Blackjack - I too like the notion of slow liftoffs and seeing it all - that is what lead me to the G-Force in the first place, so, I think as long as I don't RIP it or lose it, it will always be around for that! Unless I can figure out something bigger and slower! But, the altitude bug has bitten me a might - see below.
Handeman - it's not that I don't want to learn - I do! I have been sorta non-stop since I first re-discovered rockets about a month ago, but I must say that I seem to be more interested in the avionics and telemetry - gadget- side of things than the model building aspects themselves. At least at this point, but like I said, I am VERY new.
I find the certification process somewhat annoying so that is why I was wondering if I can shortcut getting to the point where I can have easy access to the bigger motors. That's all.
My immediate goals now seem to be to get my LI and L2 out of the way and to get the G-Force to 5K'...the G-Force is sitting in the garage in need of a final sanding/painting/personal decal application...hope to fly at Plaster City at the end of the month...
In addition to the MMT mod, I also modified the innards a bit so as to include a removable avionics bay that right now houses a beeper locator and an elementary altimeter - I figure if my first try is with a G77 and the rocket weighs out at 56 oz. dry, it ain't gonna get too far away from me!
Tomorrow, I am supposed to get a new Yaesu VX-8R HT radio so that when my Big Red Bee 70cm GPS and tracker shows up next week, I will be able to see the APRS info (my call is K6FBH)...I figure if I can get it up to 5K', I might need more than the beeper! Hopefully somewhere during all that, I will be able to load a low thrust J and get my L2...
Then, the next target will be to do a new one, use DD and get to 10K' - I would also like to use staging for that, so I am considering the CPR version of the PML Quantum Leap...but it looks as though trying to get more gear inside that one may be a pain, so I may forget it and go to a glass-finned Eclipse. I too have never done any FG, so that should be interesting. I would also like to see about putting a camera/xmtr on board, so using the bigger body might be better for that aspect too. The Eagle Tree stuff looks like fun conceptually (all the realtime display and such), but it's expensive.
Then, I would like to collaborate with someone and get to 25K'.
Thats' it - my ulitimate goal at this point is 25K' - full of cool gadgets and such! But I still like the notion of slow and seeing all of the flight, so I suspect the G-Force or similar will always be in my arsenal!
You're right in the sense that I will need to learn a bunch along the way. And I want to do that. From my perspective, the L2 cert thing is just an obstacle rather than a goal, so if I get it with my mod'd G-Force I can move on to the other more quickly.
Thanks again to all for the input! Frank
P.S. Sorry to be so long, but I really enjoy this stuff