The Upscales


All of these rockets are upscales of classic Estes kits. They are all 1.6x to 3x upscales. All but the Big Bertha and Big Dawg have flown.

When I was a teenager, I had an Estes Der Red Max and enjoyed it until it got hung in the top of a tree. My upscale recreation is made of LOC 2.6" tubing with an Aerotech nose cone that I cut the tip off and made a rounded tip from a balsa plug. The decals were printed on my Alps MD-1000 color printer. The Estes Aerospace club Viper is made from 54mm tubing with a 29mm mount. The decals were also printed on the Alps printer. I was an EAC member as a kid and had an origial Viper. It was lost when it went unstable and hit the ground hard. This one has suffered a broken fin on the 1st flight which was repaired. It flys great on F-24 motors.

The Javelin and Super Flea are BT-55 size and fly on B-D motors. The Alpha III is made from 3" PML Tubing and has a 29mm mount. It has flown once and suffered a core sample from a bonus delay on an Aerotech F40-4 motor. It has been repaired. The Big Dawg is made from 4" Tubing and uses H-I motors.  The Goblin has flown on F motors and everyone seems to recognize it.

The Mosquito and Big Bertha are here because they are in scale with the others, they are described on their own pages.


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