The plans are simple modifications of existing Estes kits, and represent a big jump in the number of simple scale modeling projects available to the beginner. About 225 copies of Scale Bash are in the hands of modelers today. This project is just beginning to show its value to hobby rocketry. My objective was to advance the state of the art of scale model rocketry by producing as many different basic scale model plans as possible and making them available to modelers. As a result, several of the plans in that book have become obsolete.
Kits are now the most reliable source of many useful parts.
Late in 1997, Steve LaFleur at Commonwealth Displays suggested that I draw up plans for kits that he could produce during slack hours at his business simply by adding or substituting parts in existing kits. Build and Fly Scale Model Rockets from Non-Scale Commercial Kits . Approach My approach was to use existing scale drawings on disk to create plans built around parts found in Estes kits. I laid them out in the most compact manner possible, in order to bring as many as possible to the public with the lowest reproduction costs. While the Estes parts did not exactly match these shapes, they were close enough to produce models at least as accurate as most commercial scale model rocket kits.