Were you an Estes guy, or a Centuri guy?

[michigander]

45 years ago is hard to remember ,seems like centuri more

 

[Mr Rocket]

I'm from the "only knew about Estes" camp. Started building Estes after discovering model rockets in an Aerospace Lab Kit

Then started buying Estes model rockets at the local discount store - Gold Circle, and through the catalog.

 

[K'Tesh]

I'm from the "only knew about Estes" camp. Started building Estes after discovering model rockets in an Aerospace Lab Kit
View attachment 313480
Then started buying Estes model rockets at the local discount store - Gold Circle, and through the catalog.

I had one of those... Got it for Christmas in 1982

Never managed to get all of it built, and the rocket was certainly not finished.

 

[Nathan]

This . . .

 

[FredA]

Estes 100%
I stopped buying kits and just used the blue tubes used to ship motors.
Everything was mail-order - had to beg Dad to write them a check about once a month to feed the habit.
Would just buy motors, NC's, chutes and sheets of balsa to make fins from.

 

[ballistic_trep]

Centuri, because it was all that was available in the little basement hobby shop in town. All those rockets are long gone but it's good to see that a few have been resurrected by Semroc.

 

[GDJ]

Centuri and Canaroc.

 

[Tronman]

When I started in model rocketry. Estes was the only company advertising in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, so that's what I went with. But then I saw an article about Coaster and began drooling over those big motors. Never had a chance to try any though.

 

[Rik Danger]

Great forum - thanks for letting me participate! (I was a Centuri kid, growing up in Phoenix, AZ)

 

[Lord Rory Gin]

Perhaps you remember George Clooney's role in O Brother Where Art Thou? Where he vehemently rejects the Storekeeper's offer of Fop... "...Dammit! I'm a Dapper Dan Man!"

When I got started in Rocketry, Centuri was still present in Medford, Oregon's Hobby Tree hobby shop, located in the basement of Hubbard's Ace Hardware. I didn't frequent Al's Hobby Shop much (I didn't get along with Bob, and IIRC, the prices were higher). Still, I had seen rockets hanging on the racks for years there before (I got my start as a plastic aircraft model builder), but didn't have the serious interest in rocketry until my freshman year of high school.

Still, I felt more attracted to Estes kits than the odd kits I saw from Centuri. I felt this way when I'd see Centuri kits here and there for years. I honestly thought that the companies were separate, and competitive with each other, and I wasn't surprised when Estes "won" and Centuri went out of production. My discovery that the two companies were actually one by the time I got into the hobby didn't occur until... 2013.

Still some of the kits were weird, but I'm surprised how many of the kits I do like that I thought were Estes originals, until I see the older Centuri catalogs.

So, did any of you have similar feelings towards Estes and Centuri.

Oh, and for the record, I was completely unaware of any other manufacturers up until Aerotech came out.

I had both back in '72-77 in Canada but Estes motors were more available. I just liked the catalogue and Centuri models more. I think I built about 15+ rockets of my own as a kid. A buddy of mine and I worked a deal, he would buy some kits and I would build them for him because he didn't have the patience for detail work, then we would fly them including the Valkrie cold propellant rocket. Back then the largest I flew was a D motor. The Es and Fs were out of my league.

 

[Long_Gone]

I was an Estes but only because the local hobby shops ONLY carried the Estes line. I got a hold of a Centuri catalog and wished I could get some of their stuff. The only true Centuri rocket I had (Long Gone) was the Little Joe II they made and I was awesome. I wish I still had that one.

 

[lakeroadster]

I knew nothing of Century when I bought my Astron Alpha starter kit. So tally my vote for Estes back in the day.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

 

[Hyak]

I was an Estes kid as well,

Probably mainly because to when I started, the first rocket I ever built with my Dad, (and Alpha... of course) was Estes...

