When I received the March/April issue of Sport Rocketry I noticed the headline on the cover, “Steampunk Rocketry Designs and Techniques”. That sounded interesting so I opened the magazine to the story and immediately saw some amazing looking rockets. I dove into the article and each paragraph started my mind swirling off into different directions thinking how I could make something that might look as interesting as those in the article.
Rather than start working on a new rocket to create my first steampunk example, I looked at my fleet of tired rockets that I seldom fly anymore. I was drawn to my Big Bertha that I had built many years earlier with a three engine cluster. It was sitting there with a rather ugly plain blue finish. No markings or anything else, just solid plain blue. Yes, this should work, I’ll convert my Big Bertha into Steam-Bertha!
Using the article as inspiration and a guide to begin sourcing the parts I would need, I started getting my materials together. First I got a couple of manila file folders for the heavy paper that I’d need for the straps that the “rivets” would go on. Now for the “rivets”. I went to Michael’s and picked up a sheet of half-round pearls with sticky backing. I’m not sure what other crafters use these for, but for me they were going to become my rivet heads. I also found a few cards of pre-punched cardboard centering rings in my Estes rocket parts stash. Those could be used as portholes. Also in the stash, were some extra launch lugs that I could turn into external piping to disguise the actual launch lug that was already on the rocket. Continue reading “Creating Steam-Bertha”