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hellbender
10-12-2010, 11:57 AM
I have two assembled rockets that I bought when I was in jr high school. One is a Mars Snooper and the other is a Big Bertha. I flew the Mars Snooper a couple of times and it flew well. The Big Bertha was never flown because of the 3 engine cost and the problems of getting 3 motors to start simultaneously. Both were purchased in the 1965-66 timeframe. The MS has the original albeit slighty burnt chute intact. The BB has no chute.

Just wondering if they have any collectable value to anyone? I have contacted Estes as well to inquire about any interest as well. Not kits, they are assembled and painted with laquer paint from my g'pa's pattern shop back in the day.

CPMcGraw
10-12-2010, 12:16 PM
I have two assembled rockets that I bought when I was in jr high school. One is a Mars Snooper and the other is a Big Bertha. I flew the Mars Snooper a couple of times and it flew well. The Big Bertha was never flown because of the 3 engine cost and the problems of getting 3 motors to start simultaneously. Both were purchased in the 1965-66 timeframe. The MS has the original albeit slighty burnt chute intact. The BB has no chute.

Just wondering if they have any collectable value to anyone? I have contacted Estes as well to inquire about any interest as well. Not kits, they are assembled and painted with laquer paint from my g'pa's pattern shop back in the day.

Seeing rockets built from that time period is neat. "...Thanks For The Memories..."

A 3-engine Big Bertha is actually the even-older Ranger (Big Bertha was developed as a simplified, single-engine Ranger). Getting three engines to fire simultaneously takes a bit of patience, a well-built "clip whip", and a strong 12 volt battery, like a car battery or a gel-cell.

The plans and patterns for both of these are available on the internet, if you want to restore them yourself:

Ranger Plans (http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/k-06.htm)
Original Big Bertha MRN Plans (http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/eirp_13.htm)

Original Mars Snooper MRN Plans (http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/eirp_25.htm)
Mars Snooper Kit Plans (http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/k-20.htm)

Most of us are builders on this forum, but I know several also enjoy "rescue, restoration, and renovation" projects like this. Maybe this is a good opportunity to repair those models back to flying condition yourself.

In any case, welcome back to rocketry, and welcome to our asylum! :D

Royatl
10-12-2010, 12:37 PM
As long as they're in good condition, built kits from the day are usually worth slightly more than what a kit version would cost today.

The main desirable feature of the Ranger you have there is the nose cone. In the mid 70's, Estes turned to plastic to make these nose cones, and in the process, made them even stubbier. There are a *few* collectors who would like an original BNC-60L nose cone, even though you can get a good modern approximation (might even be exact... haven't yet seen one) from Semroc (their cat no. BNC-60LV)

hellbender
10-12-2010, 02:24 PM
Thanks for the replies. Knowing what I know now, I will keep them and maybe pass them on.

Blakkzakk
10-24-2010, 01:03 PM
I wish I still had my Mars Snooper from the early 70's.....but it was lost in the 4 moves I made between '71 and '76. I might build one of the clones, but I'll probably build it from scratch.

I did scratch build a Mars Snooper for Micromaxx motors, using Adobe Photoshop to downsize the plans and building my own body tubes out of rolled paper and turning my own nose cones. The pic is before I painted it.

It flies about 60' on an MMX II.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g273/blakkzakk/Rocketry/MMXMarsSnooper2.jpg