Well we liked the 3" Horizon so much we went after another one. If high power remains legal with all this foolishness included in the Homeland Security Act this will be our level 2 cert rocket.
These kits are great and the customer service/support has been great with BSD. Couldn't ask for more.
This version of the Horizon is 4" Diameter and 50" in length and uses a 38mm motor tube, also came with a 29mm adapter. Complete with everything but the motor our Horizon came in at 46 ounces. I did go a little heavy with the epoxy, coating all centering rings and applying internal fillets on the fins to both the motor tube and body tube, then of course some pretty hefty external fillets. She looks great and is a match to the 3"
Here's all of our BSD kits to date, the Sprint, and both Horizons.
Both the Sprint and the 3" Horizon have flown, we're hoping to get the 4" Horizon up in a couple weeks.
Level 1 Attempt 5-17-03On 5-17-03 we headed back to Nebraska to try another attempt at my level one certification.
Kevin Trojanowski was kind enough to sell me an AT H123 for my cert attempt. 29mm motors were just too rare to find so I didn't even bring the Sprint. This attempt was going to be on the 4" Horizon.
Having had problems with my last attempt with a delay blow by, I checked and double checked the motor assembly this time to make sure all was done right. I also had it double checked by Kevin. Knowing everything was put together correctly, and the rest of the rocket prepped and ready to go, she was placed on the pad.
The LCO started the countdown and hit the button, the motor started to chuff black smoke, then roared up, POP!! the ##@& ejection charge fired during motor burn, and the rocket came apart. Booster came down on it's own and the payload section came down under the chute.
A little more upset this time, as I knew I had done everything correctly with the motor assembly, and it came down to simply being a bad motor. A white lightening puffing black smoke was the first clue. Maybe the delay lit and burned first, and ended up igniting the propellant? Who knows. Post inspection of the motor showed no signs of blowing by the delay charge, as was the suspect of my last attempt.
Fortunately I picked the right brand rocket, these BSD kits are tough, and my build was good, besides some scuffed up paint this was the only damage. The ejection fired early and allowed the motor burn up through the fore closure, burning the nylon strap, and that's where it let go.
Not to be deterred, Kevin was kind enough to let me purchase a second motor, this time though, time to try a different brand.
I picked a Pro 38, H153. Putting that together was a very simple treat, already a little perturbed, it was nice to be able to not have to think much on the motor assembly.
We then doubled up with two nylon shock cords just to be safe, and back to the pad she went. After loading on the pad, I walked away from it instead of staying close to the launch. Back to the car and time to let fate have it.
Again the LCO counted down, pressed the button, a slight puff of smoke and then a roar and up she went, very nice, very straight. Finally a highpower motor functioning the way it was designed to for me.
Right at apogee or maybe a second after a puff, and the chute fully deployed.
Try number 3 and finally Level 1 certified. A little more of a challenge than I thought it was going to be due to a couple of AT motors, but overall alot of fun. Can't wait to get it back up.
Built 5-2-03
Diameter 4", Length 51", and Weight 46 oz. 38mm motors and parachute recovery.
Video of Horizon on an AT H165 Redline motor April 2004.
****May 2004****
I've added a payload bay to the top of the Horizon now so that it is dual deploy capable, it now looks like this.
Above the Horizon is going up on an AT J350 with our added dual deploy capable payload bay, see details of the flight on the launch page, TQC 6-06-04.