Yeah, the puzzle to me here is that the nose cone wasn't available as a parts item like, ever. It looks like a nice basic ogive for #16 tube; why wouldn't you sell it as a separate part?

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Once upon a better day... SAM #0076
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Jeff-

Thanks for the details on your kit.

The V2 with plastic nose cone is about the only ‘balsa to plastic cone’ Centuri kit variation that I did not have. I won the eBay auction on the subject V2, so I’ll have that ‘hole’ filled. I have had the balsa cone version for quite a few years. Not sure if this latest particular eBay kit has all the paperwork details included that you covered/posted, so those posted items may help cover ‘the rest of the story’.

It is a mystery though as to why this unique plastic cone was never offered as a stand-alone item. And for that matter, why the V2 kit — one of the Super Scale line — and only introduced in 1969, was discontinued so soon.

Centuri introduced plastic cones sometime in the summer of 1970. They were first listed in the 1970 catalog which had an ‘effective’ date of August 15, 1970. They were ‘teased’ on the back cover ‘parts’ ad on Volume 4, No. 1 (Little Joe II rendering on the front cover) of Centuri’s American Rocketeer magazine, which was published in the Spring of 1970 or so, as a ‘Coming Soon’ item. However, some kit instruction sets like the T-Bird, Javelin, and maybe one or two more have 1969 copyright dates, BUT show plastic nosecones.

By early 1971, MANY Centuri kits were being switched to plastic cones. This would include many starter type kits, but also some very well-known kits that had just been introduced in that 1971 catalog were also switched to plastic. Accordingly, some had VERY short runs (a few months maybe) with balsa cones such as the Quasar, Space Shuttle, and Orion before going plastic. Finding those three kits in balsa cone variants can be a real challenge.

The V2 was a bit different in that, as mentioned above, it had been out for well more than a year by early 1971 with balsa nose and tail cones. However, unlike many of the other kits that made a switch to plastic nose cones, the V2 with plastic nose cone would not last long at all. Accordingly, the balsa cone variant is MUCH more prevalent than the plastic cone variant, rather than the other way around.

I’ll have to wait and see the specifics of the eBay V2 kit coming my way, but I am at a loss as to why your V2 plastic cone has its molded-in lug removed and a hole drilled for attaching the shock cord. The instruction addendum you posted makes specific mention of a lug to use for attaching the shock cord. So, why yours is gone is a bit of a mystery, unless it broke off at some point and the drilled hole was just a quick mod by the original owner to make up for that missing lug. Unless, you are the original owner and/or the kit was sealed when you received it and the cone came out of the bag with the lug gone?

I’ll post further details when my kit arrives.

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Did you buy the incomplete Egg Crate as well?

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I did. Only missing one Mylar slip-over lock ring for one of the metal engine locks…spare parts I have here got that covered no problem. Of course, if one went with a two engine cluster mount (instead of three) then one would not even need that ring. I have, however, one Egg Crate I built about 10 years ago and I did single, dual, AND triple removable mounts for it.

I have paid considerably more for this kit in the past, so this one comparably speaking was a bargain.

Earl

__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Hi Earl,
You're very welcome. Glad you were able to win the eBay bid for the Centuri KS-19 V-2 with the plastic nose cone and fill the missing piece in your collection.

If you look closely at the photos attached here from the eBay auction you won for the Centuri KS-19 V-2 with the plastic nose cone, you will see that the external eyelet has been removed from that nose cone, as well, and a hole has been drilled adjacent to where the eyelet was in the conical portion of the nose cone base. It came this way from Centuri with these modifications. I believe the eyelet mentioned in the addendum is referring to the drilled hole. I would imagine that Centuri may have received some complaints about the external eyelet being too weak or breaking on occaision or being too tight for attaching shock cord and shroud lines, so I surmised that they made the decision to provide a more secure and enlarged mounting by eliminating the external eyelet and placing a mounting hole directly in the thicker material of the nose cone conical shoulder. Take a closer look and, I believe, you will see what I describe is true.

