I remember opening up the Estes Mega Mosquito kit and counting all the 3/32" balsa sheets - 9 in total!
Here's the parts for the upcoming Super Big Bertha kit. Go ahead . . . count the balsa sheets.
The Super Big Bertha is sort of a stretch Mega Mosquito. Same nose cone and tube diameter.
The tube was slotted on the Mega Mosquito - not on the Super Big Bertha.
Add the Mega Der Red Max to the Estes triple laminated balsa fin club. I wonder what goes into deciding to use three sheets of balsa per fin rather than one sheet of plywood? The earlier models in the PS II line had plywood TTW fins, like the Leviathan, Argent, and Partizon.
ReplyDeleteJust finished building a PS II Super Big Bertha clone with TTW gusseted plywood fins and thick wall body tubes. Same dimensions as the plans on Jim Z's site, except with a 29mm mount instead of 24mm. Decals are from Sticker Shock. My original SBB got destroyed when the Aerotech engine exploded at launch and blew a big hole in its' side. Oh, and I added Aerotech's Labyrinth ejection gas cooling system (basically a steel cooling mesh behind a plastic bafflehead). Laters.
Correction: The plans are at Ye Olde Rocket Plans, not Jimmy Z's. Estes #2165.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a couple of forum discussions with John Boren, Estes designer, that I read the plywood Estes used to use doesn't meet California's product safety standards .
ReplyDeleteOpenroad,
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I wonder what the issue is. Maybe catching fire from the engine exhaust, or delaminating in the rain? I also remember reading something about a California law prohibiting the use of non domestic plywood. So it could be partly economics at play here.
Sounds like a California requirement. In California if you have a business with four people, one of them is just for dealing with California laws, regulations and requirements.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia has a limit on the amount of formaldehyde in laminate products. This has also led to problems with certain laminated floorings.
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