Thursday, February 2, 2023

Centuri Quasar, Kit #KC-7, Background

The Quasar was introduced in the 1971 Centuri catalog.
A "Classic Space Ship Design!"
My Mother liked this one, she said: "It reminds me of the old Buck Rogers rocket."

The fin pod tubes had vacu-form ram-jet tops and bottom nozzle inserts. The same pieces were used in the Centuri SST Shuttle-1 kit. 
I won't be using vacu-formed or molded resin parts. I know Sirius Rocketry has them available, that'd be an easier way to go. I'll be assembling them from pieces and parts - old school. This build will be a "close" clone.

The first catalog colors were an overall white with two red fins. Later, Centuri recommended painting the body silver. I'll be home printing decals so the main body will be white. Home print decals are somewhat translucent, the red decals don't look very good when set over silver paint.


The Centuri "punched plate" style baffle was new and included in the Quasar, Centurion and Long Tom kits.

The more complex Estes "Ducted Ejection" (forward, back, forward) baffle was included in the new Bandit model first shown in the 1972 catalog.



From the NAR Facebook page, 
Glen Swanson posted a possible design influence:

"A conceptual drawing of an air-breathing boost vehicle. Turbojet engines are located in the body of the vehicle and the three pods. The first stage may be detached, as shown in the upper portion of the illustration, landed and used again. GE Electric, 1960."


I have to wonder if the Centuri Quasar inspired the more recent Estes Protostar. 
The fins have similar curved leading and trailing edges. The Quasar ramjet tube style engine pods have been replaced with three Alien Invader nose cones.

10 comments:

  1. One of my favorite Centuri designs! I nearly wore out the picture in my catalog as a kid just staring at it. This should be a fun build!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Openroad,
      I wore out a few Centuri catalogs myself. (Then they came out with the newspaper style catalogs you couldn't hide inside a History book. Those didn't last long!)

      Delete
  2. Hi Chris!:

    This is going to be a GREAT build! Can't wait to see this one!

    Sincerely,
    J.W.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jhall,
      It's been a fun build so far, a few compromises with parts. The decals will be available to Patreon subscribers.

      Delete
    2. I found a nose cone on Thingverse and had it printed. I have no idea if it is correct. I don’t know what the original really looks like - only in pictures.

      Delete
    3. Hi Tim,
      My best reference was a picture Tim Morley posted on YORF. It is shown in Part 3 of the build. Your Thingverse nose cone is probably close.

      Delete
  3. I've always wanted to do this one but I've never been able to find the nose cone. Sirius hasn't had them for a long time although, they told me they were going to bring them back. I'm looking forward to your build!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dave,
      In an upcoming post I found a work around to make a longer nose cone from an existing, available part.

      Delete
  4. The Quasar was never white, even in the first catalog appearance in 1971. Look at page 97 of the 1971 catalog, and the color pic of Lee Piester and all the rockets. The Quasar is there and it is SILVER!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Turbofireball,
      Thanks for the correction. That catalog page (page 13 in the 1971 catalog) looked white to me! That's how I painted my original in the 1970s. This one will also be white and red. As mentioned above, home print decals don't remain the same color when set over Silver.

      Delete