Kind regards,
Jeff Jenkins
aka: Faithwalker
NAR #46879 SR

Attached Thumbnails

         

Yeah, I can see it has been done the same way.

Hmmm…I wonder why the same kind of eyelet used in other plastic cones was apparently ok and strong enough, such as the eyelet on the other #16 cone used in the Quasar and later in a couple of the Centuri Super Kits (same cone used in your comparison photo with the V2 cone)? It is a bit of a mystery as to why that kind of eyelet worked fine on that cone — and the even larger, heavier plastic cone for the Nike Smoke — but apparently not on this V2 cone. Strange.

Well… another one of those kit part variation head scratchers that come up from time to time. One would suspect there IS a good reason for it, but on the surface of it all, I am just not sure what it would be.

Earl

__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

You got a good deal on that kit.
Many lousy kits are now going for over $100.
It's nice to see some good ones still going for around $100.

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I don't KNOW but I can guess... and my guess answers your question and mine.

It's 1971. Nose cones have been balsa since time immemorial. Someone gets the idea to blow-mold some for Centuri, and they look good but as "alpha" designs they didn't make the eyelet beefy enough (or, due to molding issues it doesn't fill out completely in all cases, leaving gaps or weak spots).

Here are a bucket load of nose cones for the V-2 that can't be sold as is because they are inferior. So you quickly sand, grind, or cut off the eyelets and drill holes. Done right, the labor wouldn't even be that much. But you don't order any more, and you don't put them in the catalog as a separate part, and you don't even try for plastic cones again for a couple of years...

And as someone noted, early Centuri plastic cones either had no base or eyelet, or had it as a separate piece you glued into place. Because the first attempt at a one-piece design didn't work.

... as I said, a GUESS. But it's consistent with my real-world work experiences.

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NAR # 115523
Once upon a better day... SAM #0076
My site: http://rocketry.gonnerman.org

Chris,
That sounds like a very good guess. Your guess about the part possibly being a bad batch with a defective eyelet is something I hadn't thought of, but it makes sense and could very well have happened as you suggest, especially if the external eyelet did not form properly. Centuri may have wanted to find a way to utilize the plastic nose cones to help benefit modelers, but, at the same time, not trash all the nose cones and not have the cost of producing them go down the drain, simply because of the eyelet, when there was a way to utilize or salvage them as they did. This may be a plausible explanation as to why Centuri did not make them available as an individual part for sale or continue their use after that limited run of KS-19 V-2 kits.

Kind regards,
Jeff Jenkins
aka: Faithwalker
NAR #46879 SR

That is certainly a plausible explanation. And it would explain why that nose cone never appeared separately AND why the V2 went away in such short order after that cone was introduced for it.

The only problem I have is that three other plastic cones with that same exact type eyelet were introduced at that same time: the new plastic nose cone for the Quasar (with molded-in canopy; Jeff posted a side by side photo of it earlier); the new one-piece Nike-Smoke nose cone (the prior Nike Smoke nose cone was a two piece styrene affair that the modeler had to glue together...kinda of tricky); and the new plastic nose cone for the Orion. ALL three of those cones -- in addition to the V2 cone -- had that same type eyelet.

Add to that, that at that time, Centuri had gone into an entire range of new plastic cones in a big way for its smaller tube sizes such as #7, #8, and #10 (which encompassed a GREAT many Centuri kits at that time), tells me that Centuri had spent a GREAT deal of effort and money on designing all these new cones (about 13-15 new plastic nose cone designs) and having the injection molds made. Out of all of those, if one had a problem such as a weak spot at the eyelet, it would seem that they might have done some decent amount of work to fix that issue and not just 'write it off' as a goofed up mold and deep six it then and there.

But who knows what efforts may have gone into trying to fix it (if that were the problem). Also, Centuri had sold to Damon in early 1971 and the Damon 'suits' may have been looking for cost cutting opportunities (they certainly found a number of them by Spring of '74 for sure when many Centuri items were moved to the chopping block).

Earl

__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970