Sirius

E

This all started with a desire to make a tougher rocket for my children that isn’t always in for repairs. We love the Big Bertha type–big, slow, not too high. Great fun for the kids at their present ages–well, Sissy isn’t as into rockets as she was when she was younger (although she is the owner of the original Estes Big Bertha). Our Bertha has made probably over 50 flights without an incident…until this last one (melted parachute). However, it’s ground time was the hardest on it–every fin except one has been broken.

Titus had a Quest Big Betty that flew nicely until a CATO blew it sideways into a tree about 15 feet off the ground and completely shredded it.

About a month ago we entertained a missionary family for Sunday lunch at the end of our Missions Conference. They had 5 boys–so, I grabbed a few C6-5s and after a great lunch we went out into the back yard. I had no idea that I only had what wadding was in the engine packs–hardly enough if you ever want to use your parachute again.

So, I prepped the Bertha, pointed the nose into the rather gusty wind a bit and had the oldest boy let her fly. It was a fantastic launch and flight. Floated back downrange about 30 yards. So, we loaded up the Scrambler with a “egg-stronaught” and had the next oldest run the count-down. It was a great flight…up until the end The shock-cord snapped…but that didn’t matter, the tape holding the payload in gave way and, well, that egg will never be the same.

No biggie–no damage to the rocket.

We put the Bertha back on the rod. I didn’t have enough wadding, but I thought it might be ok. It wasn’t. The chute ate some sparks from the ejection charge and melted. The rocket survived, but I was a little unhappy.

So, I began to think: Estes E’s aren’t really that much more expensive or harder to get–Hobby Lobby carries them. They are certainly more fun to launch than C’s. So why not design a rocket around an E using LOC/Precision parts, TTW fins, and a baffle system so wadding isn’t needed? Sounds easy enough, and the Big Bruiser was born.

Design