Question for Goony Builders

I have been thinking about building a Baby Bertha based goony and OR says I need to add nose weight. I was wondering if this is pretty common for Baby Bertha goony bashes?

Thank you,
-Bob

Yes, short squatty rockets generally require nose weight.

The two I have built did not.
Gooney Bird Zero & Der Gooney Max.

Depending on fin size & placement (overhang off the back end) yo may not need nose weight.

Which Gooney are you thinking about?

Excelsior had plan & decal packs, but they seem to have disappeared

The thing is that the Baby Bertha doesn't require nose weight built stock. I've actually made it longer by adding a 2" boat tail and I've moved the engine back to accommodate. You'd think that would help if anything by making the rocket longer. Do you think it could be because the fins are larger? It's a Goony Jayhawk.

I saw that Excelsior seemed to have had a Nike X gooney that I would like to build but I couldn't find anything other than a picture of it on the web.

-Bob

the BB has swept back fin, that helps.

the Jayhawk has "wings" for fins, you'll need nose weight.

You can download the Rocksim files for several of Gordy's old kits here:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/rocksim-library.html
Includes the Nike Goony, but it's mislabeled the Goony Max. Click on the nikeg file.
Should be able to reverse engineer from the parts list and templates.
I think I ordered the last goony from Gordy, an Honest Goon, about a year or so ago when he re-opened Excelsior just to sell some kits for a friend. It does not require nose weight, but it's a BIG three part nose cone.
Also has a 1/2" fin overhang, I'm guessing for stability.
BTW he just worked out some ISP problems and re-opened again after being down for several weeks.
https://www.sandmandecals.com/
Read about it here:
https://www.forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=18027

And here's a link to Part 1 of Chris' Nike Goon build:https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2017/02/nike-goon-build-part-1-background-and.html

kuririn said:

And here's a link to Part 1 of Chris' Nike Goon build:https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2017/02/nike-goon-build-part-1-background-and.html

Click to expand...

someone explain to me what goon ing for a rocket means? I have personally built NIke X

A Goony (or Gooney, not sure which is correct) is sort of like a caricature of a rocket. They are generally built by kit-bashing a Baby Bertha kit.

Here's a Gooney Phoenix


I'll check out those links tonight. Thanks for showing them to me.

-Bob

Funny, about an hour before your post I was looking at my build pile(s) and pulled this out:


Started this a few months ago then got distracted.
Guess I should wrap it up.
Thanks for reminding me!
Laters.

I'd love one of those! Can you measure the fins?

Bob

PM sent

Just read Chris's build. Just like always, very informative. Thanks for the link I didn't know he had built one.

-Bob

Goonie Russian Vostok with profile fins based on the Estes #1272 kit. Added 15gm nose weight.

Hmmm. Now you've got me thinking.
Anybody out there done a Goony Falcon Heavy yet?
Better yet, with a 3 motor cluster?

On second thought you wouldn't be able to see the goonified fins so,

NEVER MIND!

Seems to me that would require lots of nose weight! Holy cow, lol!

A little Patriot. It sims out nicely in OR. No nose weight and 400' on a C6. Building will commence very soon.



-Bob

I'm thinking about a BT80 Estes Viking.....

Maybe I should get my BT80 upscale flying first, though.

Some of us were talking about bashing a Super Bertha into a Baby Super Bertha over in the Scratch Built forum. I brought up that could inspre awhole bew breed of goonies

-Bob

Google

Goony Model Rockets

Under images and you will see a huge assortment of other kits that have been modded for Baby Bertha nose cone and short body tubes

kuririn said:

And here's a link to Part 1 of Chris' Nike Goon build:https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2017/02/nike-goon-build-part-1-background-and.html

Click to expand...

Here's the entire build from finish to start:
https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/search/label/Nike Goon

Bruiser said:

Seems to me that would require lots of nose weight! Holy cow, lol!

A little Patriot. It sims out nicely in OR. No nose weight and 400' on a C6. Building will commence very soon.

View attachment 391058

-Bob

Click to expand...

That is very nearly an accurate scale Doorknob!

I was thinking about which rockets make the best goonies and I realized that one of the more important things is that it needs to have some sort of instantly recognizable features such as the shape of fins, number of fins or paint scheme. The thing that will make this gooney a Patriot and not a doorknob is the paint scheme

Never heard of a doorknob rocket before. Reminds me of a Little John.

-Bob

Bruiser said:

Never heard of a doorknob rocket before. Reminds me of a Little John.

-Bob

Click to expand...

Interestingly there is a $245 high power rocket called the Door Knob


https://locprecision.com/product/doorknob/

Hmmn, I think that is it. A scale model. The paint scheme is a close match even.

-Bob

A slight digression:

Doorknobs boosted instruments into the bad air created by U.S. nuke testing in the South Pacific in 1958-59. Look up Operation Hardtack. Love that Sandia Labs high vis paint scheme. Thank you Peter Alway (and Mugs for posting ).

Well my gooney Patriot is coming along. Didn't do a build thread but here it is in most of it's colors. It takes a little while because of the paint dry time before you can mask for the next color. It looks very strange without the black!



-Bob

Here is my one and only gooney: the Lunar Gooner

Very cool! Thanks for sharing

-Bob