What is the oldest kit you've built as a BAR?

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K'Tesh

K'Tesh

.....OpenRocket's ..... "Chuck Norris"
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I'm not asking about the oldest kit from your original period of building. I'm talking about a kit (not a clone) that you bought or traded for, and built as a BAR.

For me, I've just glued the fins on an Estes Camroc Carrier. I feel this is one of the older kits. The engine hook was one of the EH-1's that was .1" wide, and not .125" wide. There were parts missing (the cardstock), and the kit was opened, but the balsa was original, as was all the tubes, centering rings, parachute, balsa transition, the clear (yellowed with age) payload section, and the PNC-60L (two piece) nosecone. I even got the original peel and stick decals, but I'll use the decals I bought from Gord.

I've papered the fins, I won't be airfoiling them, but I went with Elmer's Glue for the assembly and fillets (I often use epoxy) . I did decide to use thin CA to reinforce the cardstock transition, and added a centering ring to help keep it aligned.

I've got a pair of Omega's that may be older, but it's impossible to tell, and I'm not planning on building them any time soon (I have other plans for them).

Pointy Side Up!
Jim
 
None, simply because old kits go for ridiculously high prices now.
However, I have an open bag Scissor Wing Transport from the 70's waiting to be built that I bought back before the prices went insane.
 
I think my oldest kit as a BAR was an Estes ARV Condor a guy at work gave me. It's not that old of a kit though.
I do have a SR71 that I built that was a leftover from when I was a kid.
 
A coincidence; I have an ARV Condor in the box that I found in the same stash as the '69 Centuri Javelin. The Javelin was the second rocket I built as a re-BAR back in '11. I lost it to a thermal two years ago.
 
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I was given an MPC Pegasus II which I built as the 2 rocket variation. Both were donated back to the club as Bucket Rockets. I think I posted the NAR application that was included. The kit probably dates to the early 70s. The other day, I was gifted a Centuri Javelin which I posted in the Javelin Gallery. It will probably be documented and built as another Bucket Rocket.
 
My oldest kit was a Estes Phoenix Missile. I built one back in 1990 and it suffered a cato, I bought another one in 1991 and didn't build it till 2012.
 
When I first got back in I had a Centuri RX-7 from 1980 that I built, later I found a MRI Lambda 8 from the 60's that I recently completed as my 100th rocket (it was also my first back in the 60's).
 
For me it was a Centuri Lil' Hustler I found in a hobby shop just after I got out of the Army in '74. It came in a box with 3 F-class Mini-Max motors. I only flew it once, but I remember it flew really well with a very visible flame. It got a bit damaged in the flight and I never flew it again. I did ignite the other two motors though, as large "red rats." (Anyone remember red rats?")

1971 Centuri Lil' Hustler: https://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/catalogs/centuri71d/71dcen84.html

Rocketry Forum Pic: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?83964-Original-Centuri-MiniMax-Lil-Hustler

Rocketry Forum Pics of Mini-Max motor: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?102300-Tell-me-about-Centuri-Mini-Max-motors

Red Rat firework label:

RedRat.jpg



Ed
 
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To date the oldest kit I've built is a BSG Viper circa 1978-79 that I used to clone 9 more. Still have 2 in mint condition that will most likely be opened and built by grandkids at some point. While I have a sunstantial collection of OLD and discontinued kits I'm not concerned about their dollar value. If I want to build something I'll build it regardless of what it might sell for. I do clones too. And while I would expect to get the current going rate if I were to sell one, I think rockets are meant to be built and flown. I've popped open several over the years just to send the decals to a vendor to be scanned so they could sell them because they weren't available otherwise; same with nose cones, etc.

Verna
www.vernarockets.com
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHJHOK6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O14ET8K/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
https://www.facebook.com/RocketBabeDustStorm
 
Last edited by a moderator:
A K series Goblin. I built it in 1998 and have yet to fly it.

Duane
 
K'Tesh said:
I'm not asking about the oldest kit from your original period of building. I'm talking about a kit (not a clone) that you bought or traded for, and built as a BAR.

For me, I've just glued the fins on an Estes Camroc Carrier. I feel this is one of the older kits. The engine hook was one of the EH-1's that was .1" wide, and not .125" wide. There were parts missing (the cardstock), and the kit was opened, but the balsa was original, as was all the tubes, centering rings, parachute, balsa transition, the clear (yellowed with age) payload section, and the PNC-60L (two piece) nosecone. I even got the original peel and stick decals, but I'll use the decals I bought from Gord.

