Rather than use all of the bonus I received for completing Tony Hawk 2 N64 to pay bills, I decided to purchase a new rocket for myself. I had been interested in high power rocketry for a while, so I tried to choose a rocket that would let me earn my HPR Level 1 certification. I decided on a BSD Horizon since it is designed specifically for Level 1 certification flights.
The only modification I made while constructing the rocket was to incorporate Stu Barrett's anti-zipper technique. I have seen several rockets return undamaged after problems occurred during ejection, and I wanted to avoid any potential failures for my certification flight. The paint scheme I decided to use is based on Tony Hawk 2. This seemed appropriate as my work on that game lead directly to building this rocket. I had also received quite a few Tony Hawk related stickers from Activision during development.
Below is a picture of me holding the rocket before my certification flight. As you can see, I had not completed painting the rocket at this time. I was working on this rocket at various times for over a year, so I was really looking forward to launching it. Since all of the construction was finished, I decided finish the painting after earning my Level 1 certification.
For my certification flight, I purchased a Cesaroni Pro38 H motor. My simulations indicated the rocket would reach an altitude just over 2000 feet. The actual flight appeared to match this flight profile pretty closely. The parachute was ejected right at apogee, so I did not really need the anti-zipper feature this time. Everything went perfectly, so I am now the proud owner of a Level 1 HPR certification. The picture below is of my certification flight.
I am currently in the process of finishing the paint job. It is taking a while since I chose to use some fancy automotive paint and need to practice before putting it on the rocket. I am also experimenting to find the best way of attaching all of the decals I want to use. Hopefully I will not take another year until I am done. I want to finish this rocket before moving on, and I really want to earn my Level 2 certification!