Centuri Long Tom Question
 

I recently acquired a Centuri Long Tom that was built in the early 1970s. The fins on the sustainer are thinner than the fins on the booster. The booster fins are 3/32" thick and the upper stage are 1/16". I cannot find any documentation to verify that this is how the kit was originally made. The fin scans I see on JimZ indicate they are both 3/32" but it also shows that the fins were diecut on two different sheets so it's possible they were two thicknesses. Does anyone have a kit they can look at (or in) and verify this one way or the other? The Semroc fins are set up so there are two booster and two sustainer fins on each sheet so they are the same.

Thanks.

Not sure about the Long Tom, but I know early versions of the very similar Estes Avenger used different width balsa for each stage.

Oooooh!

Sounds like a Rescue to me.

Any chance we can have pictures?

Sure, if I can figure out how to do that.

BTW, anyone have a photo of the boxed version of this kit? It had a different paint scheme than the catalog.

Upper stage 1/16" fins is authentic.

Not sure why a different thickness was used on the upper stage. Less drag, but for a sport model such as this, not sure that would really be a concern. I would have preferred thicker fins on that upper stage to withstand a bit more landing shock; that thin stock is more lickely to splinter upon landing, even under chute recovery.

I did paper my booster fins on this kit, even though they were thicker stock, to withstand a bit more landing shock when it tumbled back to the ground after staging.

Earl

A lot of the Centuri kits had multiple paint schemes. Catalogs had one look, face cards had another, and instructions had a third or forth scheme.

I don't know about the Centuri Long Tom, but the Estes Classic Series Long Tom that was discontinued (unfortunately) a few years ago definitely had 3/32" fins.

I built this one in 2016.

Centuri Long Tom-Boxed Version Front Graphics
 

Here's the front graphics of the Long Tom boxed version.


Earl

Thank you Earl!