[que mad laughter] It Flies! It Flies! Our first kit-bash cluster rocket!

My oldest daughter and I were looking for a project to do together. She's 13 years old now, and trying to get her involved was the objective. I had a spare Estes Big Bertha kit, but we already have one built and she did not want to recreate what had already been done. So, we kit bashed it!

Here's a synopsis of the mods: Sunward 18mm x2 motor mount, Sunward ejection baffle, an 18" nylon tie-dyed parachute from https://www.rocketchutes.com/Toucan.htm, and an extra length of body tube that nearly doubles the length--wella. My daughter named it the Super, Hippy, Groovy Bertha, and of course she had to paint it pink!

We flew it twice yesterday, the first flight was on B6-4s (Rocksim said @400' AGL), the second on C6-5s (Rocksim says @950' AGL). It's probably the best LPR rocket we have in terms of fun factor, stability and visibility.


C6-5 Flight:


B6-4 Flight:

I love liftoff photos that catch the ignitor plugs flying through the air.

kj

Great project and photos!
Enjoy the time with your daughter, they go by WAY to quickly! As she gets older she may not want those worlds to colide but you'll see it all comes back around

Outstanding project and photos, hope she really had fun with the build and fly.

Micromeister said:

Great project and photos!
Enjoy the time with your daughter, they go by WAY to quickly! As she gets older she may not want those worlds to colide but you'll see it all comes back around

Outstanding project and photos, hope she really had fun with the build and fly.

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So very true and ditto on the pictures
Cheers
fred

stealthfixr said:

My daughter named it the Super, Hippy, Groovy Bertha, and of course she had to paint it pink!

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Well this brings back old memories. My daughters and I flew some similar rockets in the lates 80s to early 90s. Painted them with Krylon Pink, and they immediately became the "Barbie I", then the "Barbie II".

They are grown, away from home, but I now have another future girl rocketeer in the works -- my 15 month old granddaughter. May wait another couple years before I get her a starter set, but that day will come!

Glad to see you have your 13 year old involved in something fun and wholesome -- that will pay huge dividends in the future. There are so many other distractions for kids today.

stealthfixr said:

My daughter named it the Super, Hippy, Groovy Bertha, and of course she had to paint it pink!

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Tell her that is a great name. Ooh I bet that one is easy to see flying.

The real icing on the cake was last night when I innocently asked her if she would be interested in another project with me. Her answer was an immediate, "Yes, but this time the rocket needs to be as big as I am!" So, then I asked if she was ready to move into mid-power, and she gave me a huge, "Yeah!"

Well, I don't know what to get for her next! We also have a lot of kits waiting to be built (AT Arreaux, Estes Eggscaliber, BSD Horizon 4", BSD Thor 4" in work, conversion of BSD 38 Special into DD in work, Applewhite Saucer 24mm MMT, Apogee Blue Streak, Razor tubular, etc, etc). I like the Sunward Solar Eclipse and CFX Six-footer too.....hhmmmm.....more kits is always a good thing, right?!