Vintage Centuri Astro-1 Build

Back to building vintage kits, so I decided to build some Centuri birds. This kit is in great shape but it does come with 2 shock cord anchors, the self adhesive one and small cardstock mount. Don't know why Centuri did this or which one is better, maybe I will flip a coin to see the one I will use.

I still have one that I fly on occasion. Great flying kit.
As for the shockcord anchor, I would use the cardstock one.
Frxom past experience, they tend to softenup when they get warm and come loose.
The sticky one that is.

Good luck with build!

RayGNJ said:

As for the shockcord anchor, I would use the cardstock one.
Frxom past experience, they tend to softenup when they get warm and come loose.
The sticky one that is.
Good luck with build!

Click to expand...

The Centuri Shock Cord Anchors work fine - initially.
They can come loose over time. Later instructions say to press it down before flight.
I agree with RayGNJ, use the card stock piece.

The nose cones were prone to cracking when the base shoulder was snapped into place.
I always end up gluing the base in.

I always liked the looks of this one.
There was some guesses how the fin shape came to be.
Some think it was just a flipped Alpha style fin.
I asked Lee Piester about this, he said it wasn't based on an Alpha fin.

Awww! My very first model rocket!

(gets all nostalgic)

Looks like a nice kit. I'll be keeping an eye on this build thread.

Cool! I have the Semroc one with a balsa nose cone. It really soars on a B6-4!

I ended up gluing the foil shock cord mount in with a new elastic thread, other than that everything went together well. I am going a little old school here and will paint top coat with no primer first. I used Aerogloss to fill the balsa and there is no grain showing and made sure to keep the build clean since I will no be able to hide mistakes with primer. I will start the painting tomorrow.

Looks good so far!

I finished my vintage Astro kit today and I really like the old school finish. I pretty much followed the finishing guide from Centuri, used Aerogloss filler and sanded until smooth......multiple coats......I used Rustoleum Rust Stop gloss white no primer, let cure for 2 days and then hit with Rustoleum Rust Stop Red. Let that cure for 2 days then applied the original kit decals, they went on pretty nice minus the yellow goo that oozed out when applying. Cannot wait to get this bird to the flying field. Anyone know what Centuri used to make there silver/white reinforced shock cord mounts with?

That's awesome. Takes me back about 40 years.