I love the design of the Eye in the Sky. It is simple to build and prepare for flight, has great performance, and is affordable. But there were some things I didn’t care for. In particular, as my experience increased and I was losing fewer of my rockets, I began to wear them out!

I started thinking about making a camera rocket stronger and improving the design of the Eye in the Sky. I decided it was time to do my first all fiberglass rocket. I bought a 4 foot piece of 3” fiberglass tubing at LDRS-18 and knew I would do it. I made the booster a full 4 feet because I knew I would need up to the J570 to lift it due to the extra weight.

I also wanted to use electronic ejection. I was tired of not always getting the correct delay. I use the ALTACC and it works great. Because of the electronics, I added two doors to the side of the booster, one for the ALTACC and the other for the ejection charge.

Another major change is that I added a second camera, hence the name. I love the Olympus Hi-Lite so much that I had bought a second as a backup for the original Eye in the Sky. I decided to add the second camera and angle it so that the two pictures would just overlap, doubling the coverage. The fiberglass coupler comes in 36” lengths so I could mount both cameras in one length of coupler. This time the balancing point is in the middle of the two cameras.

Finally, I had both the nose cone and the payload section coupler removable but attached with six screws. This allows me to rotate the cameras with respect to the parachute’s shock cord for straight down shots or side shots. Because of the increased weight I replaced the nylon rope with tubular nylon. The payload section coupler still houses the batteries and piezo-buzzer but the timing circuit was moved to the camera coupler.

Eyes in the Sky has flown numerous times and has taken some great photographs. There is a new version of the booster of the Eyes in the Sky utilizing a 54 mm mount and longer tube.

(Click on the photos on this page for a larger image and additional comments.)