I chose the Scorpion kit for my level 3 because it was a conventional design (a classic, in my book) that was proven, not likely to crash if built well, and relatively high performance. I received the kit from "Eric of Dynacom" in April 2001 and the goal was to launch at Black Rock on Oct. 6, 2001. Given my slow work pace, this was actually a relatively tight schedule for me. I lined up Tom Rouse and Ken Biba of AERO-PAC to be my TAP guys.

I used Shadow Composites high temperature epoxy with Kevlar^® pulp in the lower sections that would be close to the heat of the motor, and West Systems epoxy in the forward sections. To get the best possible fin alignment, I had a special jig machined from aluminum. It was essentially a 5" OD x 4.125" ID x 4"H cylinder with slots cut 120˚ apart for the fins. The machinists did a great job, using the actual components for exact fit. The tolerances ended up being so close I had to pre-heat the jig in the oven to comfortably set the rocket in place and then use a hair dryer to heat it back up to remove the rocket after cure.

I purchased Dave Triano's (Shadow Composites) 3 part video in order to bone up on composite construction techniques. I also bought some books, and scoured the web. I reinforced the fin fillets using Dave's recommended technique of two-layer 5 oz. carbon fiber tabs at each joint. I ended up using Dave's entire system, with Poly Fiber Super Fil over the carbon fiber, followed by UV Smooth Prime applied with a foam roller.  Of course, after I had added the cross linker to the UV Smooth Prime and was rolling it on, the In-Laws dropped over on the way back from the airport/Europe followed 5 minutes later by our friends with their poodle. I was able to maintain conversation while finishing without screwing anything up and kept them entertained by allowing them to give me advice.

I was very happy with the results and materials I got from Shadow Composites and can heartily recommend them to all of you. (That is a statement of fact and not meant to be a reviewer's quote).

After a lot of sanding and elbow grease, I was happy with the fincan section and finished the rest of the rocket with no difficulties. I decided to sub out the paint job to a pro, and was led to the premier hot-rod paint shop of Campbell, CA by my friend Randy, who serves as my "guy-stuff" advisor, and is an expert on hot-rods, planes, motorcycles, and all things mechanical. Here's a shot of the rocket ready for the painters in front of their shop:

While the rocket was away at the paint shop, I used the idle time to fabricate the recovery harnesses (Yes, I had this all scoped out on a giant Microsoft Project Gantt chart). 

The raw material for the harnesses was 5/8" tubular Kevlar^® from Pratt Hobbies. The drogue harness was 20 ft. and the main was 15 ft. using the stainless quicklinks that came with the kit. I also had RocketMan Nomex^® flame shields to add.  I sketched it out and took it to Precision Technical Sewing in Palo Alto (see the links section for more info about these people) and they took on the sewing portion of the job. The manager asked if I was planning on going fishing in a volcano. When I told him what I was up to, he said, "Oh, we get a couple of these every year". Dang, I thought I was on to something new. They used Kevlar^® thread to sew everything together and I was pleased with the result.

I used redundant BlackSky Altaccs for deployment, with the electric matches from each both inserted into a single charge each for drogue and main. My TAP advisor Tom Rouse pointed out that in that configuration, when the first electric match was triggered and the charge blew, it would cause a loss of continuity for the other Altacc.  Altaccs are programmed to fire the main if they lose drogue continuity, so I would end up with the main chute deploying at apogee no matter what. Tom and Scott Bartell both prescribed the fix for this, which was wiring a resistor across the drogue terminals in parallel which would maintain continuity and override this safety feature. That bit of advice was very valuable.

I also employed a Walston Transmitter in the nose. I practiced using it by packing it in to my youngest daughter's back pack and having her ride around the block. She liked it.

I got the rocket back from the paint shop in early September and all systems were go for the Oct. 6 launch date. I only had a few minor details to finish up with one month to spare. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 resulted in uncertainty about whether or not the launch would happen, and the impact of the attacks naturally put me in a funk that caused me to stop thinking about my project. Eventually, the launch got a green light and I had to snap to it and scramble to get everything finished, despite all my careful planning.

