Enerjet Athena

[Mark II]

It seems like if you ask any BARs for their list of all-time favorite rocket kits, the Centuri Orion is almost always among the top 5 mentioned (and deservedly so, too). Yesterday, while I was looking at the 1972 Enerjet catalog on the Ninfinger site, I came upon the catalog page for the Athena, which I guess could be called Orion's big sister. Well, I have to tell you all that looking at that page just took my breath away. What a stunningly beautiful rocket!

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/catalogs/enerjet72/72ejet12.html (http://www.ninfinger.org/%7Esven/rockets/catalogs/enerjet72/72ejet12.html)

Even though I was around and bulding rockets during some of the "old days" in the 1960's, I was away from the hobby when most of the great kits came out, and I'm still learning about them. Does anyone have any stories to tell about this kit, which must have surely been one of the greatest ever produced? And has anyone recently built a clone of the Athena?

Mark

[ghrocketman]

I cloned it a couple of years ago, even with the correct Orion/Saturn 1B wraps cut correctly for the Athena and a correctly molded nose cone from Moldin' Oldies.
Detail painting is not complete, but the decals are on.
I also have enough parts to clone another one.
I can dig up a pic this evening if you are interested.

[Mark II]

I cloned it a couple of years ago, even with the correct Orion/Saturn 1B wraps cut correctly for the Athena and a correctly molded nose cone from Moldin' Oldies.
....
I can dig up a pic this evening if you are interested.
If you could post a pic, that would be great. I'd really like to see an actual built one. How did you create the wraps?

Mark

[moonzero2]

Yea, good question,... how did you create the wraps???????

[ghrocketman]

I did not create the wraps.....I bought them from Neubauer !
I don't know if he still has any extras, but if the Orion II is back in production he may have.

[sandman]

Besides the obvious size difference, what are the differeces between the"Orion" and the "Athena"?

[Initiator001]

Tom Beach (Editor, Sport Rocketry magazine) built a replica of the Athena using some actual Centuri parts (nose cone and wraps).

He brought it to NARAM-48 but did not fly it.

As always, Tom did a beautiful job on the model.

Bob

[ghrocketman]

I think the Orion has 3 fins/pods vs. the four fins/pods of the Enerjet Athena
I attached a couple of pics of my Athena without the decals and detail painting.
I thought I had one with the decals but I do not.

[Bob Thomas]

Just a reminder, now that I am also on the Athena kick (still finishing off a clone Estes Black Hole) that there is a wealth of info in past threads. Here's a link to some interesting stuff on Orion that I did a while back.

http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=1336

I still consider it among my best results from scratch.

[Royatl]

I came upon the catalog page for the Athena, which I guess could be called Orion's big sister. Well, I have to tell you all that looking at that page just took my breath away. What a stunningly beautiful rocket!

And has anyone recently built a clone of the Athena?

Mark

I have it in my ToDo list, since I have a stash of original Orion parts that can be used.

[Ez2cDave]

If you could post a pic, that would be great. I'd really like to see an actual built one. How did you create the wraps?

Mark

Well, 11 years later . . .

Dave F.