So after that, pretty much because 'Uncle Harold's' the Hobby & Bike shop, - and a pretty good one at that I might add - and which was in walking distance of home, carried a big wall of Estes.

Never really saw Centuri stuff all that much

 

[Antares JS]

Centuri was before my time. I started rocketry in 1997.

 

[shockie]

As a kid since I started with Estes, I was an Estes rocketeer.

I didn't have anything against Centuri.

As I got older and discovered that Estes had been selling Centuri their engines,it became a moot point.

I'm glad Estes is still here after all these years.

It's time for some maxi-brute Centuri classic kits.

 

[PhlAsh]

We didn't have much of a Centuri selection in our area. My bud across the street got UFO Invader and an x24 that he asked me to help him with. I was pretty hooked by that time

 

[BEC]

I lived in the northwest corner of New Mexico (this was in the late 1960s and early 1970s) and the nearest hobby shop was 30 miles away. I don't even recall if they stocked any rocketry items as their main lines ere control line/RC airplanes and slot cars. I got all my stuff mail order and that was overwhelmingly Estes. I did make at least one order to Centuri as I have one model that I built back then that is very Centuri in look (fins shaped like Hustler/Lil' Hustler) and has Centuri tubing and such.

We summered in Santa Fe and the little hobby shop downtown (Hobby Hut) there didn't do rockets or at least I don't recall ever getting any rocketry bits there. For that one had to go to Albuquerque, which was an hour-sh away.

So...as I say, mail order for me, and almost all from Estes. Quite a few of those blue tubes landed in P.O. Box 154 in Shiprock, NM over the course of a few years.

 

[tab28682]

I started with Centuri via mail order in Shreveport, LA circa 1969-1970. Was all Centuri for about the first year, then found a LHS across town that stocked all the Estes kits and motors, which was handy. After that, I was about 50/50. The MPC kits and motors showed up at a local department store around then and I added a few of their kits and motors. MPC motors were much less reliable. Lots of CATOs.

First two kits were a Centuri Javelin and a Centuri Payloader II. First Estes kit was a Space Plane.

I recall feeling that the Centuri catalog and designs were a little more visually exciting than Estes, at that time.

 

[Fishhead]

I'm from the "only knew about Estes" camp. Started building Estes after discovering model rockets in an Aerospace Lab Kit
View attachment 313480
Then started buying Estes model rockets at the local discount store - Gold Circle, and through the catalog.

Stumbled onto this thread, and this post in particular, looking for something completely different. I started as an Estes guy because that was what was available in our area. I asked for the Logix Science Fair Aeronautics Lab for Christmas in 1977. 36 years and three days later, I finally made my first flight with the rocket in the set. It was like Eastwood, it had no name, so I called it the Logix Explorer.

 

[Pinetree]

To be honest (and it was over 50 years ago), I don't even remember where I got my first rocket kit, but it was an Estes... probably an Alpha starter set.

I remember hearing about Centuri, but they apparently weren't sold around here.

On a side note, we always pronounced it "ess-tees", and not " ess-tess".. and to this day, whenever I tell somebody that I'm into model rockets in this area, which is Western pennsylvania, they say "is it an ess-tees?”.

 

[kuririn]

To me the Centuri rockets were cooler looking than Estes.
Even their launch pads were cooler looking.

 

[Hobie1dog]

only Estes in the worthless small town I had the unfortunate experience to grow up in

 

[Art Upton]

Perhaps you remember George Clooney's role in O Brother Where Art Thou? Where he vehemently rejects the Storekeeper's offer of Fop... "...Dammit! I'm a Dapper Dan Man!"

When I got started in Rocketry, Centuri was still present in Medford, Oregon's Hobby Tree hobby shop, located in the basement of Hubbard's Ace Hardware. I didn't frequent Al's Hobby Shop much (I didn't get along with Bob, and IIRC, the prices were higher). Still, I had seen rockets hanging on the racks for years there before (I got my start as a plastic aircraft model builder), but didn't have the serious interest in rocketry until my freshman year of high school.

