This was a defective rocket given to me by my hobby shop. A customer returned it because it was defective. Why was it defective??? The customer did not follow instructions and glued everything together, the parachute was even glued inside!! To maintain a good customer relationship, they simply could not call him an idiot and exchanged it. :-)

I salvaged the fins and nose cone, and used an exisiting body tube which I had lying around.  I extended the length a bit, so I call it the Alpha IIIb.

In March ‘09 I bought a few model rockets from a private collection.  Included in this were two Alpha III original models, the red fin/nose cone and white body.  Sadly, these are not in the greatest condition, the tubes are bent and yellowed, and there is a mess of glue all over the place.  I will most likely have to do the same as I did above and replace the tubes.  Oddly enough, these two were packed with an engine, wadding, and surprisingly a streamer instead of the parachute.

The Estes Alpha III kit is the classic easy to assemble version of the standard Estes Alpha kit.   More people have started with this timeless rocket than any other in the history of the world!  It has a single piece plastic fin unit and no painting is necessary. Flights to 1100 feet are possible on a C6-7 for the Estes Alpha III.

Specs:
Plastic nose cone
Plastic fin unit
12inch parachute recovery.
Length: 12.3inch
Diameter: 0.98inch
Weight.: 1.2oz.

Recommended Motors: 1/2A6-2, A8-3, B4-4, B6-4, B6-6, C6-5, C6-7