Reviews : Estes Super Big Bertha

I would have given the Super BB an excellent review for its performance----It flies great on an F BP engine. I'm super happy with that! But why did they design the kit to make assembly more of a chore than a pleasure to assemble? Specifically I fault the fact you had to cut in the through-the-wall slots for the fins. Really? Why didn't it come slotted? And, especially the fins themselves---instead of the fins being one piece construction, you had to piece together five pieces to get one finished fin---a parts count of twenty instead of four. Really? I can imagine these extra steps might frustrate an relatively novice builder and for an old-timer like me, it was just needlessly exasperating. Still, as I say, it's a great flier and I'm satisfied with the finished product. Just be ready to go through some tedium to get it to the launch pad!

The Estes Super Big Bertha was brought back from the 90's and has been up powered from 24mm to 29mm. I have an older D-motor powered model, but the newer design is much better, with through tube fins, Pro Series motor retainer, shock cord and parachute. I'm modifying mine for a 2x29mm cluster and should be a real crowd pleaser. Laminating the fins are a must, only epoxy, no white glue, fore and aft thrust rings, JT-80's reinforcing the entire BT-80, easier and not as messy as glassing the tube, an ejection baffle, +9 additional feet of Kevlar, or braided nylon shock cord attached to the plywood centering ring, some nose weight and at over 1/2 a mile altitude, a GPS tracker.

This is a great rocket kit, but needs some upgrades. Why am I responsible for cutting the fin holes in the body tube? Piece of advice, have new blades on hand. Flies straight and looks beautiful. Also upgrades to epoxy helped alot