Help in dating a Centuri ASTRO-1

[Phred]

I recently picked up a vintage, built-up Centuri ASTRO-1 on ebay. (see link below):

http://tinyurl.com/8thut

I just love vintage 'kid built' rockets. When this one arrived, I was most pleased.

Although the parachute is missing, (a cloth streamer was subsituted!), the model has a balsa cone (with a 1/4"-3/8" deep shoulder), and has a vintage Centuri elastic shock chord attached via the old 'slit-n-glue' method.

The Balsa cone and slit-n-glue chord have me thinking that this may indeed be a very early ASTRO-1. I see from the catalogs that the ASTRO-1 was first offered in the 1969 catalog, and that Centuri started using plastic cones in 1972.

Does anyone know:

1) When Centuri started using the plastic cones in their ASTRO-1 kits? I know that just because the plastic cone may have been available, that does not mean it was added into kits immediately.

2) When Centuri started using the sticky shock chord mounts?

3) As I realise that the current mount may be a field repair, was the old 'slit-n-glue' shock chord method ever used by Centuri?


Thanks!!
Phred

[CPMcGraw]

I recently picked up a vintage, built-up Centuri ASTRO-1 on ebay...has a vintage Centuri elastic shock chord attached via the old 'slit-n-glue' method.

Does anyone know:

3) As I realise that the current mount may be a field repair, was the old 'slit-n-glue' shock chord method ever used by Centuri?

Answer, based on the plan scans of other early kits, is YES. Check the IRIS, the Firefly, the Starfire, the Chuter-Two, the IQSY Tomahawk... All of the earliest versions show TTW slit-n-glue attachments.

Does this mean the Astro-1 plans showed this method? NO. It does suggest an alternate possibility that the model was built by someone who either had built one or more of those earlier kits and remembered the method; or by someone with a friend, brother, father, etc., who built theirs that way and showed this person that method.

[tbzep]

That was also the shock cord mounting method of the Akela-1, which was made for the Boy Scouts by Centuri.

[Royatl]

Well, first, I suggest giving it flowers, complementing it on its paint job, and taking it to a nice restaurant.







Oh, you didn't mean *that* kind of dating? :o

[CPMcGraw]

That was also the shock cord mounting method of the Akela-1, which was made for the Boy Scouts by Centuri.

It was a common method for both Estes and Centuri in the very early years, and probably other kit makers as well. Some of the very early Estes "K" series, like the Apogee II, the Farside, the X-Ray, and even the first Big Berthas, show this method in their instructions.

The folded paper mount was also introduced in the mid- to late-sixties, so there was a transition period when you had kits with both methods being produced...

[jflis]

Well, first, I suggest giving it flowers, complementing it on its paint job, and taking it to a nice restaurant.


THANK YOU! I was going to be *real* disappointed if NO one offered a suggestion such as this :D :D

[Arley Davis]

The centuri Astro-1, first came out in 1969 and ran to 1983.

[JRThro]

THANK YOU! I was going to be *real* disappointed if NO one offered a suggestion such as this :D :D
You and me both, Jim.

"That's a lovely parachute you're wearing tonight."

[kurtschachner]

So, it has been a week now. How did the date go?

:D

[Phred]

Well, based on her bright Orange NC, and child-like construction.... I thnk she's a keeper!!

:D :D :D

Phred