Landis Loop

the rocketry show
Wildman Rocketry
Advertise with us
the model rocket show
The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

mikemech

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
593
Reaction score
7
I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I recently came across mention of a "Landis Loop". It was a definition saying that it was invented by Geoff Landis to keep the tail of an egglofter centered in a tower launcher. I can find nothing else about it.
Has anyone seen drawings or descriptions or the actual item? Am I going way too far back?

Thanks, all.
 
It's so ancient that even I had forgotten about it. :oops:

Anyway I've emailed Geoff Landis and if he responds with anything I will post it here.

I remember the term and I thought somewhere in the past in some publication....an old Model Rocketeer or MIT publication I actually saw a drawing ....but I'm drawing a blank. I do remember it being in a used in a tube type launcher.

EDIT: 3 rod rail launcher, NOT a tube launcher
 
Last edited:
It's a short (3/4-1") length of body tubing, the same diameter as an egg capsule. You cut three slots in it to hold your fins and slide everything into your tower. Now the rear end of your egglofter is centered in the tower. When the model clears the tower, the loop falls off. Without it, you stand a chance of the egglofter becoming misaligned in the tower and going off at an odd angle instead of straight up.
 
Here's what Bob Kaplow had to say about it:

MANY years ago, early in my early competition flying days, Geoff Landis
showed me how to tower launch an egglofter by using a tail ring sort of
pop lug. It kept the model going straight inthe tower instead of wobbling off
at some random angle. I liked the idea, and have used a version of it ever since.
I don't know if Geoff called it a Landis Loop, if I named it after
him, or if the name came from someone else. But I liked the double letter
sound to the name. Thus when I made the retention clips, they became
Kaplow Klips!
 
GuyNoir said:
It's a short (3/4-1") length of body tubing, the same diameter as an egg capsule. You cut three slots in it to hold your fins and slide everything into your tower. Now the rear end of your egglofter is centered in the tower. When the model clears the tower, the loop falls off. Without it, you stand a chance of the egglofter becoming misaligned in the tower and going off at an odd angle instead of straight up.
Click to expand...
I never made a Landis Loop. I always used one made by Bob Kaplow. The version that I used was a bit larger and fit around the outside of the tower launch rails. The loop was cut and taped together around the tower rails. The loop would be captured by the top rail supports and never leaves the launcher.
 
shockie said:
Here's what Bob Kaplow had to say about it:

MANY years ago, early in my early competition flying days, Geoff Landis
showed me how to tower launch an egglofter by using a tail ring sort of
pop lug. It kept the model going straight inthe tower instead of wobbling off
at some random angle. I liked the idea, and have used a version of it ever since.
I don't know if Geoff called it a Landis Loop, if I named it after
him, or if the name came from someone else. But I liked the double letter
sound to the name. Thus when I made the retention clips, they became
Kaplow Klips!
Click to expand...
I never saw a pop lug version of the Landis Loop. However, I will say that there a still a lot of use for the venerable old pop lug, especially when used with rail launchers. They are much better than fly away clips.
 
Here's some pics of a Landis Loop....courtesy of EzDave
 

Attachments

  • LANDIS LOOP001.jpg
    LANDIS LOOP001.jpg
    195.3 KB · Views: 37
  • LANDIS LOOP002.jpg
    LANDIS LOOP002.jpg
    180 KB · Views: 37
  • LANDIS LOOP003.jpg
    LANDIS LOOP003.jpg
    155.6 KB · Views: 32
  • LANDIS LOOP004.jpg
    LANDIS LOOP004.jpg
    123.3 KB · Views: 32

Similar threads

DJRNY
Recovery set-up/airframe packing
Replies
10
Views
778
DJRNY
DJRNY
prfesser
Blast from the 60s: Mach X rocket toy
Replies
2
Views
500
prfesser
prfesser
frogglicker
Scratch Build - Upscaled 3-in "Menace-3D"
Replies
2
Views
276
frogglicker
frogglicker
ReynoldsSlumber
Old tractors, new tractors: Flying Pitchfork, Cluster F, TetraJet
Replies
16
Views
603
cwbullet
cwbullet
Banzai88
Issues with Rocketpoxy/Questions (Oh no! Not another glue thread!!)
2
Replies
56
Views
3K
cwbullet
cwbullet

Latest posts

Back
Top