I've papered the fins, I won't be airfoiling them, but I went with Elmer's Glue for the assembly and fillets (I often use epoxy) . I did decide to use thin CA to reinforce the cardstock transition, and added a centering ring to help keep it aligned.

I've got a pair of Omega's that may be older, but it's impossible to tell, and I'm not planning on building them any time soon (I have other plans for them).

Pointy Side Up!
Jim
Click to expand...

Jim, some of us are old enough to be BAR's more than once. Maybe we should be called RAR's (Reincarnated Again Rocketeers). :facepalm:

Ed
 
I bought a T.H.O.Y. Falcon for my Level 1 project back in 1995 and I finally got around to building it in 2010 when I became a BAR.
 
I have a pair of vintage 1986 Estes Klingon Battle Cruisers in disintegrated bags. At least one will eventually get built someday maybe perhaps if the build queue drains out.
 
Back in 85, I won a design contest and got a lot of stuff from Estes. Most of which was parts, but I got two kits also. Their Phoenix and a Big Bertha. Neither of the two were ever flown. I got them just because. Hell, everyone needs a BB shelf queen. My fin alignment on the Phoenix was really bad, so it's no wonder I never flew it.
 
A Big Bertha that I figured was from the early/mid 70's based on the remains of the hangtag. It had the two piece plastic nose cone.
 
kenstarr said:
Quantum 1. Can't remember who made the kit but the instructions looked like they were made up on an Apple IIC. Nose cone was some sort of molded foam. Nice kit!
-Ken
Click to expand...

That would be a North Coast Rocketry kit.
I built and flew one at Lucerne in the late 1980s and still have it.
 
Let's see, I've got the Centuri Saturn V, Saturn 1b, 1/45th scale Little Joe II, Skylab, F-16 Fighter, Screaming Eagle, X-24 Bug, Mercury Redstone, KD-13 Stellar Hercules, Estes K-36 Saturn V, 2048 Saturn 1b, Shrike, Starship Enterprise, Klingon Battle Cruiser, K-39 1/242 Scale Saturn V, Maxi Honest John, Maxi V-2, Mercury Atlas and some odds and end models all unbuilt.
 
I became a BAR in around 1985 and the Estes kits I bought around then are the oldest. The Sizzler, HelioCopter, StrikeFighter, Flying Saucer (before it was the Snitch), and Mean Machine were some of them. The only OOP rocket I remember ever getting (unless it was maybe freshly OOP) was a mid/late-90's Thoy Snipe that I got from EMRR in 2002.
 
Now that some time has passed since this thread was started I have acquired some older kits. I have a few MPC kits from the early 70's that I have yet to build. My oldest OOP kit that has been built is an Estes Cobra1500 from the 78-79 era. I had always wanted that kit as a kid and was thrilled to get my hands on one. I flew it twice at the last CMASS launch once on a C6-3 and again on a C6-5. What a beautiful performer, the wait was worth it.
 
Joe_Shockcord said:
None, simply because old kits go for ridiculously high prices now.
Click to expand...

Same here. I have been tempted to bid on the occasional Centuri kit that shows up on eBay, but restrain myself. Thanks to SEMROC parts/kits from eRockets and the JimZ plans site, I would rather just clone my favorite long lost rockets from yesteryear (1979-80-ish) than try to hunt down vintage originals. Printing ink-jet decals from the scanned images works fairly well. The only original kit I have from those days that still flys, it never flew away, is the Centuri flying saucer, it almost caught fire once from an engine/nozzle failure/melt down, not a CATO, but it dumped a zero-thrust, flaming poo on the pad.
 
The oldest kit I've built (well used most of the parts from, the main body tube was crushed in shipment from the eBay seller) was a K-25 Alpha from the very early 1970s. I built it this past spring and painted it with gold instead of white for the 50th anniversary of the Alpha in the catalog. Even Semroc's parts don't live up to the original BNC-50K nose cone.....
 
Back in 2013, LW was sifting through his "tubs-o-rockets" with me, which btw were chocked full of vintage kits, and amongst all the delightful surprises, was this little jewel I had completely forgotten about. I thought it was adorable and apparently he found what had intrigued me in all that searching. Having very little interest in kits anymore, I was still impressed with this one and so the next thing I knew, it winds up in my mailbox. I had second thoughts about building what might be a sort of collectors item, but I did it anyway. WTF! I was pleased that my Mars Lander now had a little brother to hang with. A mini Mars Lander.

Mini Mars Lander.jpg DSCF3190.JPG
 
Still in process - needs paint and decals, but...
Centuri Buck Rogers from the 79/80 time period

IMG_2509.jpg
 

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