CENTURI Bat Rok Find
 

In my never ending quest for vintage kits, I finally found and bought the one and only Centuri Bat Rok Kit I’ve ever seen. Took me 55 years to find this one. It was only made in 1968, and was never in a Catalog. Was available only thru Centuri Rocket Newsletters and order forms, Flyers. Semroc of course made one, too. Nothing like the Real Thing. This one is incredibly MINT. Like Hot off the Press. Very Lucky, and Thankful. I Would like to know if there’s any more out there. Anyway, hope the pics help, somehow. All kits in last pic were included, with another Centuri 1/100 Little Joe II….

Wow, that's a very cool find, Danny!

Thx
 

Thanks, Paul. Needless to say, I was quite elated myself when this happened y way !
Sorta tops off my lifelong collection. Truly a rare find.
Dan

Really cool. Is that an empty motor casing that came with the kit?

X
 

Yes, it has the printed , empty engine casing in it.

Really cool find, Danny.
I'd hate to see how much gold you had to pay for it.

All graphics probably drawn by Lee Piester!

Before each kit had the thin yellow engine block placement tubes -
Empty engine casing were provided to set the engine block/thrust rings.

X
 

Not sure exactly what you mean here. All my Centuri kits have either an unprinted,or printed original engine casing for the engine block placement tool. The Thin yellow ones came only in the Late 80s-90s. Not sure if Centuri ever used those.

Anyway,,, the SEMROC version is Not the same size as the Original. I just measured everything. On the Centuri one, The balsa block is 1/8” shorter , the BNC is much less Tapered, tho same length. The Fin Root is about 1/8” longer too. Mostly, the main Body Tube is a Full One Inch Longer ( on the Centuri one).

While they are close, and indeed the Semroc one is a fine example, the instructions say the Original Centuri Bat Rok was slightly Smaller than the Semroc. This is incorrect, and the opposite. It is slightly Larger….. in most every respect.
If anyone needs comparison pics, I can send them.
Hope this helps someone.

Anxiously awaiting your build thread! :p