LOC Precision 429SS Build

[Texas Rocketman]

I just ordered a LOC Precision 429SS rocket kit. Am looking for any good performance suggestions/modifications from other 429SS users. This is a quad cluster setup as you know. I will be launching it on an 8 ft. rail launcher I've custom built for my larger rockets. I will be setting this rocket up for aerial video and flight telemetry.

[Rocketjunkie]

I was given a 4-29SS that had pranged. The fins and motor tubes were undamaged. I replaced the body tube and added a payload section with my standard avbay. I placed a bulkhead at the top of the motor tubes to block them off. I retained the 1/2" lugs. This allows flying on 2 motors without plugging the other tubes but prevents the use of motor ejection. A flight on 2 G138.s, a F40 and a F52 took it to 3731 feet. 2 I200's also took it to 3731 feet and 2 H250's took it to 230 feet. On all flights I used the FirstFire igniters that came with the motors.

[jd2cylman]

I had one of these. Awesome rocket. It zippered after a flight, so I converted it to dual deploy. I highly recommend doing this. I saw one go up on 4 G64's once, never to be seen again. Dual deploy might have brought it back again (or a tracker ). I trashed mine on 4 G75 metalstorms. Unfortunately only one or two lit, so it exited stage left in a hurry and crashed. Maybe when I grow up, I'll build a new one. Too many in the build queue now tho......

Adrian

[dixontj93060]

I am in the primer/fill stage on my 29-4SS. I have built it for dual deploy using a tether at the central bulkhead. Also planning airstarts with a plenum run through the quad tube setup. All controlled by a Raven side mounted aft of bulkhead. I'll have to post a few pics next week after I get back from Dallas.

[Texas Rocketman]

Yes, I go believe a dual deploy setup is the way to go. I think I can engineer a dual deploy setup to work similar to the GLR Mariah. Don't feel like chasing two pieces of rocket.

[DRAGON64]

Have not seen much on this rocket in a lot of years, looking forward to this build of yours.

[Texas Rocketman]

Surprisingly, there isn't much out there on the 429SS. It's really a nice cluster rocket. Stick four 29 mm I200 motors in there and your good for 7000 ft. plus. Four G-80T motors are good for almost 5000 ft. I think a lot of guys are leary of cluster rockets. you have to wire up your igniters correctly and have plenty of electrical jiuce to fire the igniters off. If not, a motor or two may not light. Then your in trouble.

[Texas Rocketman]

My LOC 429SS came in last week. After studying the rocket design and reviewing the Rocksim file, this rocket is a dream. it's designed to be modified and improved upon. I like going high and fast, so I will be building this rocket to do just that. I decided to use a LOC IRIS 38mm as my camera platform instead of this rocket. I want to keep this rocket as light as possible, but I also want to build it strong and capable of withstanding supersonic flight. This pretty much how I build all of my high power rockets anyway. I will be running four 29/360 I200W Aerotech reloadable motors most of the time. These motors will give me 330 Newton seconds of impulse each for a total of 1320 Newton seconds - more impusle than a single 38mm J570W motor. I hate packing wadding, so I will design and install an ejection gas cooling chamber into the main body tube. I will delete the 3.0" center ring that comes with the rocket kit from the build and replace it with a LOC 3.0 bulkhead with two 1/2" ejection gas ports drilled into it. Following the bulkhead will be a couple of Chore Boy stainless steel scrubbing pads to help remove heat from the ejection gas stream. Then another LOC 3.0" bulkhead with four 1/4" gas ports and an eye bolt for the shock cord will follow the Chore boy pads.

The rocket will be able to operate a single or dual deploy rocket although it will be flown as a dual deploy rocket most of the time. Using a LOC 3.0" payload bay section. I will modify the payload section to work much like the "shotgun" tube design of the GLR Mariah rocket. A Raven 3 altimeter along with a Big Red Bee BRB900 GPS tracking transmitter and batteries will be housed in the payload section on a small electronics sled. The parachute will be housed inside a custom-built interior piston tube section attached to the payload section and deployed using a piston fired by an electronic match and small black powder charge. If I want to fly low altitude, the payload section and electronics can be removed, a section of regular body tube can be inserted in its place, and flown as a single deploy rocket.

The rocket's fins will be airfoiled and laminated with lightweight fiberglass cloth & aeropoxy. The motor tubes will be glassed with aeropoxy only as they are pretty stiff as is. The main body tube sections & payload section will also be laminated with lightweight fiberglass cloth and aeropoxy. The interior of the rocket will be coated with a polyurethane coating to facilitate cleaning. The motors will be retained using a simple home made center screw/washer motor retainer. Flying dual deploy on the four I motors, the rocket should fly comfortably to 6000 ft. plus altitudes.

O.K., lets get started. the first step is wash the nose cone with warm soap and water. After this, I trim off excess plastic from nose cone moulding seams, then I sand the seams smooth with 120 grit sandpaper. Next, I sand the entire nose cone down with 120 grit sandpaper and set it aside.

