Estes Big Bertha, Yellow

Once I was 7 years old ... (Apologies to Lukas Graham.)That was a long, long time ago. And I built Big Bertha, and I launched her a few times. Until one time, she landed high in a tree. But I wasn't too sad. I built another one. (And also I duct taped rocket engines to my cousin's Barbie dolls when my rockets were stuck in trees or on rooftops. Sorry, cuz, if you're out there.) And so kicked off a hobby that I continued for several years of my childhood, until such time as I discovered the opposite sex and various other pastimes that took me away from my rocket fun. But I digress.Fast forward to 2018. I have a lot of fond memories of rocket building, and I've never forgotten that first Big Bertha. My son is now of the right age to play with fun flying objects. I came to Amazon, placed my order, and I am beyond pleased to report that, effectively, nothing has changed in all of this time! Big Bertha is exactly as I remember her--and my son and I had a great time putting her together, walking her over to the local park, and breaking out the Porta-Pad II (also the same model I used to have). 3...2...1 and the couple of hours we spent building and painting was well worth it when I saw the look in his eyes.This is the perfect starter rocket. Forget those pre-painted ones with plastic fins that snap into place. That's not what the rocket hobby is all about. You want to feel like you've actually built something. You want to sand some balsa, and glue some stuff together. You want to learn a few lessons about precision when it comes to lining up the fins, and some more lessons about patience while waiting for that glue to dry. You want to paint your rocket yourself so that when it's high above your head you can smile and know that this is something YOU created. Trust me on this.I've gotten a little bit preachy and gone off on all kinds of tangents. But that stands to illustrate exactly the kind of value this rocket brought to my life. $20 worth of character building and indelible memories? That's money very well spent.Do I recommend that you purchase Big Bertha? I recommend that you don't wait another moment. This is a classic in my mind and it will be in yours too. Enjoy. And word to the wise: Barbie dolls are totally un-aerodynamic and don't fly nearly as well as this thing.

So here I am, 51 years young, and I've just ordered another Big Bertha... the first rocket I built by myself as a pre-teen Estes nut. I haven't built it yet, because I'm going to take my time and enjoy every aspect of construction and finishing. I'm likely to use more paint than normal, and allow the weight to creep up a bit, to accentuate Big Bertha's already slightly slow, scale looking liftoff. I'm not looking for altitude with this one, just a nice looking, interesting to fly rocket. This is one that's a great build if you have a little patience and don't mind sanding the fins, as they are thick enough that you can shape the edges any number of ways, or even put a slight airfoil shape to the entire fin. Unlike most of my rockets, as this one won't get a lot of altitude, I'll stuff in a big, nylon parachute for slow, dramatic descents. I can feel the immaturity sinking in to me just THINKING about building the rocket!UPDATE 12-23-17: I actually built TWO Berthas - I modified the white one (Bigger Bertha) by installing a twin rocket motor mount. Due to an ignition failure, only one motor lit, and the rocket arced into the ground at full speed - the fun of experimentation! I had so much fun building it that I bought another, and built the red one (Re-Bertha). Re-Bertha flies with a single motor (I'm using a reloadable Aerotech 18/20 motor casing, which has D-equivalent power but is the same size as a C engine) and have installed an aftermarket parachute charge baffle so I don't need recovery wadding. I also use a Jolly Logic Chute Release system, so my parachute doesn't unfurl until the rocket descends to a preset altitude. This allows me to use a larger chute for slower landing speeds, without having her drift all over the place.

I purchased this rocket kit for my grandson's 10th birthday. It was a hit! He put it together with some adult supervision. The first launch was so exciting and the rocket was impressive. My grandson was able to get it set up on the launch pad for his first launches by himself and exicuted the launch without any problems. It flew very high so I advise that you have a large field to launch your rocket as any wind will cause it to drift quite a ways when it is floating down. Other boys playing in the field came running when they saw it launch. Such excitement! The only issue was that the parachute tore from two of it's strings after the second launch. All in all it worked great and gave this grandma high credit as giving the best gift ever. :)

The Bertha series (Big and Baby) are true timeless Estes classics, big, slow*er* liftoff (it's still relatively quick, but that's normal for launching a cardboard tube into the sky with a black powder motor), and a graceful descent back to Earth, it's a classic that belongs in everyone's rocket collection, it's also a blast to customize, a very wide open design and stable platform, works great with three to eight fins (yes, I said eight)I kitbashed two Big Berthas into a nearly 4' tall "OctoBertha", gluing all eight fins at the back, and installing a baffle between the body tubes to act as a coupler tube, and to eliminate the need for recovery wadding, even in her stretched and over finned form (the extra fins aren't needed, they just make her look cool ;) ) she has the Slow and Low performance I like, and plus, with the extra weight and drag of the baffle, the extra fins, and the paracord shock cord, it helps drop the liftoff speed even more, bringing an even more realistic slower liftoffIn the attached pic, the rockets are, from left to right, Baby Bertha, Big Bertha, and OctoBertha, Octo needs final painting, but is otherwise airworthyOne word of warning, due to the ease of building and the vast options for customizing, the Bertha series can be addictive...