LOC/Precision PK-29 IQSY Tomahawk

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fox_racing_guy

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This is a brand new kit from the well known and trusted LOC/Precision company. This is a 2" kit with a 29mm motor mount and over all height of 50"
The parts list consist of....
1 2.14X34" Pre-slotted airframe
1 2.14X6" Payload extension
1 2.14 Plastic Nose Cone
1 1.14 (29mm)X8" Motor Mount Tube
2 Plywood centering rings
4 Plywood fins
1 Plywood Bulkhead Assembly
1 Nylon Elastic Shock Cord
1 Shock Cord Mount
1 Nylon Parachute 28"
1 .25 Launch Lug
OK Lets build this thing and put her in the air! If you have ever built a LOC kit you will find this one very familiar and rather easy to assemble. My only modification from the stock build is to leave the aft centering ring un-glued from the motor tube so I can remove it and make internal fillets. I used US Composites 150 Thick Epoxy for the entire build and recommend this as a cheaper and much faster set time than West Systems. For my internal fillets I used some US Composites Milled Fiber for a little more peace of mind and extra strength as I plan on punishing this rocket with some high power loads.
On the external fillets I mixed some 3M Glass Bubbles with the epoxy and this is the easiest stuff to sand that I have run across yet!
I had all the assembly done in 1 day but let it sit over night before any sanding or priming. The next morning I sanded the fillets, fins, body,and nose cone. A little Bondo spot putty and it was ready for primer. My primer of choice these days is Rust-Oleum auto primer in gray, it can be sanded in 2hours and fills spirals pretty good. Here's a good tip on painting plastic nose cones, while your at Wal-Mart picking up your Krylon paint walk on over to the auto department and get a can of Bulldog Adhesion Promoter. This stuff works great and really makes the paint stick to the plastic nose cones, after many flights on various rockets I've had yet to touch up and paint on any of my nose cones after using this.
I'll admit one of the main reasons I like this rocket is the rather easy paint job it takes, after sanding the worst part of building rockets for me is painting!
I use Krylon color paints and have had very good results, lots of very light coats are the key for me and I have masked off areas with as little as 1 1/2 hours of drying time if you use the 3M blue painters tape. I've read were some folks let the paint dry a week before applying masking tape and that is lunacy to me,,,,,,,,, I want it finished and in the air yesterday.
OK The paint is dry lets stuff a motor in and send her up. my first motor was one of the recommended G40-10 and I was testing another product called a Chute Tamer ( I will do a write up of this too ) Basically it's a way to make a rocket dual deploy without using a altimeter bay. You wrap your chute around the product with fishing line and when it reaches the pre-determined time it burns the fishing line in half and lets the chute deploy. You still need to use motor ejection to deploy the device but just let the rocket tumble (or use a drogue if you like) till the pre-set time. Well it worked as advertised and my Tomahawk launched, deployed, and recovered perfectly!
The PK-29 IQSY Tomahawk is not on LOC's web-site yet but you can call or E-mail Barry and he would be more than happy to sell you one. Barry will be selling the Chute Tamer as well but I'm not sure if he has any stock of these yet. Oh yeah, where's the pics? Sorry no action shots as I'm not the best photographer of moving objects with my el-cheapo point & shot digital cam.

Rocket 151.jpg

Rocket 152.jpg

Rocket 153.jpg
 
Cool, I didn't notice they had a new kit out. When I read the thread title, I jumped.:D
 
I don't think it's on LOC's website but if you call or E-mail Barry he does have them in stock and ready for immediate shipment. Or if you want something a little bigger I had Barry make me a 5.5 version as well, I just finished it yesterday. I don't know if he plans on making this a catalog item or not but I'm sure he still has the fin pattern on file.

rocket 132.jpg
 
It appears that the fins' trailing edges slope down so that the model would stand on the trailing edge tip. If so, there are D-Region Tomahawk fins and not IQSY Tomahawk fins. IQSY fins sloped forward on the trailing edge.

I had build a lot of IQSY's over my forty years of model rocketry. I was on the Leader Advisory Council back in the early '70s when we redid the NAR Scale Pak from half-scale IQSY blueprints. Check out Rockets of the World from Peter Always.

Chas
 
I'm most interested in this 'chute tamer device. Can you provide some more details (is it reusable, how does it work, etc.) or some spot elsewhere with more info?

EDIT: Nevermind - I found it...
 
