Construction

I had originally purchased t' plans for this one back when I bought and built t' '57 Goony (kit bash #7) when Excelsior was still in New York. Ahoy! Cash flow be low at t' time when I wanted t' order all t' extra parts (mainly t' NC's) so I decided t' wait till t' sixteenth Baby Bertha kit bash t' do it plus I didn't feel up t' t' challenge yet so as such I stored t' plans out in t' garage for t' winter. Arrr! Unfortunately that be a bad idea as some o' t' decals were damaged when they stuck t' some paper after some how gettin' damp. I went ahead and reordered new plans and decals, but when I received them t' new ones had a Michigan logo in place o' t' NY one. No biggie, matey, as I live in Michigan anyway, just means their in me neighborhood now .

Anyway, construction started with t' 24mm MM and was glued flush into one end o' one o' t' Baby Bertha tubes. Avast, me proud beauty! I next took all t' tubes and marked them for where t' vent slots were t' be cut. Begad! Arrr! A CRITICAL note here: Make sure you use a fresh blade in your Hobby knife before makin' these cuts in order t' get good clean cuts. Blimey! Also a small section o' aluminum angle iron helps in keepin' them straight. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! At first I was at odds as t' how t' glue on t' tubes and keep t' slots lined up when I got t' bright idea t' tape two quarters together and insert them in t' slots o' t' BT-5 tubes t' help hold them in alignment as t' glue dried. T' Con: t' that bein' that thar was a small problem in gettin' them back out and required t' use o' needlenose pliers t' extract them. Blimey! Begad! After BT-5 tubes were first glued t' t' lower section t' one balsa nose cone was glued in place. Avast! I used t' balsa NC on t' lower section as part o' me design thinkin' as I figured it would hold up better and last longer than one o' t' plastic ones due t' hot gas from ejection charge that would be hittin' it.

I then placed one o' t' plastic Baby Bertha NC's betwixt t' BT-5's and proceeded t' glue t' upper section on in t' same manner as I did on t' lower. Again t' quarters were used and were a little harder t' remove with t' extra NC in t' way but I got great seals around all t' ports. Avast! After gluein' in t' bottom PNC-60 t' upper BT-60 tube I then glued in all six BNC-5's t' their respective tubes. Ya scallywag! Arrr! From thar t' fins were paper coated and when dry mounted and then t' launch lugs were attached. Blimey! Well, blow me down! After that all seams and joints were gone over and filleted where necessary. T' final step was t' recovery system. Avast, me proud beauty! This I installed in typical Estes tri-fold fashion.