Still, I felt more attracted to Estes kits than the odd kits I saw from Centuri. I felt this way when I'd see Centuri kits here and there for years. I honestly thought that the companies were separate, and competitive with each other, and I wasn't surprised when Estes "won" and Centuri went out of production. My discovery that the two companies were actually one by the time I got into the hobby didn't occur until... 2013.

Still some of the kits were weird, but I'm surprised how many of the kits I do like that I thought were Estes originals, until I see the older Centuri catalogs.

So, did any of you have similar feelings towards Estes and Centuri.

Oh, and for the record, I was completely unaware of any other manufacturers up until Aerotech came out.

Both, and Centuri sometimes had really better designs on certain models like the 3" Little Joe II I had back then.

I still have the core and its capsule and wrapping intact. I plan to put the Estes new LII fins back on it and the tower tube that is missing from the early 70s rocket I still have I few a few times.

Moving when getting hitched early on is what caused the damage to the rocket.

 

[Art Upton]

Perhaps you remember George Clooney's role in O Brother Where Art Thou? Where he vehemently rejects the Storekeeper's offer of Fop... "...Dammit! I'm a Dapper Dan Man!"

When I got started in Rocketry, Centuri was still present in Medford, Oregon's Hobby Tree hobby shop, located in the basement of Hubbard's Ace Hardware. I didn't frequent Al's Hobby Shop much (I didn't get along with Bob, and IIRC, the prices were higher). Still, I had seen rockets hanging on the racks for years there before (I got my start as a plastic aircraft model builder), but didn't have the serious interest in rocketry until my freshman year of high school.

Still, I felt more attracted to Estes kits than the odd kits I saw from Centuri. I felt this way when I'd see Centuri kits here and there for years. I honestly thought that the companies were separate, and competitive with each other, and I wasn't surprised when Estes "won" and Centuri went out of production. My discovery that the two companies were actually one by the time I got into the hobby didn't occur until... 2013.

Still some of the kits were weird, but I'm surprised how many of the kits I do like that I thought were Estes originals, until I see the older Centuri catalogs.

So, did any of you have similar feelings towards Estes and Centuri.

Oh, and for the record, I was completely unaware of any other manufacturers up until Aerotech came out.

Also Technically Estes was owned by Centuri on paper at that time.

 

[Art Upton]

Centuri, because that was the starter set I received as a birthday gift when I was 11 years old. Screaming Eagle was the rocket. The launch pad sat on top of a "lantern battery" as the base.

I had one of those, easy to take on my bike to the field to use

 

[Art Upton]

Same for me, too. Although my first rocket was an MPC, sometime in the early 1970s.

Sometimes, I think I lived in the Centuri catalogs.

Greg

Now you hit my memory banks. The MPC was the first rocket my mom bought for me at JCPenny, But I had no idea how to fly it thinking I had to use the rubber band to launch it... I was way too young at the time. I think I glued it like a plastic kit but it could not work after that.

 

[Art Upton]

To be honest (and it was over 50 years ago), I don't even remember where I got my first rocket kit, but it was an Estes... probably an Alpha starter set.

I remember hearing about Centuri, but they apparently weren't sold around here.

On a side note, we always pronounced it "ess-tees", and not " ess-tess".. and to this day, whenever I tell somebody that I'm into model rockets in this area, which is Western pennsylvania, they say "is it an ess-tees?”.

That is the name of a trucking company when pronounced that way

 

[bjphoenix]

Mostly Estes. When I started long ago I didn't know about Centuri, maybe they were much smaller back then. When I found out about Centuri I bought some things from them but mostly bought from Estes. I also bought from FSI once I found out about them. I was aware of RDC and had their catalog but I don't know that I bought anything from them.

 

[Handeman]

I got an Estes Starter Set for Christmas of 1967. I didn't even know about Centuri.