L1 Cert Flight

I'm planning to attempt my HPR level 1 cert. flight pretty soon, and was looking for advice on motors and other techniques of the HPR realm. I am using two 3" mailing tubes for the airframe, a nose section salvaged from a LOC/Precision Norad that I blew up with an improperly loaded F reload, a 38mm motor mount for flexibility, and SIG Aircraft Plywood for centering rings and fins. The finished rocket should be in the realm of 7 feet tall and a little over 3 pounds by RocSim estimates. I need to find good materials for a parachute and shock cord, but I don't want to pay out the nose for tubular nylon or kevlar and a rip-stop chute. The key to my project is that I need to keep the cost as absolutely low as possible.

I attached a blueprint and RocSim6 file with this thread. The rocket is built with LOC/Precision parts since the mailing tubes are almost exactly the same size a LOC 3" Airframe Tube.



View attachment HPR Lvl1 Cert.rkt

Tubular nylon really is your best choice for a shock cord. Elastic is cheaper, but won't last as long as you'll want it to. As for a parachute - LOC chute's are pretty cheap. Look around online like on ebay for chute's and TN. I know you should be able to find TN fairly cheap on ebay.

I'll second the opinion that TN is a good choice and fairly cheap. I bought a 975' roll on eBay for about $45 shipped a few years ago.

As for chutes from you discription and weight something like a 36" chute should work. Top Flite chutes are decent quality and not too expensive and Aerocon had surplus 36" chutes for about $6 at one time. There's also eBay for that as well.

Good luck on the cert.


Al