Upscale Spy vs Spy rocket from ground at BALLS 17

[RoboTekno]

Awesome design :D Great job!

[TIRrocketry]

WOW, I love the SLOW roll. Beautiful.

[TIRrocketry]

Fantastic! That's a great looking rocket. What design is it based off of? Is it a kit? Do you plan on two M motors any time soon?

[sflorig]

Thanks! It's not a kit. I came up with the design and built a small version that flew on 2 H motors to test the concept. When it worked, I just had to upscale. I already have the 2 M motors and I'm hoping to fly them in this rocket within the next year. Maybe at BALLS 19? I'm not quite sure yet.

[TIRrocketry]

That's awesome! Wish I could be there to see it. That's a nice red formula too!

[reallyjustadad]

Nice work on your spy Vs spy. I thought they would shear apart but it was masterfully built and survived the test. It is always a good thing when I am proven wrong.

Nice flight!

[sflorig]

Thanks a lot. I was really happy with the flight.

[JDrockerDUDE]

@sflorig dude awesome

[DTHRocket]

Hey! I saw you in the extreme rocket magazine. Nice job. I think I've talked to you before several months ago. I'm working on a junior certification right now, and hope to certify this summer.

[sflorig]

Thanks! yeah I was pretty excited about getting in the magazine. Good luck on your cert! I'm working on a project for my level 3 cert right now and I'm hoping to fly it in may so we'll see how that goes.

[krisr]

Great, thanks. Good luck and maybe I'll see you in the field someday.

[krisr]

Wow, sounds fun. How did you first learn..just tinkering around? Are there "do it yourself" books or anything out there that illustrates how to fabricate the parts?

[sflorig]

I tried to reply but it didn't seem to show up so if this appears twice that's why. I learned mostly by talking to people. Whenever I'm not sure how to do something, I just ask the people in my local Tripoli rocketry club and they are always very helpful. No book can beat the personalized advice that you can get from experienced people. Of course books are definitely useful. If you were to get one, I would highly recommend Modern High-Power Rocketry 2 by Mark Canepa.

[sflorig]

This book offers a ton of useful rocketry info. w w w . i n f o  c e n t ra l . o r g (no spaces) is a good website as well. If youre interested in pursuing high-powered rockets, youll need to join the Tripoli Rocketry Association or the National Association of Rocketry in order to get certified to fly high power. The process is really quite simple. There are three levels of certification. You can read about them here w w w . n a r . o r g / h p c e r t / i n d e x . h t m l (no spaces)

[krisr]

Wow, great rocket. I'm just getting into this hobby. How much does something like this cost to build? You need lots of technical or electronic training to build these larger rockets?

[sflorig]

Including everything, this rocket cost around $1800 but most of the electronics and recovery system components I already had for use on my other rockets. So not counting that, it ran me about $1300. Now if you were to make this out of fiberglass rather than carbon fiber, you could cut about $400 out of the cost. As far as electronic training, you barely need any. Just a basic knoledge of how to strip and solder wire.

[sflorig]

You'll need to know how basic switches work so you can solder them into your power system to turn the electronics on and off. You can buy altimeters and other electronics from rocketry vendors so you don't have to worry about making those yourself. In terms of technical/mechanical skills you need to know how to fabricate basic pieces such as bulkheads, centering rings, and fins. If you want to get more advanced you can make your own tubes and nosecones which I did with this rocket.

[sflorig]

wow this is getting to be a long comment. Anyway, I would suggest getting involved in your local chapter of Tripoli or NAR and asking around at launches and such if you have any questions on how to design/build things. Everybody will be very helpful. I have never experienced otherwise. It may seem intimidating at first, but after you scratch build your first few rockets, you'll see that the process is fairly simple and you'll gain enough skills to be able to make pretty complex projects.

[zzzsax]

As the previous comment says, well done. This is a beautiful rocket. I hope to see you on the range one of these days! (Im 16 working on all my certs...)

[sflorig]

hey thanks. good luck with those certs! I'm working on an L3 project right now. I just turned 18 so I can finally get all my certs in my name.

[DTHRocket]

What an interesting design!!

And how old are you? How is it that you're already making complex experimental L motor rockets? I haven't even gotten into level 1 HPR yet!

Oh well. Almost there.

I had a rocket with two G motors. The first time I used redline propellant (which I am guessing is similar to NASSA red?) and one motor failed, then I switched to White Lightning and it worked much better.

Sweet video. I liked the onboard video, too! Keep up the good work!