Barry is the President/CEO/Owner/Jack of all trades man that runs the place, if you call 90% of the time he answers the phone himself and he personally responds to his E-mail as well.
For more info on the chute tamer read this thread https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=38492
Anything more specific you need to know just ask me and I'll try and give you a answer.
I know about the fins not being exact and that was a MOD of my own doing with the buzz saw attachment for my dremel. I'm not one of those exact scale types, if it looks even close I'm happy and did the mod for my own enjoyment. I'm much more of a sport scale builder than exact scale. I mainly chose this design because of the easy paint job that it requires. I guess If I wanted I could easily do a respray and make them D-regions. I sure don't have the patients for exact scale models but I do very much admire those that do. From 50 feet though who can really tell? These are not on display in my house they live in the garage with the rest of there relatives.
I do own the Rockets of the World book by Peter Always too, anyone that make anything out of those tiny drawings is a much better person than I.
I did have the Aerotech scale model of the IQSY Tomahawk and sadly it lawn darted on it's maiden flight thanks to failed ejection charge. Craig was handling the warranty department back then and he never did anything for me so I asked Barry to make me one and I'm more than happy with the results. Karl now runs the warranty department of Aerotech and he seems to be on top of things, I recently had a CATO from a SU G80 and he got back to me right away. Pic enclosed is of my Aerotech IQSY Tomahawk. :(

rocket 016.jpg
 
By the way - I'm not sure why you couldn't have a baro based altimeter to fire the cutting coil in this Chute Tamer thing for little (if any) more expense. It's an interesting idea that (at face value) I have a hard time trusting enough to try.
 
I don't think it's on LOC's website but if you call or E-mail Barry he does have them in stock and ready for immediate shipment. Or if you want something a little bigger I had Barry make me a 5.5 version as well, I just finished it yesterday. I don't know if he plans on making this a catalog item or not but I'm sure he still has the fin pattern on file.

Oh, I didn't know he made custom kits.
 
LOC/Precision seems to add new thing to the web-site often without having a press release. the newest thing I spotted was this..

Extra Extra Large CERT-3 Parachute

Tested Load Capacity 60-129.8 lbs Surface Area (sq ft) 129 Tested Cd 2.92 Suspension Line 120" Net Weight 64 oz
Price: $239.00
Sale Price: $215.10
Looks like a great deal on a Sky Angle parachute for those in the market for something this size!
LOC can make you anything you like, all you have to do is pick up the phone or shoot a E-mail. I've personally had several custom "one-off" products made to specification.
Here's a link to the latest 4" Tomahawk I built with LOC products.
https://www.rocketryplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3580#post3580
 
- - - BUMP - - -

Had to comment on this -
I bought a goof kit from barry.
My 1st rocket with reusable hardware . . .
It flew great on an F-42 & F-50

Chute tangled on the 1st launch (I was beginning to cry) - but the rocket survived OK - nose cone stuck in the ground about 4".

Second launch was a charm ! . . . I love it !

https://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v683/Bnuts/?action=view&current=tomahawk03.jpg

Sorry Fox - That last shot of your Tomahawk looks pretty rough . . .
 
Sorry Fox - That last shot of your Tomahawk looks pretty rough . . .

That was my 5.5 version in the other thread and it is currently under re-construction for my L3 attempt. My original "goof" 2" IQSY Tomahawk is still in outstanding condition and has 15+ flights on it and is my current Chute Tamer Demo rocket.
For the full story of my 5.5 L1420R flight and rebuild of Booster/fincan look here.https://www.rocketryplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=802
 
Level 3 coming - You're way ahead of me on this. The 5.5 is nice.
I'm planning to use my Tomahawk for my Level 1 cert.
I need to get a way to weigh it down though before I graduate to an H load.
I'm not using an altimeter.
I haven't had a chance to fly it with a G load yet either.
I've only fired it with F loads & on an F-50, that thing was up there !
 
Try it on a G71R-7 the two were meant for each other!!!;) It will get it off the pad nice and quick! I have one of the Goofy kits too and if Barry wants to make some more 'goofs' like that one, just count me in brother I'll buy one of each! I painted the top like the IQSY and the fins black and red like a D-region (I think) just 'cause:p

--Tom
 
I have one of the IQSY 'goofs' as well :) Will be built...eventually..Say, Jan or Feb?:dontknow:
 
Got parts to build a 2.6" IQSY. Should compliment my 1.6" and 4" models nicely.

Curious, what fin thickness are they using in the goof kit?
 
1/8" ply...The 'goof' was the fin set is to another kit(can't recall which one right now) and not the 'true' Tomahawk fins..

The "goof" kit had D-region fins rather than IQSY fins, that was the only difference. I just might re-paint my goof model to the D-region style and build a new 2" IQSY Tomahawk.
 
By the way - I'm not sure why you couldn't have a baro based altimeter to fire the cutting coil in this Chute Tamer thing for little (if any) more expense. It's an interesting idea that (at face value) I have a hard time trusting enough to try.

I'm a little off topic here but:

I wonder if they use the timer method to avoid pressure fluctuations induced on the altimeter by being popped out of the rocket on ejection.
 
I know that it's been 10yrs, but would you by any chance still have the instructions for this kit?
 
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