Big Bertha Paint Scheme
 

Folks,

I am looking for some/any documentation beyond the 1970 Estes catalog of the Big Bertha paint scheme.

I have the decals from Excelsior Rocketry.

My main issue/question is which fins are painted all red, which fins are painted all white and which fins are red/white or white/red.

As an aside this is the first Big Bertha model I have ever built. :o

Thanks for the assist.

This was my Dad's favorite rocket back in the day.
I just finished one in the 1969 scheme and did all four fins red / white. Next to it is one I picked up off ebay a couple of years ago.
That one has to be from the sixties. Wood nose cone, through the wall shock cord mount, vintage red and white chute.
I bought the lot for the payload section of a beaten up Scrambler, but this came in flyable condition. It's flown about ten times. I replaced the shock cord about halfway through the ten.
Pretty sure it was a kid that built it. It's all in white speckled lite blue paint except an all white nose. Letter decals near the bottom say "power by ESTES" and near the top "DO NOT TEASE OUR PASSENGERS."

Well, Bob, better late than never! Something magical about the Big Bertha. I bought a big bag of Bertha nose cones some time ago, looked like maybe a dealer package, or perhaps a special package for hobby shops. I bought it at a hobby store going out of business.

I've decided use up some of these nose cones by doing A Siamese Bertha with two tubes and nose cones, and six fins. ( Sadly, they will never be able to be separated and lead normal lives, due to the lack of having four fins each ....)

I hope somebody has more info on paint schemes. I built a Broadsword (Super Big Bertha) with kind of my own twist on a classic paint scheme. I had a hard time finding anything other than catalog pictures, which leave you guessing on the fins and patterns on the tube that don't show in the pictures.

Hi, Bob,

Attached are two pdfs with images I culled from the catalogs. HTH.

Doug

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From my research, each fin has red on one side, white on the other with the reds facing each other. Body tube is red all the way around.

BTW, you cheated if you did the roll pattern with decals. Be a man and do it with paint!!!

That's what I needed.

Thank you! :)

Is that a Super Big Bertha kit next to a standard Big Bertha model?

Both look very nice. :cool:

Thanks. It is a Broadsword which, best I remember, is identical to the SBB except for motor mount. I also added two 13mm mounts to it just for fun because I had a bucket load of A10-3T's from a Walmart clearance sale.

Trim monokote :)

BTW, I learned the hard way, it's best to search out good matching colors ahead of time. It can be frustrating searching for monokote to match a nosecone _after_ it's already been painted :o

Doug

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