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Old 11-13-2011, 06:36 PM
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BEC BEC is offline
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That original Big Bertha plan appeared in the April/May 1963 issue of Model Rocket News (which is also on JimZ - all four pages of it).

In that issue on another page it mentions "all eight" Estes kits, including the Ranger. So I think that confirms that the Ranger came first - but the gap was not very big.

It's interesting that that MRN plan of the Big Bertha doesn't have the partial stuffer tube we've seen in later versions - just a 2060 motor mount and lots of empty space for a parachute.

I'd say that - following the family metaphor - the K-6 Ranger is the father of all the Bertha variations. One of these days I'm going to have to actually build a Big Bertha. I have cloned the Ranger, and I've done several Baby Berthas. I also have evidence in my old rocketry stuff from the early '70s that I'd build a Mini Bertha...but I don't have it or remember building it. I do have a Big Bertha "work alike" in my much flown Semroc Vega....
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