LOC Star Fighter-152 (PK7) Build.

[Back_at_it]

I was having a hard time deciding what to build next so I left it up to the group and the winner was the LOC Star Fight-152. I've been trying to start this build for several days now but finally got an chance to weight everything and get it all laid out for a photo. Lets begin with the parts list.

https://locprecision.com/products/starfighterhttps://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0568/7489/3503/files/PK-07-Instructions.pdf?v=1623676657
Parts List.

- Instructions. The kit comes with a set of printed instructions with a couple of illustrations. It appears that the instructions are for a older version of the kit as there are still some references to cutting out a fin marking guide and marking the tube but thankfully the current kit comes slotted. Overall the instructions are easy to follow.
- Nose Cone. The nose cone is heavy wall plastic piece with an exposed length of 7". Weight is 69g.
- Body Tube. This is LOC's normal heavy wall 1.62" cardboard tube. The tube in my kit is 17" long. The instructions reference a 15" tube. The weight is 55g.
- Motor Tube. This tube is 29mm and 6" long. The weight is 8g.
- Lower body tube. This tube is used to create the scoop on the underside if the plane that covers the launch lug. Length is 6" and the weight is 8g but this tube will be cut lengthwise so the finished weight will be closer to 4g.
- Launch Lug. This is a heavy wall 1/4" cardboard tube. The length is 6" and the weight is 3g.
- Centering Rings. These are 1/8" thick plywood rings. Weight is 1.5g each and there are two of them.
- Main Wings. These are 1/8" plywood and weight 36g each. The surface finish of all of the plywood in this kit is pretty smooth right out of the bag. The wings are also perfectly flat with no warping.
- Stabilizer fins (these mount to the wings). 1/8" plywood and weight 10g each.
- Tail fin. Also 1/8" plywood and weight is 8g.
- Nylon Shock Cord. I didn't measure width but it looks to me 1/4" wide and it a touch over 6' in length. Weight is 7g.
- Parachute is a 21" nylon chute. These are nice pieces that are well made and solid. It's my understanding that the parachute size has been updated. Earlier kits had 15" chute while these later kits have 21" Weight is 20g
- Estes 29mm motor retainer. This kit doesn't include any kind of motor retention. I've had ok luck with friction fitting composite motors but I've also ejected a few so I prefer positive retention. Weight is 13g.
- Kevlar. The kit comes with Kevlar as an anchor point for the shock cord. While this works well I like something a little heavier for longer life and less chance of burn through. I'm adding 24" inches of 500lb Kevlar. Weight in 2g.
Decal. The kit also comes with a very colorful set of vinyl decals. These look really nice but I'm might go for a more traditional look. Tell me your thoughts on the decals. Would you want to see them used or create something more traditional ?

 

[KenECoyote]

Nice and following! I've loved this kit from when I first got into rocketry and I did pick one up, but still haven't started it.

 

[DerRedMax]

Just ordered a LOC Star Fight-152 last week. Looking forward to this build.

 

[Back_at_it]

Finally time to build. Other commitments have prevented me from starting this build but I'm back home for a few days so we should be able to get pretty far.

Starting with the motor mount. The outside of the motor tube has been sanded with 80 grit to open up the fibers of the paper. The forward centering ring has been sanded and a small notch has been cut into the inside for the Kevlar to pass through. Looking at the SIM, it looks like this might be light enough to fly off a 6 ft 1/4" rod with Estes F motors so I decided to add in a motor block as well.



The outside of the motor block was sanded to open up the fibers then glued in place 3.50" up inside the motor tube.

The upper centering ring had the inside sanded lightly for fitment and installed 1/16" down from the top of the motor tube. During this step I decided now was a good time to attach the Kevlar. I cut 15" of 500# line and tied a knot in one end. This was fit into the groove I cut in the upper ring and the ring was slid into place. A small fillet of TBII was placed around the upper ring.



After test fitting the motor mount in the tube I realized there simply isn't room to do internal fillets. Even my smallest syringe won't fit up in there so there's no point in leaving the rear ring off. I sanded a little more off the outside of the motor tube and sanded the inside of the lower ring for fitment. This was installed with a healthy bead of TBII.