Next, I airfoil the leading and trailing edges of the rocket fins on a 6" bench disk sander and set them aside. Then I scuff up the 4 motor tubes and spot glue two pairs of tubes together with thick CA. I then join the the paired tube assemblies together using rubber bands and the tube coupler. I carefull align all tube assembles then I run four aeropoxy epoxy beads down the four center joints of the motor tubes. Next, I take a small piece of paper towel and insert the wadded up piece of towel approximately 1 inch into each center void on both ends of the motor tube assembly. I set the motor tube assembly aside to dry overnight. Tomorrow, I laminate the fins, sand and shape the fins, and install the fins onto the motor tube assembly. I'm going to stop here and will post tomorrow evening. I will also include pics. I didn't include pics of what I've done so far, as nothing really special has been done up to this point - just standard rocket building techniques have been utilized.

[new2hpr]

Much as I enjoy clusters, if you're interested in high and fast, a single motor will do much better. Your comparison with the J570W is flawed. The drag from a minimum diameter 38mm bird compared to the 429SS is much lower. The J570's killer initial thrust spike will dominate, and the mass of 4 I200's is likely much higher than the single J.

Other than that, go for it! No one said it had to be efficient. I do clusters because it's more of a challenge and is cool. Airstarts, even more so.

-Ken

[dixontj93060]

Much as I enjoy clusters, if you're interested in high and fast, a single motor will do much better. Your comparison with the J570W is flawed. The drag from a minimum diameter 38mm bird compared to the 429SS is much lower. The J570's killer initial thrust spike will dominate, and the mass of 4 I200's is likely much higher than the single J.

Unless you do the cluster right and airstart two of them, then you should be pushing 12,000 feet on four I200's sailing some 3,000 feet past a J570 for a 4-29SS (at least as mine is built) for similar profile & weight.

[Rocketjunkie]

My 4-29SS went 3731 feet on 2 I200's.

[JPVegh]

I think you're gonna need a bigger field for that rocket Bill.

BTW, LDRS at Black Rock Desert in 2013! Think about it.

[dixontj93060]

My 4-29SS went 3731 feet on 2 I200's.

??? How much did your 4-29SS weigh? Mine is 3lbs with everything but the motors. This includes metal plenum for airstart access, av-bay, tracker, everything. 2-I200s should take this over 6K. How did you only go 3700 feet?

[Texas Rocketman]

Rats......someone already figured it out. You can go high pretty high with 429SS. Now that the cat is out of the bag.....lol. Oh well.

Yes, the 429SSW will perform if done right. Of course a minimum diameter rocket like my Cirrus Dart has much lower drag and will go over 10000 ft on a single J engine. But it's not a cluster rocket. The clustering is my interest with my LOC Tristar and 429SS. If I wanna go high and real fast, thats reserved for my PML Cirrus Dart and my Mariah 54.

Jeff, I'll have to move to the end of the runway high power spot to fire it off w/ 4 I 200Ws - I'll have plenty of field/area then. First couple of flights will be with G-80T-13s. I'm not that crazy even though Art says I'm certifiable lol.

[Texas Rocketman]

How to go only 3700 ft. with 2 Is?? Lol, easy.......the chute was deployed (JK)

[Texas Rocketman]

Well day two of my LOC 429SS build. I didn't get anything done. Had to go pick my riding lawnmower which put a dent in my build time today. Try again on Monday.

[Rocketjunkie]

??? How much did your 4-29SS weigh? Mine is 3lbs with everything but the motors. This includes metal plenum for airstart access, av-bay, tracker, everything. 2-I200s should take this over 6K. How did you only go 3700 feet?

1340 grams, including altimeter, no motors. The I200 flight wasn't the straightest, recovered via tracker about 1 mile from the pad. This rocket is a draggy design, won't go as high as Rocksim predicts.

[Texas Rocketman]

No further posts will be posted on this build.

[sodmeister]

No further posts will be posted on this build.

I see this on all your posts ,hope all is alright with you.

Paul T

[Texas Rocketman]

All is o.k. with me. I'll be postingstuff when finished.

[dixontj93060]

I am in the primer/fill stage on my 29-4SS. I have built it for dual deploy using a tether at the central bulkhead. Also planning airstarts with a plenum run through the quad tube setup. All controlled by a Raven side mounted aft of bulkhead. I'll have to post a few pics next week after I get back from Dallas.

Realized I never posted these pictures. Here is my cluster and deployment control set up for my 4-29SS. Using a Raven/Perch mounted in the side of the fin subassembly. Cluster ignition exits aft through threaded lamp pipe plenum. Dual deploy is via single compartment with pilot chute / deployment bag held in place by bulkhead mounted Defy Gravity tether.

[new2hpr]

Realized I never posted these pictures. Here is my cluster and deployment control set up for my 4-29SS. Using a Raven/Perch mounted in the side of the fin subassembly. Cluster ignition exits aft through threaded lamp pipe plenum. Dual deploy is via single compartment with pilot chute / deployment bag held in place by bulkhead mounted Defy Gravity tether.

Nice ebay config for clustering! I might have to borrow some ideas from it for my Ultimate or my clustered Fantom EXL. One thing you might try (on the next one): replace the lamp conduit with carbon fiber tubing from a kite store. It's light, comes in many sizes, stiff, smooth, bonds well, and relatively cheap compared to anything carbon sold specifically for rockets! Here's my current setup on the Fantom:

[dixontj93060]

One thing you might try (on the next one): replace the lamp conduit with carbon fiber tubing from a kite store. It's light, comes in many sizes, stiff, smooth, bonds well, and relatively cheap compared to anything carbon sold specifically for rockets!

I did consider other materials for the plenum, but decided to go with the lamp conduit as it also serve double duty as the retention point for the four motors.