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  #1  
Old 07-01-2006, 09:16 PM
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tbzep tbzep is offline
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Default Akela-1 scans

(also posted on the OldRockets list and soon to go up on TRF)

I lost all the photos I accumulated of the Akela-1 kit due to a hard drive crash a few months ago. If any of you have any scans, or links to pics of the finished rocket, please help me out. Color pics would be awesome, but I'll take anything I can get. I'm just starting to dig through the Centuri Rocket Times scans on Ninfinger and have found a marginal quality scan in the 1975-1976 Winter CRT.

For those of you that don't know about the kit, it was a rocket produced by Centuri for the Boy Scouts of America, specifically the Cub Scouts, IIRC. You could buy it at just about any place that sold Boy Scouts materials, supplies, etc. It's physically a copy of the old Centuri Viking. Estes recreated it and also called it the Viking, but the parts are slightly different. The Estes version uses thinner Estes tubing, and the nosecone and the fiber fins have ever so slightly different angles, but you wouldn't notice the difference on an assembled rocket. With parts lying side by side, it's easy to see the difference, however.
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  #2  
Old 07-01-2006, 10:19 PM
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CPMcGraw CPMcGraw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
I lost all the photos I accumulated of the Akela-1 kit due to a hard drive crash a few months ago...


You know that Scott has the decal scans on YORP, right?

How badly did that drive crash? Was it totally trashed, like a head crash? Or was it just some scrambled boot-up files?

Have you tried attaching the drive as a secondary external drive through a USB cable? Maybe you can still read some of those files onto your new drive...
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  #3  
Old 07-01-2006, 11:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CPMcGraw
You know that Scott has the decal scans on YORP, right?

How badly did that drive crash? Was it totally trashed, like a head crash? Or was it just some scrambled boot-up files?

Have you tried attaching the drive as a secondary external drive through a USB cable? Maybe you can still read some of those files onto your new drive...


I still have the decals on DVD. The drive wouldn't spin up. It went into the trash not too long after it happened. I had a lot of stuff backed up on DVD, but not those particular pics for some reason. What I'd really like to have are the color ad photos.
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  #4  
Old 07-03-2006, 10:59 PM
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Since the original Akela-1 cone looks different from the Viking cone, I thought I'd try to build a second rocket using Centuri parts.

I have two nosecones that came from Akela-1 kits. Centuri tubes are thicker than the stuff we get today, so I figure buying tubes from BMS, Semroc, etc. would fit the nosecone a little loose. I knew I had some old Centuri tubing somewhere that I ordered from ACME (Grant Boyd) over a decade ago. I found the box tonight. Looks like I ordered it in 1994. There are several pieces of Series 7 tubes and one Series 8 tube along with a payload section and nosecone for the Series 8.

If Phred could measure the actual length of the original body tube in his colllection for me, I'll build a second Akela-1 using the original nosecone. Unfortunately, I can only find a couple of original fins, so I'll have to cut some balsa fins for it. The Viking fins are a hair different in shape, and I don't care too much for fiber fins anyway.

I'll use the Viking bash as my main flying model and the one with the Centuri parts will fly once or twice for photos and be put on display. I might even stick a 13mm motor mount in the Viking bashed version since I have a butt load of mini motors.

I'm still looking for the old color advertisements of the Akela-1. I used to have color versions of these B&W photos pulled from Ninfinger's site.

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  #5  
Old 07-07-2006, 04:17 PM
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Default Pics from 1974

I just went through the 1974 set of Boys' Life magazine looking for color images of the Akela-1. I didn't find any color, but I did find this small article on the Akela in the January issue, and a diorama with an Estes Alpha III and a Centuri Bandito in the October issue.

Jan 1974 Boys' Life


Oct 1974 Boys' Life
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  #6  
Old 07-27-2006, 10:05 AM
Green Dragon Green Dragon is offline
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stumbled onto this thread and got me curious as to differences in the Akela 1 versus the Viking.

I actually have an original Akela kit at my parents ( with most of my rocketry items, due to space constraints), so don't have right here to check against the Viking fins I have .

few questions this brings up -

are the original Vecotr V fins the viking fins or Akela, or different ? ( I also have an original builtup Vector V , but, again, not here at present ).

if the fins are indeed different, I think I have some fins left over form an original Centuri cub scout 12 pak , along with at least a partial sheet of 'Akela' decals.

if I get over there and grab those, will try to get some pics, although the Akela is in non-standard paint ( not sure what that should look like, so any pics might be of interest ).

also, last question is in regards to the cone - how was that different than the regular Centuri Viking cone ? (again, not having one to compare to, but DO have what I think is an original cone from '12 pak kits' and comparing to the other Centuri cone I have ( and the moldin oldies copy I also have ), they all look the same.

