Sport Rocketry

nosecone, plywood fins, and 38mm motor mount. One flier in particular, William David- son, upscaled several Estes models includ- ing the Swi and the Big Bertha, which he called Big Bertha XL, which this article will focus on. e upscaled Bertha came in at a lit- tle over 16 feet in height, with a fin tip to opposing fin tip diameter of 4 feet. It was built with an a 10-foot section composed of glassed phenolic tube, and its forward section and nosecone composed of G-12 fiberglass. It had the color scheme most think of when they think of the Estes kit—yellow body tube with alternating yellow and black fins, a black nosecone, red lettering, and red and black banding. e rocket was displayed prior to and following its launch at NSL 2018 on a stand that was positioned it at 45 de- grees allowing close up viewing. Vern and Gleda had pictures standing taken alongside of it, as did many other fli- ers and spectators who attended the launch. It weighed in at 145 pounds, and was launched using an AeroTech N3300R, which took it up over 3,000 feet with its trailing beautiful red flame. Recovery was with a large RocketMan yellow and black parachute, with it landing stand- ing erect on its fins! It had a slow ma- jestic take off like its Estes counterpart does, one of the reasons it was Vern's favorite kit. Aer the launch ended, I reached out to William and told him I would like to purchase it should he decide to sell it. When I learned he was selling off his rockets in November of 2021, I reached out to William, and found out that it had only been flown that one time at NSL, and he was willing to sell it to me. I was between trailers at that time, so my friend and fellow flier Dan Michael agreed ested in making this a permanent part of their display. Aer several months of ongoing dis- cussion with Estes Industries, following a little encouragement from Vern, along with pictures I sent them of its NSL 2018 launch, they agreed to add this to their collection, displaying it vertically in their lobby, aer confirming their ceil- ing fan would just clear the nosecone with it standing upright! I agreed to donate the rocket, and Estes agreed to help defray some of my transportation costs. As part of the agreement Estes also agreed to provide a private tour of their facilities. Once that was confirmed I reached out to Dan who agreed to provide a van as long as I covered the costs of the trip. We planned on making the 1600 plus mile (25 hour) trip to Estes Indus- tries spread out over a two-day period. Vern was contacted and said he and Gleda were looking forward to seeing us again. We departed at 4:00 AM from my home in WNY on Sunday April 30 af- ter having packed the rocket the day before, and Dan took the final pictures of me standing by my rocket one last time at home. Following a 4:00 AM departure Monday from our first hotel layover in Missouri, we arrived in Can- yon City, near the home of Vern and Gleda, a short 15 miles from Estes. On Tuesday morning we arrived at Estes a little before our 8:00 AM sched- uled arrival time, and took some out- side pictures of the facility. is was the first visit to Estes for both Dan and me, and we were both excited to meet the staff, take the tour, and then officially present the rocket when Vern and Gleda arrived a few hours later. We were escorted by Stacy Martel, who was my contact. She had been Bill Stein's go-to person before he (recently) retired from Estes, and now is chief of staff of their 65 employees. e behind-the-scenes tour of Estes we were afforded was superb! We met with their current design and ar- tistic teams, their longtime rocket design- er (John Boren) where we saw many ex- amples of their elegant crasmanship on models, along with some new 3D printed components and models which are yet to be released. ey took us into the various sections of their extended building, including some older sections that housed areas that were used in the past, such as the darkroom where they cut (and subsequently printed) 44 MAY/JUNE 2024 SPORT ROCKETRY to transport it to my home the next time he was in upstate New York. I purchased two N3300Rs, along with a 98mm case, planning to fly it at a large launch in upstate New York, as well as at MDRA. While I was looking for a larger trainer to accommodate the Bertha (my previous one was 7 by 10 feet), I began to get com- ments from family and friends about how beautiful the rocket looked, and it would be a shame to see it get "nicked up" during subsequent launches. When Dan brought it here along with his wife Amy, he said essentially the same thing that I had been hearing from others, that this was a museum quality piece and I should reconsider flying it. Although I had already purchased the motors and case and was planning on flying it, I still had not ordered the longer trailer, so this gave me some time to reflect on the input I had received. Aer giving it more thought, I reached out to Dan. We had further discussion and I made the decision to reach out to Estes Industries to see if they would be inter-

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