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updated 2/21/2001
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The Orion, "Centuri's single engine giant", was produced from '71 to '77 and even graced
1971 Centuri catalog cover
(link to
Ninfinger Model Rocket Archive).
It's 23 inches tall, 2.04 inches in diameter, has a blow-molded nose cone and vacuum-formed body wraps shared with the Enerjet Athena, a paper reducer nozzle, plus three strap-on tanks featuring six more nose-cones. Quite the big ol' beast for just an 18mm motor mount. This is my all time favorite modroc. I've owned two originals and currently have and regularly launch a clone built partially from the remains of the first two (customized with a 24mm motor mount and matching paper reducer nozzle). The Orion clone made its maiden flight at NARAM 2000. MRC made a knock-off called The Ironman.
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Laser X (left), "a real adventure in flying rockets!" A long, sleek, rakish model rocket introduced in the late '60s, evoking a future deep space probe, possibly with FTL potential (day dream and embellish your own fantasies, especially with catalog hidden in your textbook during boring those study halls!). This was an early kit with a die-cut balsa fin sheet.
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A very unique odd-roc is The Point (right) which had no fins, was the first model rocket with a pre-printed body wrap, and the body itself acted like a parachute on the way down. The ejection charge kicked the engine out, which dangled from the bottom of the rocket, causing its hollow conical body to come down blunt end first, working like a 'chute. The pre-printed body wrap was the predecessor of Quest's "Aeroshroud", making for a mostly finished rocket with the only painting and filling on the nose section. The Point's appearance was based on the "hydrogen ramjet concept" which was a speculation, popular back in the '60s, of a type of possible far future, interstellar space flight. This rocket was also a bit infamous for "Bernoulli locking" itself to the round deflectors on Estes launch pads, on what was supposed to be lift off, and then burning itself up.
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Another model to provoke daydreams during boring study halls, and an early example of Retro Science Fiction, is the Quasar (left), a futuristic space liner inspired by Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers (the "classic" version, not the
Disco version).
This kit had a blow molded nose cone with canopy, and engine pods on the fins made this a striking model. The nose cone was shared with the later
U.S.S. America
and the
E.S.S. Raven.)
The decorative nozzles in the pods were originally vacuum formed and the later versions were injection molded and came on a plastic tree. The nozzles were later shared with the S.S.T. Shuttle and the
U.S.S. America.
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In the '70s, flying saucers went from flake culture to popular culture with the OPEC1 era UFO flap and various movies including the block buster
Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Shortly after that movie Centuri released their
Alien Scoutship Flying Saucer (right). This model graced both the covers of the
1978 club catalog
and the cover of their regular
1979 catalog
(links to
Ninfinger Model Rocket Archive).
This rocket was constructed almost entirely of fiberboard and embossed card stock, except for the metal engine hook and three antennae. Alien touches included a symbol that someone reported seeing on a real(?) UFO and glow in the dark decals. This model was also technically interesting because it was its stability and recovery was based on having prodigious amounts of base drag and no moving parts. The Saucer went up low and slow, halted when the booster engine fired through the top, inverted, and then slowly floated down until it landed on its three antennae. In short, it gave an unearthly amount of entertainment for a very low performance rocket. Estes and Quest later came out with plastic clones.
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