Ye Olde Rocket Forum - View Single Post - Centuri Viking reproduction build (and a bunch of research)

Estes Viking - The Viking first appeared in the 1986 Estes catalog (pages 27-27) as catalog #1949. It is pictured with a white with red nose cone livery similar to its last Centuri incarnation (though the world “Viking” is turned around to read towards the nose) and with a little cartoon Viking head added down towards the fins. (This Viking cartoon first appeared in the 1982 Centuri catalog with the Viking 12 pack on page 23.) This marking is a waterslide decal.

However, the Estes Viking shares no actual parts with its Centuri forbear. The body is BT-20 based (using a BT-20B - 8.65 inch long body tube). The Estes fins are not cut from the same dies and are slightly different shape with a little more sweep and slightly less chord and span. (See picture below)

The nose cone is also lighter and a little pointier (PNC-20N). In the initial Estes version the nose cone is molded in red plastic. This version has a white rubber shock cord that’s only a foot long and an orange plastic flagging streamer also only a foot long. Shock cord mounting is done via the standard Estes tri-fold mount. The motor block is much shorter than the Centuri TR-7 but common to many other Estes kits. Further the launch lug is shorter at only 1 1/4 inches long (the old LL-2A size). It is shown nestled into a fin/body joint as in the Centuri Viking/Akela-1 configuration.

In 1993 the Estes Viking received a new livery (as part of the Beta series) showing the model painted yellow with a green nose cone. It also has new markings which are now stickers rather than waterslide decals. This livery carries on to the this day. The 1993-2000 kit content is otherwise unchanged from the first Estes release except that the nose cone is now molded in white plastic, the motor block has a green outer layer (part of the color-coding of components that was introduced with the Beta series) and the shock cord material was changed to 1/8 inch wide elastic as was typical for Estes kits at this time.

When the kit’s production was moved China (~ early 2001) the parts remained unchanged (though I suspect that new tooling for the nose cone and fins were made in China), except that the shock cord returned to being made from 1/8 inch white rubber. The shock cord and the streamer remained only about 12 inches long.

In the 2005-2008 Estes catalogs there were a series of starter sets called “Launchables”. One such set, catalog #1452, includes an E2X kit called Outlaw (looks like the current Code Red) and a rebadged Viking called “Black Diamond”. This kit differs from a contemporary Viking only in the stickers provided.

As far as I know, the current Estes 1949 Viking and the kits in the 12-kit bulk box (#1755) as well as the kit included in the current “AVG” (Alpha/Viking/Generic #1753) bulk pack are the same configuration as the Estes version as made in China beginning in the early 2000’s. The one exception that I know of is that sometime between 2006 and 2016 the instructions were changed to have the launch lug mounted two inches from the aft end of the body tube and between two fins rather than at the aft end and nestled in a fin/body joint. When exactly that took place I do not yet know.

.... OK - now on to deciding what parts to use (well, what nose cone to use) and the build. But it’ll take me a little while to get ready because I need to go and resize all my pictures smaller before I can post them.....

The picture shows that original Vector-V/Akela-1/Viking fin sheet I mentioned in the first post, with a current Estes Viking fin (upper one) and a Semroc FV-44 fin (lower one) overlaid on top. This shows the Estes Viking fin shape is slightly different, and that Carl, as usual, nailed the geometry of his reproduction parts.