Centuri Taurus Clone Finished!

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laseradam

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I just finished my Taurus Clone. I know there are others out there working on one so lets see them here! The hardest part was the painting.
 
Ditto. Judging from the new posts (Vector V, Jayhawk and Taurus) announcing clones, you've been a busy boy :D
 
I haven't finished my Taurus yet, but I've already logged a few flights on my Vulcan, and LOST my Vector V last weekend. I'll try to post a few pics later today. Pity. It turned out looking nice.
 
Very, VERY nice!! I have always wanted to build one of these...

Phred
 
Laserdam,
Beautiful work! Boy that brings back memories. I think the Taurus was my favorite Centuri design, well, maybe second after the Space Shuttle.
Drew Tomko
 
The Taurus is not designed to be clustered but there is enough room in the pods to fit a small engine. I don't know how it would fly though. What if one of the engines didn't light?
 
Originally posted by laseradam
I just finished my Taurus Clone. I know there are others out there working on one so lets see them here! The hardest part was the painting.

Very nice laseradam! I'm at the point of painting mine right now. How did you do the decals? I have the scan from Jimz, but it's in pretty rough shape. I haven't tried printing it yet. I was thinking of cleaning it up with Photoshop.
 
Thanks! You just saved me a ton of work! ;) I'll post some pics of mine as soon as it's finished.
 
Great! I can't wait to see it. Don't forget to download the decal scan and then rename it to taurus.tif If you just click on the link in my other post it won't show up.

Some other hints.

1. Epoxy to glue the transitions and pod cones.

2. Black penstripe tape to make the roll patern on the silver section.

3. After painting I coated everything with one coat of future floor finish. If you try to use a spray clearcoat over the metalflake it will ruin it. With the future the metalflake looks perfect. Then I applied the decals then another two coats of future. I painted the future on with a 25 cent disposable foam brush.

4. I waited a week between overcoating with different colors. 3 day wait between sanding and paint. 1 week wait after painting for the future.

5. The metal bands on the lower pod tubes were cut out of aluminum heating duct tape. You can get a roll at Home Depot. That is also how I made the metal trim on the nose cone.

Good luck. I can't wait to see some pictures of your Taurus, but take your time.

Adam
 
Thanks for the tips!

BTW - mine is made entirely out of Semroc parts minus the fin stock. Cost was around $13 IIRC. The main balsa cone is not a perfect match, but after a little sanding it looks almost identical.

Since I'm using balsa transitions mine separates at the lower transition. Still plenty of room for the recovery system.
 
I used the Moldin Oldies parts for the first Taurus, but I also purchased tubes and balsa transitions and pod cones from Semroc.

I plan on making another Taurus with Semroc parts. The ones with the "pointed" pod cones.

What nose cone from Semroc did you use for the main cone?
 
The BC-1330. I sanded the tip so it was blunt and it came out looking pretty close. Didn't take a lot of work either. I got the "pointed" pod cones as well. That's the Taurus I remember as a kid.
 
Originally posted by laseradam


What nose cone from Semroc did you use for the main cone?

As soon as the web is updated, we will list the BC-1327 which is a close balsa equivalent of the PNC-132 using a bezier curve to approximate the original plastic shape.
 
Laseradam.... I'm going to take your decal tiff and try to add the roll patterns to it. If that works it will make that part of the finishing a lot easier. I'll post my results here.
 
Great! I was thinking about doing the roll patterns with a decal but didn't get around to making one. I plan to do another Taurus and the roll pattern decal would be a great help.
 
Dear LaserAdam,

*That* is just stinkin' COOL! The Centuri Taurus was probably "the" model that I drooled over in the catalog... but never got. :(

Your clone looks GREAT, and it gives the rest of us Taurus nuts hope that we can do a decent job, too! :D Unfortunately, my clone is a good ways down the "get parts" and "to-build" lists!

Thanks again, and I'll be waiting to see how Bill Eichelberger's Taurus attempt turns out.


Cheers,

--Jay
 
Originally posted by centuriguy
Thanks again, and I'll be waiting to see how Bill Eichelberger's Taurus attempt turns out.

Funny you should ask:
 
And a close-up of the fins. (Assuming that I can get them sized properly.)
 
Bill, that looks great. I've been patiently waiting for Mike Jerauld's Blast from the Past Taurus, but I'm getting itchy seing these nice clones! Bill, are you using the pointy or blunt cones on the pods?
Hey. it's nice to see a bunch of you Old Rockets guys over here!
Drew Tomko
 
Originally posted by dtomko
Bill, that looks great. I've been patiently waiting for Mike Jerauld's Blast from the Past Taurus, but I'm getting itchy seing these nice clones! Bill, are you using the pointy or blunt cones on the pods?
Hey. it's nice to see a bunch of you Old Rockets guys over here!
Drew Tomko

Shh! We're undercover! I actually hang out here quite a bit. It's a pretty nice complement to OldRockets. Good info on each site and I've figured out how to post pics here.
I check the Blast From The Past website weekly. MIKE! HOW ABOUT AN UPDATE!!! I'm looking forward to building one each of the Mach 10's just to see if a "pro model" flies any better than my clones. I didn't realize that he had a Taurus in his plans. I remember him saying something about Charlton Heston a few years ago, but right now I can't remember which kit the tease was meant to reflect. Mental block, I guess. (Did Centuri ever kit a Moses rocket?)
The cones on my clone are the blunts.
 
Yep, I check BFTPR often as well.
No doubt Mike means the Centuri "**** Dirty Ape," er, actually that was a reference to his clone of the Estes Omega; he made a few of those. I think he made thinly veiled statement about a "Tauran" ot "Taurian."
DT
 
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