Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Published: | 2014-04-18 |
Manufacturer: | Modification |
Style: | Goonybird |
For those of you following my Goonyness this is Baby Bertha kit bash #9. So OK this is not a kit review so much as it's actually another of my kit bashes. All fin patterns and decals came from http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/estes/est1909.pdf.
The main difference is that mine is a Goony version of the USSF Fireflash (Estes Kit #1909). I'm only doing this review because no one has written a review for this marvelous rocket.
Original Estes USSF Fireflash (1909) [1983-1984]
As stated this is a kit bash so the main components come from a Baby Bertha Kit. As a result this will be a BT-60 based rocket instead of the stock BT-50 tube.
From Baby Bertha kit:
Decals and wood from the Baby Bertha were placed in with my salvage materials and new wood was used to make all necessary parts for this build. Along with the new wood I also used two 2" long large incense sticks for parts 'I' and two extra launch lugs for parts 'G' in the instructions. The decals were printed on standard printer paper.
Construction for the most part was per directions. Step 1 saw the addition of paper coating being applied to all finished wood assemblies. Steps 2 & 3 were done as though I were building a Baby Bertha. Step 7 was slightly difficult as I didn't have a guide for the BT-60 body tube so had to make one. On Step 8 I forgot to glue on the lunch lug as I stared getting ahead of myself and proceeded with Steps 9, 10, & half of Step 11. Step 12 was skipped due to addition in Step 1. It was after Step 13 that the launch lug and ventral fin units were glue on as can be seen in the photo. Followed Steps 14-19 in order to finish the build. The only Con: was having to copy all the parts on to paper first then gluing the paper to new wood making sure wood grain matched patterns and then cutting out all parts with an Exacto knife and Hobby saw.
Still missing launch lug and ventral fin mountings
Goonyflash almost ready for primmer
Painting was a snap. Shoot entire rocket with Rust-Olium 2x White Primer, sand, and hit it again with some more light primer followed by two coats of Krylon Gloss White. The only hard part was the Flat Black in the pod ends which I did with a small paint brush. The decal around the main BT had to be run through Windows Paint to stretch it in order to fit around the BT-60 tube but all others were printed out as is except for a slight color change. Decals were then clear coated and when dry cut out and attached with a glue stick. After making sure no decals were loose rocket was clear coated with Krylon Clear Gloss to seal decals.
Krylon Clear Coat Applied
Maiden flight took place on 06-19-10 at a S.M.A.S.H. launch on a B6-4 and was picture perfect. To bad I forgot to take photos. Rocket streaked off the pad and was nearly lost in the clouds.
Parachute was just past apogee and rocket made a nice safe decent down field a short ways with no damage.
This was another fun kit bash. I hope one day to build a clone if I can find the right NC or better yet find an original that I can afford just to have both in my fleet. I wish now that I had bought this one when it was available but this one was released during one of my drop-out times so I didn't notice it.
Cloud Hopper was my second Goonybird clone that I built by kit bashing an Estes Baby Bertha and as a result has an 18mm motor mount instead of the 13mm that the original Cloud Hopper had. Components Components used for this build were one Estes Baby Berha Kit (1261) and the plans ...
Missile Toe was number three in my line of cloned Goonybirds that was built by kit bashing another Baby Bertha kit. As such the plans and decals were downloaded from Ye Old Rocket Plans (http://plans.rocketshoppe.com/estes/est0854/est0854.htm) and used for construction guide. ...
The Sky Shriek was clone number four of the original Goonybirds that I built. And as such is another kit bashed Baby Bertha . The plans were downloaded from http://plans.rocketshoppe.com/estes/est0855/est0855.htm . I then followed these to build the Sky Shriek with the ...
In all fairness I can't do a brief description on this kit as there is a small story behind it. As is normal for me this is not an actual review of the Estes NASA X-15 (0889) [1988-1989]. It is a kit bashed, clone by transition. I came about the idea of doing the X-15 as the G-15 after ...
Zoom Broom was the 1st of my Goonybird clones modified for 18mm motors as a result of being kit bashed from a Baby Bertha. Components Starting with a Baby Bertha kit (EST 1261) that I purchaced at my local Hobby Lobby, all components except the balsa wood and decals were used to ...
Der Goony Max is an inspired bit of lunacy from Excelsior Rocketry, and I guess depending on where you stand on the Goony issue, this series is either genius or a waste of a good Baby Bertha. Speaking as the one-time-owner of an original Goonybird Cloudhopper, I happen to fall on the genius ...
Here I go again. For those of you that have followed my Goonyness this was Baby Bertha kit bash #14. Again this is not a kit review of the original Estes Hawkeye (Kit #0873) [1986-1996] It is another of my many kit bashes. All ...
Here I go again. For those of you that have followed my Goonyness this was Baby Bertha kit bash #10. Again this is not a kit review of the original Estes Aries SST (Kit #1927) [1983-1984]. It is another of my many kit bashes. ...
Lucky or unlucky? For those of you that have followed my Goonyness this was Baby Bertha kit bash #13. As such I wanted to play it a little safer with this one so I choose a simpler design. Again this is not a kit review of the original Estes ...
The Goonymarc was number eight in my line of modified Baby Bertha kit bashes. I started with the plans from Jim Z's for the Estes kit #654 with the thought of building the glider version of the Bomarc but ended up with the parachute version (kit #657). All templates and decals for this build ...
One again this is not a kit review of the original NASA Pegasus (Estes Kit #1376) [1982-1986] but another of my many Baby Bertha kit bashes (#12 for those following my Goonyness). All fin patterns and decals came from http://plans.rocketshoppe.com/estes/est1376 ...
The Snarky Jr. (a.k.a. Goony Shark) was kit bash #6 in what was to become a long list of Baby Bertha's that I converted into various Goony Birds and such. The inspiration for this one of course came from my DynaStar's - Snarky and the fact that I wanted to be able to fly it in the smaller ...
The Streamliner was the fifth in a series of Baby Bertha kit bashes that I did while building my Goonybird fleet. The first four kits were used to make four of the original Goonybirds from Estes but now it was time for somthing a little different. I remember seeing this model in a&n ...
For those of you still following my Goonyness this was Baby Bertha kit bash #11. Again this is not a kit review of the original but another of my many kit bashes. All fin patterns and decals came from http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/est0806.htm . The major ...
This is my Mo' Skeeter, a 320% upscale of the classic Estes Mosquito . It's a rear-ejection model, which avoids the visible nose cone line that most Mosquito upscales suffer from. Components This rocket consists of a Baby Bertha cone , 6" of BT-60, 6" of BT-20, two 20-60 ...
It all started one day after I opened a Baby Bertha kit and found that the motor mount had the wrong size adaptor rings. The rings were for a BT-50 and not a BT-20. I thought about replacing the rings with a correct set, but then the creative juices started to flow, what could I do with this ...
This is a kit bash of a Baby Bertha that transforms a mild mannered rocket into mean, green, flying machine--the BioHazard. Modifications: One challenge was the tight fit of three 18mm motor mount tubes inside the BT-60 body tube. The 3 tubes were glued together and the inside "hole" was ...
This is a Goonie of one my favorite classic boost gliders, the Sky Dart. The Sky Goon starts as a Baby Bertha and adds wings, stabilizer and engine pod. Modifications: The rear of the nose cone is removed, leaving about 1/2" of shoulder which is glued to the body. The engine mount is built ...
I chose to build the Streamliner for this contest as it truly spoke to me as something I could do--that doesn't happen often. This rocket started out as an Estes Baby Bertha kit. In order to create the "Streamliner", I cut a wedge shaped section out of the body tube starting just below where ...
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