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-   -   Mid-70's Centuri Saturn 5 (http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=659)

Chris Pearson 01-24-2006 10:03 AM

Mid-70's Centuri Saturn 5
 
I recently have come into possesion of a Centuri Saturn 5 kit. I got it from the original owner who got it directly from Centuri, probably back in the mid-70's. It is kit #2140 in its original unopened shrink-wrapped box. The box is printed on all six sides and the shrink-wrap covers about 90% of the box, with only the ends frayed. I would be interested in getting some input from the kit collectors out there on the value of the kit before I put it up for auction on eBay. If there is enough interest in this forum, I'll put it up for sale on the forum itself.

Chris Pearson

ghrocketman 01-24-2006 11:52 AM

Those don't go for as much as one might think....usually they only go for a little more than an original Estes K-36 Saturn V.
Centuri it seems kitted a TON of these that still exist; much more so than the Saturn 1B.
I have seen them sell for as little as $90.00 (opened unbuilt kit) and as high as $165.00 (pristine, showroom-new kit) in the past year.
I would consider anything over $125.00 doing about average for the condition you describe

Rocketking 02-01-2006 06:36 AM

I have a buillt flying Saturn 1B by Centuri with the 2 engine 18mm cluster. Always good for a demonstration launch. (I demo for scouting groups). Had to use Estes' decals, though...

Do you still have the Saturn V? I might be interested. Let me know. Thanks.

Chris Pearson 02-01-2006 07:04 AM

I still have Centuri Saturn 5. Haven't put it up on eBay yet. Back in the 60's, I built one of the first Estes Saturn 5's and had a Centuri Saturn 1B sitting next to it. I did that because they were both 1/100th scale and you got a good idea of the actual size difference of the two real vehicles. I always thought the Centuri Saturn 5 was better looking, but it was more expensive than the Estes one (I didn't have a lot of money in 8th grade!). If I were to build one today, I would substitute thicker HP tubes and plywood parts when possible. I had a complete set of the Estes Maxi-Brute kits and all the Saturns from both companies that I was going to convert to high power years ago, but as it often does, life got in the way and I sold them to a collector.

Chris Pearson

Rocketking 02-01-2006 08:13 AM

Re: Saturn V
 
I was @ a girl scout 'camporee' at the county fair ground back in the "good years" of the space shuttle & met a NASA educator who put a 'bug in my bonnet' - He asked me if I could come up with a complete set of Estes Scale models of all of the manned launch vehicles. The longer I thought about it, the more I wanted these 'birds' at a constant scale of 1/100. Only trouble was, doing a Shuttle at 1/100 would REALLY stretch the skills. Having built & flown the 'E' shuttle before the real thing lifted off, I thought, I CAN do this.

The Mercury & Gemini program rockets were done by Neubauer Rockets - Their sport scale series. Nicely done kits! Got them all - Just waiting for build time...

As for the Shuttle, George Gassaway tipped me off to a styrofoam 'catapult' shuttle glider at close to 1/100. He suggested if I was going with R/C recovery to use only half the rudder height for control surface. The tid-bits are being collected, soon to be assembled!

I say all that to say, I am a huge fan of scale! :cool:

Ltvscout 02-12-2006 04:31 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Pearson
I recently have come into possesion of a Centuri Saturn 5 kit. I got it from the original owner who got it directly from Centuri, probably back in the mid-70's. It is kit #2140 in its original unopened shrink-wrapped box. The box is printed on all six sides and the shrink-wrap covers about 90% of the box, with only the ends frayed. I would be interested in getting some input from the kit collectors out there on the value of the kit before I put it up for auction on eBay. If there is enough interest in this forum, I'll put it up for sale on the forum itself.

Chris Pearson

Chris,

One of these just sold on eBay for $306.

ghrocketman 02-12-2006 05:38 PM

In my experience in following Centuri kits, $306.00 is EXTREMELY high for a Centuri Saturn V in ANY condition short of being hand-signed by Lee Piester. This price is closer to what I would expect one to pay for a 1/45 Little Joe II.
But then again, one could refer to the old saying about a Fool & his money are soon parted.
This kit is not even what I would consider rare. Although I never liked them, the Super Kits are much more rare than this kit and those do not sell for anywhere near $306.


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