Jay at LOC Precision helped me with this project and was great to work with!
One of the first questions was what size kit to work with. I considered a 7.5" kit but settled on a 5.5" diameter kit. 5.5" yields a kit about 60" tall from tip of nose cone to tip of fins. That's something I can store and can fly on my existing hardware. The 7.5" kit would end up over 7 feet tall, and would take some pretty big motors! Maybe if this one works out, we can go bigger later...
Jay asked for a fin design, and I sent him one. And I also asked if he could slot the tail cone for 3 fins, instead of 4. I think 3 fins looks better on this kind of sic-fi rocket and makes the paint schemes work better than they do for 4 fins. This is one of the reasons this rocket is not really a true upscale Silver Comet, but something unique.
Jay said that there would be 2 challenges for them to handle on their end. First, they usually laser cut fins in 1/4" Baltic birch. But the long, swoopy fins might not hold up very well, so he recommended 3/8 plywood instead. (And I should still probably glass them.) He said he would need to do some experiments to see if the laser could handle the 3/8 cleanly. And the second issue was that their CNC was set up to slot tail cones for 4 fins, and he would need to change a few things to slot for 3 fins. It was just a couple days later that he had all the technical challenges worked out, and we were good to go!
I sent him my choices for a few other items to finalize the order:
- Nose and tail cones -- I decided on their longer 5.5" cones instead the shorter ones. This is another departure from the Silver Comet original and another reason this is really custom rocket, not a true upscale. Their long cone is longer that the upscale of the Silver Comet would be, and their short cone is shorter. I think the long cones and shorter midsection of airframe tubing will make for a more gracefully curving rocket, so I actually think I will prefer it. And of course the LOC nose cone does not have the molded canopy detail, and I think I will also prefer making my own design for the canopy with paint or decals, along with a different paint scheme overall.
- Motor mount -- I selected a 38mm mount, because it will work with my existing hardware, and i think there will be plenty 38's that will work with the rocket, but the rocket could be built with a 54mm mount.
- Electronics bay -- I decided against it. Everything I have ever flown has been motor eject, and I don't tend to fly very high or aggressively, especially with rockets I put a lot of work into detailing. Plus, the main feature of the rocket will be its looks, and I don't need more breaks in the tubing.
- Rail guides -- 1500 series rail buttons
- Recovery -- 60 chute, 18 x 18 fire resistant blanket, 25 tubular nylon with sewn ends, 2ea 4 tubular nylon from Ubolts to main tubular, 2ea Ubolts, 4ea quick links
- Motor retainer -- LOC was out of 38mm Aeropack, so I will buy it separately.
Here are some pics Jay sent me during the process of prepping the parts.
Nifty shot of a centering ring and MMT in the tail cone.
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Tail cone with 3 slots.
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Dry fit of the 60" LOC Comet compared to a 28" stock Silver Comet.
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