I assembled the motor mount as described in the kit instructions except that I did not add a thrust ring. I also added added two #6 blind nuts to the bottom centering ring for motor retention. I made a wire retainer to hold the motor in place. I also added rail buttons in place of the 1/4" and 1/2" rod guides that come with the kit.

I originally planned to add a payload section to carry an Aiptek MPVR camcorder. However, the payload section adds significant weight, so I decided to put the camera in the nosecone instead. I modified the nosecone by first cutting the bottom off, and replacing it with a plywood bulkhead. The bulkhead consisted of two LOC 3" bulkhead glued together with a 3/16" eyebolt for shockcord attachment.

Glueing two bulkheads together made the resulting bulkhead 3/8" thick. This creates a flat surface on the top where the camera is mounted. The camera has a standard 1/4" mounting hole, so I attached it to the bulkhead with a 1/4" bolt. I added a couple of eye-screws and a bungy cord to more securely hold the camera in place. The bulkhead is attached to the nosecone by six #4 screws that are countersunk into the wall of the nosecone.

Pictures of the nosecone assembly are shown below:

Launch Log

9/22/2007, Amateur Rocketeers of Texas Launch, Meek Ranch pictures

1. Road Runner G80-7. The weight of the rocket was 960 grams without the motor. The launch was straight up. Ejection was about two seconds after apogee. The rocket landed about 300 feet away, and about 50 feet from one of only two trees in the launch area. The camera recorded a nice video sequence of the ascent. The video during the descent was somewhat chaotic.

2. Road Runner G80-7. The weight of the rocket was 960 grams without the motor. The second launch of the Forte' was good, but the nosecone separated from the shock cord at ejection. The nosecone tumbled to the ground while the rest of the rocket drifted downwind on the chute. The nosecone was found laying on its side, and appeared undamaged. The camcorder had turned off, but it turned back on when the power button was pressed. Because the camera turned off at impact it did not store the last video sequence in the flash memory. The rest of the rocket was found a few hundred feet down wind. There is some damage to the body tube where the nosecone hit it, but this can be repaired.

8/30/2008 and 8/31/2008, LDRS Launch, Argonia, Kansas pictures

3. Aerotech G71-7. A few days before the launch I repaired the damage to the body tube with a 4-inch wide strip of fiberglass tape. I bought several motor from Tim Van Mulligan at the Apogee booth. The Aerotech G71 was the first RMS motor that I assembled in the field. I shaved off 0.05 inches from the delay element to get the delay down to about 5 seconds. I also installed an Aiptek ActionHD camera in the nosecone instead of the Aiptek MPVR. These cameras are almost the same size. The camera lens sits slightly higher in the nosecone, but it was able to see out of the hole in the side OK. I did have to drill a couple of additional small holes on the backside to access the record button and to see the record indicator light. The launch and recovery were good. The camera recorded video, but with some problems with the autofocus. I was able to extract some nice still frames from the video.

4. Aerotech G7-7. I attempted a second launch at LDRS with this rocket, but I had some problems. I assembled the motor in the motel room prior to the the launch. This time I removed 0.04 inches from the delay element to give a slightly longer delay. The flight was fine, and ejection was at apogee. However, the parachute was tangled in the shroud lines, and did not open. This chute came from my G-Force rocket, and it is a very light weight chute. It will not open if the shroud lines are wrapped tightly around it. The rocket landed hard and cracked a fine. The camera was also not responding. I determined later that the battery had run down because I had not charged it up.

9/20/2008, Amateur Rocketeers of Texas Launch, Meek Ranch, Fredericksburg, Texas pictures video

5. Road Runner G80-7. I repaired the cracked fin the night before the launch. The launch on the G80 was great, and the 7-second delay was about right. The rocket recovered without any problems.

6. Road Runner G80-7. This time I attached the FlyCamOne2 to the Forte' with electrical tape. The flight was great, and the camera recorded a nice video clip.