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  #21  
Old 06-09-2012, 12:57 AM
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Earl Earl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cohetero-negro
Earl,

I think Centuri actually sold the Little Joe II for $8.95 back in 1978 or 1980 for funds to help the U.S. FAI team. There was a flyer sent out asking people to support ... that may have been something that was not corporate, but what Grant Boyd did on his own; not sure of the details, but I think that was the last available price for the kit... even below its original starting price. I don't think Centuri sold many of the kits. There was rumor that the special wrap was no longer available and they had to discontinue the kit.

Grant had flyers with many different products including plastic kits, model rockets, and NASA stuff for sale.

I would have either dig it up or have one of the readers here dig it up and confirm. $8.95/$12.95 either way that was a lot of cash back then:

What cost $12.95 in 1977 would cost $46.04 in 2010. <- http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

So even in today's money, these LJ II's are over priced

The highest I have seen for the LJ II was over $500:

Name Qty Low Mean High
Little Joe II, KS-8 5 [510]... 589 ...[668]

Gerry doesn't have Centuri kit prices

Jonathan


Centuri had (or 'sponsored') a Nostalgia Sale to help support the NAR team in the Internats during '78 and '80. They advertized those on the back of the Model Rocketeer (name of the NAR mag back in those days), and as you mention, had all kinds of old and collectable items offered for sale with all proceeds going to support the USA team. Even had some old Estes stuff and MMI stuff too, as I recall.

But that was not actually Centuri 'company' stock stuff I don't suspect, really. I always assumed it was stuff that maybe the Centuri staffers donated (and possibly others all across the NAR-world at the time) to help support the USA team in their quest for Internat fame and glory. Pretty good corporate gesture on Centuri's part, all-in-all.

I suspect those same lists of items sold now would bring in tons more than they did 30 plus years ago!

I can probably dig out one of my old Model Rocketeer mags and see what some of the items are. I'll scan and post if I can find one.

As for the demise of the Little Joe II, Centuri stated the 'high cost' of making more parts at the time. By the late 70s inflation was going through the roof and I suspect having an additional parts run of the plastic capsule and tower, along with all the multitude of other parts that went into that kit was just gonna push the cost of the kit into the $25-$30 range. Sales had probably slacked off too over the years (Apollo was over and the NASA glory days were gone). So I suspect those two factors doomed the kit to the history pile at that point. I don't image margins were/are very high on a kit like that. It was cutting edge in it's materials usage and scale detail however when it was introduced in the summer of '68 (or was it '69?).


Earl
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  #22  
Old 06-09-2012, 08:32 AM
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  #23  
Old 06-09-2012, 08:51 AM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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  #24  
Old 06-09-2012, 09:22 AM
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turbofireball turbofireball is offline
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Jonathan,
Just to add to your information, the last regular appearance of the Little Joe in a Centuri catalog was the 763 catalog.
That year it had a MSRP of $19, which in 2012 pricing would be $76.83 at full retail. <-http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
So you are right, they are overpriced today, except for the fact that the kit hasn't been made in 35 years and Centuri has no plans ever to re-release the kit (kinda out of business).
The closest we have to re-releases were the Kosrox kit (web searching shows last available in 1998 for $40) and the Roachwerks kit (web searching shows that in 2007 he was planning on another run of kits at $140).
Also, in my keeping of records of Centuri kit prices, the highest on ebay was $685 ($668 was the second highest), and that was for a sealed very mint kit.
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  #25  
Old 06-09-2012, 10:52 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turbofireball
Jonathan,
Just to add to your information, the last regular appearance of the Little Joe in a Centuri catalog was the 763 catalog.
That year it had a MSRP of $19, which in 2012 pricing would be $76.83 at full retail. <-http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
So you are right, they are overpriced today, except for the fact that the kit hasn't been made in 35 years and Centuri has no plans ever to re-release the kit (kinda out of business).
The closest we have to re-releases were the Kosrox kit (web searching shows last available in 1998 for $40) and the Roachwerks kit (web searching shows that in 2007 he was planning on another run of kits at $140).
Also, in my keeping of records of Centuri kit prices, the highest on ebay was $685 ($668 was the second highest), and that was for a sealed very mint kit.

Turbo,

Thanks for the info.

There has been one manufacture who has expressed a real interest in re-releasing the Centuri LJ II, but he has been too busy launching real rockets into space.

There might be something said later on this year or early next...

Jonathan
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  #26  
Old 06-09-2012, 03:01 PM
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ghrocketman ghrocketman is offline
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For a kit of the detail of the 1/45 LJII, $76.83 in 2012 dollars seems reasonable.
$300 plus does not and I don't care if it has not been produced in 75 years let alone 35.
There were thousands of them produced and the only reason they are going for these IGNORANT prices is due to collector hoarding.

$140 for the Roachwerks kit I find to be very pricey, but probably will spring for one if they EVER get produced again.
I was going to pick up the big Neubauer kit but never got around to it.

I hope someone does start producing this kit again. I would pay up to $100 but no more.
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