Vintage Centuri Buck Rogers Starfighter Build

I had Hernia surgery a couple of days ago and still recovering but decided to work on a rocket. This kit is in great condition and the decals look useable. The secret to the build so far is to follow the directions and carefully apply the white glue.

When I am not in pain I am able to do a little more work. This is the tough part of the build, trying to keep everything straight and lined up. This would probably be easier if the cardstock was newer and not bent and also laser cut for a perfect fit.

You are trying, and that's one of the important parts
The other important part is knowing when the body isn't quite with it enough to do a good job and it is best to wait till later.
It is a never-ending quest to find the balance between the two parts.

I am almost done with this build, just have to add more fillets and then off to the paint shop. The landing gear is interesting and makes for a nice stand. All in all a fun build even though she is not perfect, I am still happy.

Looks really nice!

-Kevin (who would get frustrated, crumple it up, and toss it in the trash, if I tried building one)

op:

Krusty

Looking forward to seeing her finished and shiny.

Great job. This and the knockoff estes blackhawk are two my favorites.

She is out of the paint shop after one coat of white primer, 2 coats of flat white and 2 coats of gloss white. Tomorrow in the morning I will apply the decals. The decals on the left came with the kit and are in great condition and just in case there are any issues I made my own back up set.

Decals are crazy things, lifetime depends on a dozen variables multiplied by the square root of the vagaries of fate.

The paint has dried so I went ahead and put on the decals. I love building Vintage Estes rockets but their old decals are not as good as these old Centuri Decals. These decals don't fall apart like Estes but they don't stick too good because of the old glue. So I just brush on diluted Elmers/Water to the spot of the decal then place the decal. Now the decals hold together pretty well but they are fragile so no real repositioning once they are on the rocket. The final weight is 3.1 oz and that is the same as the specs on the face card.

Handsome machine ya got there.

On the decals, are you familiar with Microscale's products?
If not, some highlights:
They make a brush on liquid film for reinforcing decals. Also usable as part of process for painting plain decal film.
Also there are fluids to use to replace the decal manufacturer's glue - which can yellow over the years.

Yes, I use those products on most of my builds, but they are not that helpful on these old decals. I also build old plastic models and so I have the same problems with the old decals in plastic kits. I have found the vintage decal will either fall apart or not and liquid decal film does not help that. Now the solvent and set doesn't do much for sticking down old decals. I have found nothing works better than the old stand by of watered down Elmers glue.

Ah, okay.
Maybe model train decals are slightly different stuff; have used a couple decades old ones.

So the fins are all fiber board? I'm about to start a clone and was trying to figure it out. I'm considering a 24mm, maybe a 29mm, upscale. I'll probably build my clone with 1/16 balsa. Definitely basswood for a 24mm and lite ply if I do a 29mm version.

Now that I am a NAR member, I'm going to try to build whatever rocket is on each year's NAR card so long as I am a member.

The Starfighter looks AMAZING!

Very nice job on both kits. I used to have these two kits, for display I hung them from the ceiling on thread, they were in a suspended state of perpetual dogfight. some of my favorite kits. The Centuri Starfighter has a unique rear ejection, but the Estes blackhawk version uses ducted ejection through one of the tubes, I think.

VERY nice job, on both. I remember considering those kits (I was in high school when the show was on). The Draconian Marauder appealed more to me as a rocket, but it was the one the "bad guys" flew, and so I never could bring myself to get it

SCIGS30 said:

This is the tough part of the build, trying to keep everything straight and lined up. This would probably be easier if the cardstock was newer and not bent and also laser cut for a perfect fit.

Click to expand...

I've recently built the Draconian Marauder and I agree! The die-cut cardstock was difficult to work with.

Great work on the Starfighter!

Is most of the cardstock flat when applied? If so the I could use 1/16 or 1/32 wood for a sturdier rocket.

Very nice, that brings back memories, I built one back in the day, I don't think I ever got a chance to fly it, but it was one of the better looking tv/movie based kits made...

Frank

VERY nice work. You made photocopies or scans of the stuff with a ruler reference for later cloning and repairs, right?

Kruegon said:

Is most of the cardstock flat when applied? If so the I could use 1/16 or 1/32 wood for a sturdier rocket.

Click to expand...

I built the Draconian Marauder a while back - only the canopy had bends, the rest was flat.

The only issue I could see would be that the wood could result in a heavier rocket - might not get off the pad with a BP motor - but it should be ok with an 18mm composite

Krusty

Yeah. I considered that as well. But the plastic cap on the composite could breach the vent tube.

I'm considering both upscales and a downscale for this one. The 24mm suggests the same issues. The 29mm pretty much demands dual deploy. And that means weight balancing both pods for the av bay.

Sometimes, things should be left as they are. This is probably one of those times. But… I am such a glutton for self inflicted punishment.

What was the Buck Rogers fighter like in flight?

My favorite rocket.
just make sure that the shock cord is well tucked in and won’t drop out the back when It launche. Other wise what you get is a double pointed ballistic missile and a pretty parachute recovered engine mount.

Learned that one first hand when this rocket was a new release.
it buried it self in the ground up to the nose cone. Could not find it anywhere. Gave up as the sun went down.
about 2 months later I found it when I was walking home from school. was Still in good shape except the mud and scratches on the nose ones. Never flew it again. Kept it for about 17 years until I transferred to Japan. Put them all my Rockets in boxes and in my parents garage. Never saw them again.
When returned to the hobby in 2004, it was my first purchase.