaguely familiar, so I went back and double checked. With the exception of the double set of fins, this strongly resembles the Teros (Talos?) kit #1285. Even to the ramjet style nose cone. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteThe upper stage would be kind of stubby, but this needs to be two stage. I will be getting one when they come out, for sure.
ReplyDeleteThe nosecone did come from a 1970s kit. The actually Talos missile get its claim to fame around 1965 when several were used to knock down Mig 17 and Mig 19 jets that were apparently making runs on the US Navy during the first troop landings at Da-Nang (aka China Beach).
ReplyDeleteThe Vietnamese left the US Navy alone off shore after they ate a few Talos Missiles.
Manuel,
DeleteDo you know which kit? Let John Boren know at YORF. He's wondering too.
And if I remember correctly, one Talos missile actually took down two MIGs. First one got hit, and the second one went down after it flew through the debris cloud.
DeleteI thought it was the Estes 1285 Teros but that is a BT-50. So is the old Wolverine. I checked Jim Z site to see if Teros was BT-60. Could it be a Centuri tooling he has ?
DeleteHi Manuel,
DeleteIt wasn't Centuri tooling. The Centuri body tube sizes were different from the Estes tubes with one exception - the ST-5 and BT-5 were both the same.
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Delete... or it might be. Centuri and Estes had generally used different body tube sizes, but by the early 1980s there seemed to be some "crossover". If I'm not mistaken the Centuri Spacemaster was BT-50 sized and its nosecone showed up in the Estes Falcon Commander. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Centuri Python Fighter is also BT-50 sized and the nosecone showed up in Estes kits (e.g. Orion, Manta Bomber, etc). The Estes Firecat (kit 1378) has an unusual body tube size (for Estes) and features nosecone that appears to be the one used in the Buck Rogers Earth Forces Laser Lance kit from Centuri.
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DeleteIf I'm not mistaken, the Estes F-61 Starfighter kit (kit 1358) uses the detail parts (canopy, missiles, drop tanks) previously used in the fighter jet kits form Centuri. Also from the scans I see of the decal sheet -- it looks almost like a rework of the one from the F-16 kit.
DeleteI do remember being a bit confused when someone showed me their Estes Boeing ALCM Cruise Missile model -- I'd always remembered that kit being a Centuri kit. I'm not sure if the kits were completely different or not -- but the decals looked nearly identical.
DeleteSmall note - The BT-55 ramjet cone has a much closer resemblance to the Talos than the BT-60 cone for the Red Nova.
ReplyDeleteHi Buzz,
DeleteI agree - I had the old Teros kit and the nose cone had the ramjet "stepped" look.