Estes and Escape Velocity’s Rocket Design

I first noticed while thumbing through old Estes ephemera on this site  when I saw it staring me in the face:

Snippet from the 1990 estes catalog
1990 Estes Catalog

Estes is a company that has, for a great many years, built and sold flying model rockets-as in, you build them, stick a solid fuel engine in the back, and launch it into the sky. It’s a good hobby for someone who’s a fan of spaceships. The same camp where I learned the art of model rocketry was where I found out about Escape Velocity, which brings us back to the point. If you’re an Escape Velocity or EV Nova fan, you probably recognize that as fictional space pirate “escort Frigate” the Atinoda Kestrel.

A diagram of the Kestrel, with labels for flavor
The Kestrel

Probably the most iconic ship from that game, it made its way into EV Nova as a post-game bonus option and NAEV as its poster-ship. Matt Burch, author of Escape Velocity, had this to say in an Ambrosia Times interview:

Ambrosia Times: […] Is it true that some of the graphics in EV are the result of a model rocketry hobby?

Matt Burch: Well, I used to build model rockets when I was little, and a couple of the ship designs in EV are loosely based on my memories of some of my favorite Estes kits.

That confirms my suspicions. So, which other ships are based on Estes rockets?

From the 1990 catalog, we’ve got these two:

Cropped catalog page of an oddly configured two-finned rocket
Estes Star Seeker
EV graphic from Evula.com
EV’s Executive Transport
Clipping from Estes catalog
Estes Strike Fighter
EV graphic of the lightning
EV’s Lightning Fighter

I’d seen the Rebel Cruiser described as having “babylon 5 roots” but I think its lineage is very clear from this:

Screen from a 90s Estes catalog
Estes Starseeker
Screen from EV
EV’s Rebel Cruiser

I’m less sure about the Clipper (which I think is the astro blaster.) The configuration is the same (two back-swept wings with giant winglets and canards in the front.)

Astro Blaster from the 92 catalogue
Estes Astro Blaster
Screen from Escape Velocity
Clipper from Escape Velocity

There are two possibilities for the Manta, and I’m not sure which one it really is, despite it sharing the name with one of the rockets. Maybe a combination of both:

Clipping from estes catalog
Estes Delta Clipper from 1986
Manta from 1994 Estes Catalog
Estes Manta (’94)
Screenshot from EV
EV’s Manta

So, several of the ships in EV share more than a passing resemblance to Estes rockets. There may be others that I’ve missed, or other sources of inspiration. I’d love to hear about them!

Edit Sept 1 2024:

Somehow I missed that the Scorpius is the Courier.

(Couldn’t find a good image of the courier alone, here’s one from a defunct fan site, second from the right, top row)

(source: https://web.archive.org/web/20131222112652/http://me_al.tripod.com/games/ev.html)