The Big Bertha: Is a very old model built in the 1970s by my brother. Very popular model, you probably have this or one of its many derivatives yourself. This rocket is the classic '70s kit. It is big, fat, slow flier with a retro look. This one isn't retro-"looking" though; it's the real retro thing. It is painted in the original mid-70’s catalog scheme, but with a lighter - more 50's style - cream yellow. I would prefer the newer all-black look Estes is showing now, or maybe some red/white/blue patriotic scheme.
It sure eats a lot of wadding with that big BT60 tube! I installed a Nomex cloth so it will never need wadding again, and a nylon cloth parachute. I have modified this rocket with my "Iris" altimeter bay, which adds another 2.88 inches in length and 14.6 grams of weight. (Iris is named after the Greek god of the rainbow. She is a messenger of the gods, linking the gods with humanity.) This model always seemed to weathercock a lot for me, I hoped that the extra nose-weight of the newly added payload would have helped a bit, but it just slowed it down some more, the Nomex and heavier Nylon cloth didn't help either, I just made Big Bertha into Big & Heavy Bertha. With a C6 motor his rocket has flown higher than the the Saturn V Apollo spacecraft, and the famous Spire of Dublin. But with the extra weight and drag I added, this slow flier seems to always be sensitive to the wind.
A late ejection on a B6-4 (I should have used a -2), damaged the engine mount in a high-speed impact with the mud, so this was re-built with a larger motor mount so she can fly again with D12 power. (The original stuffer-tube was removed.) The added impulse should get her up in a hurry and the longer burn time should produce some really high flights, I would expect more than 600 feet at least, possibly 7 or 8 big ones. We will see...
...we did see. It has now flown higher than the Two Liberty Place Building in Philly, the US Steel Tower in Pittsburg, and the Chase Tower in Indianapolis IN.
| Flight Date: | 2012-04-01 |
| Rocket Name: | Big Bertha |
| Kit Name: | Estes - Big Bertha {Kit} (1948, 23, 7007) |
| Flyer's Name: | Rich DeAngelis |
| Motors: | C11-5 |
| Launch Site: | Penn Manor School Lancaster PA |
| Actual Altitude: | 378 Feet |
I wanted to test the C11 motor out on my Bertha with a new 24mm mount. I already knew she flew good with a D12, but wanted to see if the C11 would work better in winds if I didn't want to go up to 800 feet or so. The C6 is a bit weak for this model and allows too much weathercocking. Also, after two failed plastic chutes in another model, I was counting on the reliable nylon parachute to apease me.
While the motor worked great, the parachute did not. The C11 burned for 7/10 seconds, peaking the acceleration at 13.5Gs and averaging 6.3 for the burn. Three times better than the C6 and almost as much as the D12. This got Bertha moving straight up at 101 mph, and then coasting for 4.3 seconds to an apogee of 378 feet. The strength of this motor prevented the winds from altering the flight path. After another 0.3 seconds and while falling only 4 feet the ejection charge fired slightly early, tossing the parachute into the airstream.
Unfortunately the parachute did not open up for unknown reasons, and the 4+ oz. rocket fell at a very fast 31 mph to hit the ground within 50 feet of the launch rod with a sickening thud after a very short flight of 13 seconds to 378 feet and back! Another rocketeer arrived at the crash site first, stating that it looked fine. I picked it up only to find the body tube intact. I turned it over while saying "but look here at the motor mount..." only to see that it also was intact. She's one tough bird! I immediately loaded her up with another C11 and launched her again.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Estes C11-5 |
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