Construction

Construction begins in the normal way for a Baby Bertha with the motor mount being assembled and installed per Estes instructions. The fins are next and require you to take one sheet of pre-cut fins from the Baby Bertha kit and after removing them, use the fin template from Excelsior Rocketry and mark the two fins to cut down. The other two fins will be left stock and glued at 90 degree angles to the edges of the two fins that are cut down. Next I covered all balsa parts with white paper for added strength and a flawless finish. The fins were then glued to opposite sides of the BT after it was marked as per Excelsior's instructions. After the fins are attached you again use one of Excelsior's templates to make the canopy section and attach it. Next was the most difficult step in the build and there are a couple of different ways to approach this. The easiest and most expensive way to build the Headers is to buy 8 additional launch lugs and then sand both ends of each at an angle as per Excelsiors instructions and then glue them together on a strip of balsa for mounting to the BT. I tried making my first set from a plastic straw but couldn't get them to stay on properly at first. The other Con: to that was that when I removed the tape from the Headers after painting the body the paint didn't stick to the plastic so I cut them off and re-did them. Tried to find paper straws around town but no luck. I ended up using some scrap paper and my 1/8" launch rod and rolling my own (cheapest way). The launch lug was he last thing glued on and then the NC and parachute were attached as per the Baby Bertha instructions. After that a 1/4 oz. of clay was added to the NC to help balance things out.