Most of the crew that I had planned to take with me had to drop out, but my stalwart best friend Keith was still able to go and provide photographic and psychological support. We had a fun drive up to Black Rock and stayed at Bruno's Country Club and Casino, nearby the launch site in Gerlach, NV. Keith is a huge Giants fan with full season tickets, and he had to watch Barry breaking the home run record on the motel room TV (instead of Pac Bell Park) while helping me wire up the electronics and dinking around with the digital volt meter. I finished everything at 0200 hrs. on launch day and we were able to get some sleep before taking the Suburban out to the launch site. 

I started prepping at 8:00AM and was ready to go by 3:00PM. Luckily, the afternoon winds failed to show. Tom Rouse didn't like the look of my igniter set up and helped me out by preparing and donating a set of his own, which were very nice. While Keith and I were setting up out at the rail, a commercial photographer quietly started setting up a fancy looking remote activated camera tripod set-up, and asked if I minded. "No problem" I said but I was so distracted I forgot to ask him his name or get a business card. We got back behind the flight line and got ready to watch, photograph, and track. We didn't have time to go back and get the Walston receiver, because Tom R had interceded to have my rocket launched first in the sequence. The flight was great, with a very straight boost; no weather cocking, no rotation. The parachutes all did what they were supposed to do and we picked it up about a mile from the flight line, with no damage. The altitude for the flight came in at about 16,000 feet, all according to plan.  I had the rocket inspected, paperwork signed, and we went back to our camp to gloat. 

When we started taking everything apart and cleaning up, however, I noticed a small problem...no motor. To this day, I can not pinpoint the exact problem. The snap ring had for the retainer had been installed properly, for sure, as I had a double sign-off check list prepared and Keith had a bloody finger to show for the effort. My guess is that the very tightly packed drogue chute had exerted too much pressure on the the floating bulkhead over the motor, and that the deployment charge combined with the overstuffed drogue chute simply overpowered the retaining ring. But even that doesn't make sense because when the motor was recovered, there was not even a scratch on the anodizing. It's still a mystery. I think I screwed up on my playa etiquette, because I decided we would never be able to find the motor, so we left without initiating a search. I got a call from the launch director several days later...they had found this motor out on the playa and Tom Rouse had told him it was probably mine. I drove out to the launch directors' house and picked it up, in its mysteriously pristine condition. Other than my lesson in playa etiquette (go ahead and initiate a search), I don't quite know what to learn from the motor ejection incident, other than making sure to avoid overstuffing parachutes.

That night at Bruno's after dinner, I still couldn't sleep, so I slipped over to the bar at Bruno's and he gave me a celebratory level 3 snifter of Remy-Martin on the house. I was seated next to an Idahoan whose rocket I had admired earlier in the day. He had been given a prize of some sort for it, a beautiful natural finish carbon fiber minimum diameter rocket. He had gotten his tubing by cutting up a Ducatti motorcycle exhaust! Such a night.

Later on, as I was trying to document the project, I remembered the commercial photographer and started trying to track him down. Tom R. had suggested Nadine of "Photos by Nadine" as the primary suspect, and that sounded right. I remembered Nadine and her crew packing up in her Saturn for the playa each morning from Bruno's, but she denied being the one with the remote set up and steered me towards Tim Heneghan. I found Tim's website via google and after contacting him he turned out to be the culprit. Tim is a commercial photographer and has had covers with National Geographic and many other magazines. He specializes in flight photos and had done a sequence on my launch.  I ordered prints and asked him to piece together the launch sequence as an animation, as he has done a few times before. He annotated the sequence, and the annotations end up making me seem a bit self-congratulatory, but Tim was just trying to be nice. Here it is if you're interested...sequence.

I had a blast with this project, and was very happy with the kit, the materials, helpers, and especially my TAP advisors. Thanks again to all of you.

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