Qualifying statement first - I don't have my L1 yet (I'm working on it).
Before I decided to design my own tube fin model that I plan to cert with, I was looking at the LOC Bullet. It has a 38mm mount, and LOC sells 29 to 38 adapters, so finding a good motor to fly it with won't be an issue. There were two reasons I was considering that bird.
1) The fins do not extend behind the aft end of the body tube. After reading a number of accounts of failed cert attempts, broken fins is one of the major failure modes. Remember that you have to get it back in rotator condition to cert. It's gonna hit the ground tail first, so take that into account.
2) Low altitude flight on an H motor. Keeping it low is not cheating. Remember, I said it has to come back in rotator condition - one of the keys here is "getting it back". If it floats away on a big chute because you achieved low Earth orbit, you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot here. Also, it it hangs in a tree, you're still out of luck (one of the members of our NAR chapter failed to cert because of a rocket eating tree). So, keeping it low and flying to your field is not cheating, but flying smart! If you're gonna cert in a nice open desert and don't mind a long recovery walk, go for the gusto if you like. Me, I'm flying in a retired cow pasture in southern Indiana, se even a simmed altitude of 1400 feet makes me a bit nervous! :wink:
