I can't provide a detailed history of the company, especially its history prior to about the middle of this decade, other than to say that it was started in 1988 and that it appears to have always been a small outfit that produced a small number of varied but interesting LPR to MPR kits over the 20 years of its existence. I was not active in the hobby during the early to mid-1990's, but I am quite attracted to all of the kits in this
1994-95 catalog. The Landviper, the Dynamic Carrier and the Stealth Interceptor were apparently some of the more popular kits from that era. Yet by
1998, many of the largest kits were gone, and the company's total catalog had been pared down. The kits, for the most part, were also simpler in construction.
But even though they dropped all of their large kits, they had added two interesting two-stagers (Aztec and Sam-X), along with the Elite egg-lofter (one of the best of its kind to be sold as a sport rocket kit) and the very cool (to my eyes, at least) retro-styled Ion Pulsar.
The company added just a few new kits over the next eight years. Sometime during that period they introduced the Raven, a model that bore some resemblance to the discontinued Lamprey (but was smaller) and a more striking resemblance to the Estes Rogue, but was considerably larger than that model. They also added the scale-like ATW, the Serin, the Skybird payloader and the two-finned Tri-Star.
In 2006 (I think) Custom brought back a new version of the Sport that was 8" shorter (29" vs. 37") and wider (0.976" dia. vs 0.736" dia.) than the original version. During that same year, they dropped the Galileo.
In 2007, Custom introduced, for the first time, E2X-type kits that featured a plastic-molded fin can (another first for them), self-adhesive decals, and pre-colored body tubes in one kit. These included the Big Chief, Evil One, Screamer and the Sierra (the one with the colored tubes). They also introduced the 3FNC Game Over with self-adhesive decals, and changed the decals of the Fiesta to self-adhesive.
In late 2008,
Custom introduced 7 new kits, including its first kits with 24mm engine mounts and its first ever kit with a 13mm diameter mount. The new kits are the scale-like S.L.V., the 6-finned Atomic and the elliptical-finned Zero Gravity. The brand-new Scavenger and the Liberty are large-diameter (BT-60) rockets with 24mm engine mounts. Custom also brought back the largest of its 1990's era models, the 6 foot plus long Equinox, but with a 24mm engine mount now. The also have a new, super-detailed 13mm model, the P.O.N.G.
Mark \\.
