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Friday, June 1, 2018

Estes Dragon Ship 7, #1345, Background


This model build was a request. It's been a while, I get around to them sooner or later!
There's not much background information on this rocket. I had left the hobby in the late 1970s, on the road as an entertainer since 1978. These two were introduced in 1980 and featured on the catalog cover. Both kits were in production for only two years.
These were labeled as "The Good Guy" and The Bad Guy". I remember thinking the Dragon Ship 7 looked like a bulldog. At first I didn't like the design, it grew on me over the years. Both designs were remind you of Buck Rogers, especially the trailing fins and engine tubes on the Excalibur.

After checking the Semroc Classics page I saw Keith Niskern did the design. Mr. Niskern worked for Centuri and did the development of their Saturn V kit.
CLICK HERE to go to the Semroc Classics page.
If you are not familiar with the Classics page, on the left side are blue boxes with small illustrations of rocket parts. Click on it and another page will list the kit parts.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Chris,
    At this time Morerocket.com sells a clone of both of these kits. Dan the person who makes these kits is nice and has always answers my email when I needed something. The only problems with some of his kits is the decals aren't the best to work with. The fins in his kits are laser cuts that's always nice.

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    1. Hi Frank,
      I am familiar with the Morerockets clone kits. I am doing a re-draw of the decals but they will not be available to any vendors wanting to sell clone kits. They will only be available to people wanting to build a single clone, not kit production. In my eyes the art, templates, decals and instructions are still owned by Estes. In the past Morerockets has copied and produced kits without permission of the original designers.

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  2. This looks like a pretty cool build! I like BT-60 sized rockets, maybe I'll give this one a try.

    cheers - mark

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  3. I’ve been waiting for this build. :-) Thanks!

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