Brief:
The HONEST GOON is another Goony retro-bash decal/plan set that is available from Excelsior Rocketry. This is not a kit but rather a set of instructions, fin patterns, and most importantly decals to kit bash an Estes Baby Bertha (plus a few extra parts) into some rocketry fun. If you could not tell by the name (you certainly can from the finished product), this is based on an Honest John. The HONEST GOON is the fourth addition to my Excelsior Goony collection. There current are 14 different plan sets available so this will not be my last.

Construction:
Since this is a kit bash, you are required to start with the Baby Bertha kit with some additional components needed. The few extra parts for this kit were a BNC70AJ nose cone, a TA6070 tube transition, a small piece of BT-70 tubing, a screw eye, and a 3/32” balsa sheet for the fins. For this build I opted to not use a Baby Bertha kit since I had the tubes, motor mount, and balsa sheet already. I got the nose cone and balsa transition from Thrustline Aerospace. (Thought to self: Wouldn’t it be great if Thrustline offered the parts packs for the Excelsior GOONY birds?)

The instructions that are delivered with the decals have you following the Baby Bertha instruction but making modifications where necessary. The changes include moving the motor mount about ¾" forward in the body tube for added stability though I cannot image that this will be an issue with the added weight from the modified nose cone. The modified nose cone is created by trimming the shoulders of the BNC70AJ and the TA6070 so that they can be connected by 7/8” piece of BT-70. I used my small table saw to do the trimming. For the HONEST GOON you do not use the fins in the Baby Bertha kit. A fin pattern is provided for use to cut the 3/32” balsa fins with placement instructions. The final change for this kit bash is the location of the launch lugs. You cut the lug in half and glue one on the small section of BT-70 on the nose. Because of the enlarged nose, the other half goes on one of the fins about a ¼" from the main body tube. I used a launch rod to line up the posi tion of the two lugs. Here is the RockSim diagram showing the new CG and CP.

Finishing:
This is where you want to take your time to produce sharp but GOONY looking rocket. I used watered downed Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Filler to fill the tube spiral, nose cone, and fins. I sanded it smooth and then put another application of wood filler on the nose cone section. More sanding then came on heavy coat of gray sandable auto primer. A coat of white primer came after more sanding (normally I would do two coats but since the rocket is going to be white there is no need). There was more sanding then the entire rocket is painted gloss white. I applied two coats for the finished model. The nice thing is there is no masking required for this rocket so painting goes fairly quick. It is the decals that you are actually paying for when ordering from Excelsior Rocketry so you want to make sure that you follow the instruction when applying them. They are very easy to work with and I experienced no issues whatsoever.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
On the instruction card, it states the recommended motors are an A8-3, B6-4, and C6-5. The Baby Bertha kit also flies on a B4-4 motor so I see no reason why this GOONYBIRD could not on that motor. I decided to test that and loaded the rocket with a B4-4. That is what I had available at the time and was worried about flying on an A8-3 with the heavier nose cone. The rocket arched slight into the wind on take off. The chute deployed close to apogee and the decent was about perfect on the 12” chute. I was very satisfied with the flight. There was a semi round indentation in part of the nose cone. It would appear to be from snapping back into the body tube but there were no marks at the end of the tube. Before I fly this rocket again, I will lengthen the shock cord by 12” and try it on a different motor.

Recovery:
Usually I would modify the recovery system to consist of a Kevlar® cord attached to the motor mount with the elastic shock cord that is tied to the Kevlar® cord but for this rocket I used the standard paper mount that comes with a Baby Bertha kit. A length of 36” elastic shock cord was used for this rocket. I prepped the rocket with a 4” x 4” Nomex®; heat shield and 12” Mylar chute.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Since you need to purchase items from various vendors to complete this rocket, my guess is that you have to be a real fan of the GOONY series to want to invest to time and money. I am certainly glad that I did. The HONEST GOON is a very nice addition to my growing Excelsior Rocketry GOONY Retro-Bash kits. It was fun to build and even more fun to fly. As the Excelsior web site states, “Get GOONY at your next launch!!” I know for sure that I will be GOONY at all my launches and hope there are other people having the same fun as I am with these kits.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5