Early last October a thread called “Centuri Viking decal ”, originally started in 2016, resurfaced. Towards the end of that thread Gordon from Excelsior, who was the source of the decals being discussed, offered his last one (and two Star Trooper decals) for free to anyone willing to do a Viking build thread. I stuck my virtual hand up and not too long afterward, the decals arrived.

But.... which version of the Viking to build? I knew of the Akela-1 connection to the Centuri version of the Viking and I knew Estes was and is selling a similar (but NOT the same - more on that in a bit) model - but I didn’t know how it all fit together. Being the slightly crazed researcher/history buff I am, I embarked on a research project.

It started with searching right here on YORF, where I found a number of Viking- and Akela-1-related threads. I also started looking at online versions of Centuri and Estes catalogs and gathering example kits - some from eBay and some from Gordon himself.

The closest I was able to come to an actual Centuri Viking kit I was able to get was supplied by scigs30 when he sent me the scans of the instructions he’d made when he built a Centuri Viking kit in 2014. In one of those lovely circular bits, it was his redrawing of the decal and sending that to Gordon that led to Excelsior being able to print Centuri Viking decals in the first place, the last of which I now have in my possession. (http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=14550).

I do, however, have two examples of Akela-1 kits. One - an almost complete kit from a Cub Scout 8-pack - was gifted to me by Earl as part of this thread: http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=12060. The other - an example of the single kit - I acquired from a fellow who was selling a bunch of vintage stuff out of his truck in the parking lot at the field during NARAM-60. So I know what is in those kits.

With those kits in hand, and examples of four different versions of the Estes Viking and one example of a Black Diamond also in hand, I have a pretty good idea of how the model has evolved if I assume (as seems reasonable) that the Centuri Viking is pretty much the same as the Akela-1 single kit.

I also had in hand a set of original Centuri Akela-1/Viking/Vector-V fins - probably from a lot of donated-to-my-club rockets and parts, as well as five sets of Semroc FV-44 fins that I bought in my parts-buying binge when Sheryl was shutting down the company. And I had some ST-7 tubing, so it seemed like getting as close as I could to the Centuri Viking (without building one of the Akela-1 kits) was the thing to do.

The Akela-1 package here http://www.oldrocketplans.com/centu...654/cen1654.pdf was also of help.

So, with the resulting model being shot with primer today (amazingly we have weather warm enough to spray paint outside in the Seattle area today, and for the weekend to come), it’s high time I make good on my promise for a build thread.

....but first I have to tell the story of the Centuri and Estes Viking as I now understand it. So that’s the next two posts.

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Bernard Cawley
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