michigander
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45 years ago is hard to remember ,seems like centuri more
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.
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.
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.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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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?”.
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