~ AL
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  #7  
Old 07-27-2006, 11:23 AM
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Al,

The Estes Viking and the original Akela-1 are slightly different. I have both (edit: I have parts from the Akela, but not a packaged kit). The nosecones and body tubes are also different. The body tube of the Akela was thicker and stronger and was slightly longer. The nosecone was heavier and had a more rounded tip. The fins have only slightly different dimensions, but they are different enough for someone with a decent eye to notice if they are sitting near each other without having to measure. I don't care what anybody else has said in the past about them being identical...they didn't have the parts in their hands.

The Estes Viking came out in the 80's when they started marketing Centuri kits under their own name. I don't know if the Centuri Viking had already changed from the original heavy parts that the Akela used, but it definately was born of that rocket.

I've never seen a Vector V in person, but I'd bet it had the same body tube (not counting the larger fin area tube), nosecone and fins as the Akela.
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  #8  
Old 07-27-2006, 05:37 PM
Green Dragon Green Dragon is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
Al,

The Estes Viking and the original Akela-1 are slightly different. I have both (edit: I have parts from the Akela, but not a packaged kit). The nosecones and body tubes are also different. The body tube of the Akela was thicker and stronger and was slightly longer. The nosecone was heavier and had a more rounded tip. The fins have only slightly different dimensions, but they are different enough for someone with a decent eye to notice if they are sitting near each other without having to measure. I don't care what anybody else has said in the past about them being identical...they didn't have the parts in their hands.

The Estes Viking came out in the 80's when they started marketing Centuri kits under their own name. I don't know if the Centuri Viking had already changed from the original heavy parts that the Akela used, but it definately was born of that rocket.

I've never seen a Vector V in person, but I'd bet it had the same body tube (not counting the larger fin area tube), nosecone and fins as the Akela.


OK, I knew the Estes release was ' Estes-ized' ( ie: BT20,etc ), but the Centuri ones I;ve seen were, iirc, still the thicker tubing and all.
Will be sure to grab my Akela when over at my dad's this weekend, and will compare to the Viking and Vector V ( and yes, the Vector has the Centuri thick tubing,etc - and originally had the plastic 2 piece cone, at least mine did , cone was lost and now has a BMS replacement cone when I restored it last summer ).

will try to get some postable pics - now I'm wondering if I should repaint / restore the Akela if it has such a history / 'following', lol....

I do still have the whole sheet of decals ( enough for the 12 pak, all printed on one sheet ), if anyone needs just a single set, lmk with a mailing address. decals should be topcoated, just in case, but have been well-stored, to best of my knowledge.

~ AL
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  #9  
Old 07-27-2006, 07:24 PM
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Here's a pic to get you started. On the left is an original Akela-1 nosecone, on the right is the Estes Viking nosecone.

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  #10  
Old 09-13-2009, 10:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Green Dragon
OK, I knew the Estes release was ' Estes-ized' ( ie: BT20,etc ), but the Centuri ones I;ve seen were, iirc, still the thicker tubing and all.
Will be sure to grab my Akela when over at my dad's this weekend, and will compare to the Viking and Vector V ( and yes, the Vector has the Centuri thick tubing,etc - and originally had the plastic 2 piece cone, at least mine did , cone was lost and now has a BMS replacement cone when I restored it last summer ).

will try to get some postable pics - now I'm wondering if I should repaint / restore the Akela if it has such a history / 'following', lol....

I do still have the whole sheet of decals ( enough for the 12 pak, all printed on one sheet ), if anyone needs just a single set, lmk with a mailing address. decals should be topcoated, just in case, but have been well-stored, to best of my knowledge.

~ AL


I know this is dredging up a long-dormant thread, but do you by any chance still have the Akela decals that you mentioned in the above-referenced posting? With the Semroc and Moldin' Oldies airframe parts now available, duplicates of the decals would allow high-fidelity or even exact replicas of the Akela rockets to be built. Other sets of duplicate Akela decals could even be down-scaled slightly to fit the Estes Viking.
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