Estes Industries
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(written from a Production point of view)
Estes Industries is a company specialized in the build and design of manufacturing of rocket miniatures for the private sector. Founded in 1958 by Vernon Estes, the Penrose, Colorado, US based company served a community that revels in launching operational model rocket miniatures. The company has managed to survive the severe decline of the interest in the hobby in the 1990s by takeovers of competitors and being taken over by holding companies and as of 2011 is still in existence.
Star Trek association

In 1975 Estes became the second US-based company, after AMT, licensed to market model kits in the USA, albeit adjusted to the company's prerogative, i.e. as a rocket model (strictly spoken, Aurora Plastics Corporation was the second licensed company, but they were only licensed to serve non-US markets). The models chosen were those of the USS Enterprise and the D7-class. Originally packaged in a polypropylene bag with a carton board, both models were re-packaged in in 1991 in hardboard boxes for Star Trek's 25th Anniversary.
| Item | Item No. | Issue | Scale | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klingon D7 Battle Cruiser | 1274 | 1975 | 1:700 | – | |
| 1991 | 25th Anniversary re-packaging | ||||
| USS Enterprise | 1275 | 1975 | 1:700 | – | |
| 1991 | 25th Anniversary re-packaging | ||||
| Estes Industries 1975/1992 Publications | |||||
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