The instructions are interesting - CLICK HERE
Check out the rear "positioning disk" and shock cord mount that attached to the engine mount.
The model also had die-cut card stock fins, cut from the same material as the centering rings.
The Centuri kit was available from 1975-78. It probably would have had better sales if the Snake River jump was successful.
The Centuri kit was 1.3" diameter, the Semroc Groonie is 1.8". Semroc called them a Groonie as they were grown up Goonys. Centuri used 13mm engines, the Semroc version uses 18mm.
Carl McLawhorn at Semroc based his designs on the original Estes Goony drawings that were changed into flying brooms and rabbits before production. The original Goony drawings remind you of the old CarToons magazine art.
The Semroc Snake Jumper is 1" shorter and stubbier compared to the Centuri Sky Cycle. The decals reflect the original kit except the face of the "pilot" decal is angrier.
I'm not sure I'd use the term "goony" to describe the original Sky Cycle kit. Goonies were an Estes thing, while the Sky Cycle was a Centuri kit; further, Estes Goonies were all based on short BT-60 tubes, 1.6" approximately. Carl "upscaled" his Groonies to the 1.8" tubing, but as you say duplicated the original designer's drawings rather than the Estes kits. The Sky Cycle was never meant to be humorous nor cute; pretty much all Goony and Groony kits fall into one of those categories. The original Sky Cycle kit was, in my opinion, more of a "sport scale" model.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris,
DeleteI didn't mean to imply the Centuri Sky Cycle was a Goonybird. The Semroc version is more Goony - it's stubbier and has the same face on the pilot as the other Semroc Groonies. It's an interesting model with the profile cut canopy.
The Sky Cycle/Snake Jumper designs are classics! I’ve not done an upscale yet - this would be a good one. Looking forward to watching your build Chris.
ReplyDeleteNot so much angrier but crazier :^)
ReplyDelete