The location of the rear ring was determined by the depth of the Estes motor retainer. I placed the rear ring on the motor tube then slide the motor tube into the motor retainer to locate the ring and let it dry.



This was stood up and left to dry.



Here is a look at the finished motor mount. I added a length of heat shrink to give some added protection to the first few inches of the Kevlar and tied a loop in the upped end for an attachment point for the shock cord.

 

[DerRedMax]

Looking great. My Loc Starfighter just arrived over the weekend.

 

[Back_at_it]

Next up is inserting the motor mount into the tube and attaching the motor retainer. I sanded off any misc. wood glue that was on the tube below the lower ring so the epoxy could soak into the materials. The inside of the motor retainer was sanded with 80 grit to give the surface some texture and the interior of the body tube was lightly sanded to open up the fibers.



The Star Fight only has three fins that go into the tube so I was sure to position the Kevlar knot out of the way of the fin slots. Since I had to mix up some epoxy to attach the motor retainer I went ahead and used it for the motor mount as well but TBII would have worked just as well. Epoxy was applied to the interior of the tube and the exterior of the rings. The motor mount was inserted and the excess epoxy was removed with a towel.



Next the motor retainer was attached. The motor mount tube extends reward to allow for the motor retainer.



I had some excess epoxy left over so it was applied to the inside of the forward opening of the body tube and then heated to allow it to thin out and soak into the fibers of the tube. Excess was wiped away after about 5 mins.

 

[Back_at_it]

Time for the wings.

The plywood in this kit is very smooth. I started by rounding the leading edge of the wing and stabilizer. This was easy to do with some 120 grit sand paper. Next I sanded the flat surfaces with 240 and 320 grits to remove any minor imperfections.




Using TBII, I fitted the stabilizer to the wing and stood it up so that the ends were even. I finally found a use for those little squares on my cutting mat as I used them to ensure the parts were at a a perfect 90 degrees. These were left to dry completely.




Once dry it was time to attach the first wing. These wings are very long and they only have a small fin tab at the rear. To ensure that I was keeping the fin straight up the tube, I marked both side of the fin slot and ran those marks forward up the body tube. I would like to see a fin tab up toward the front of the fin for alignment in future kits. LOC does this on some of their other kits so hopefully it will make it down to this kit. The body tube has also been sanded with 100 grit remove the outer layer from the tube.



Here is the result. The fin was attached using TBII and let dry completely before adding a fillet. Once this cures I will begin working on the other wing.

 

[Back_at_it]

Assembled the remaining wing. Same process, rounded the leading edge then sanded the flat surfaces smooth. Attached the stabilizer to the wing and let that completely dry.

That glue bottle in the pic is filled with TBII. The pointed tip makes getting into tight areas like the fin slots and doing the stabilizer fillets super simple.




Attached the wing to the body tube with TBII and allowed to dry. This wing had a very minor bow up near the tip of the wing where it becomes narrow. I used a couple of spare exacto blades stuck in the body to keep the wing straight. The holes will be covered with the fillets.



Should be able to get fillets on this wing then attach the tail this evening.

 

[Bill S]

For future reference, in case you weren't aware, you don't need to add an engine block for the F motor. Just take some tape (I use 3/16" wide strips of aluminum duct tape (the real thing, not the fabric-based stuff from the big box stores), about 30" wrapped around the end of the motor, making an strong ring. Put the motor in the mount, screw on the retaining cap, done. Very sturdy arrangement, saves a little weight and nuisance during the build.

 

[Back_at_it]

For future reference, in case you weren't aware, you don't need to add an engine block for the F motor. Just take some tape (I use 3/16" wide strips of aluminum duct tape (the real thing, not the fabric-based stuff from the big box stores), about 30" wrapped around the end of the motor, making an strong ring. Put the motor in the mount, screw on the retaining cap, done. Very sturdy arrangement, saves a little weight and nuisance during the build.

I'm familiar with creating a ring around the end of the motor. For the sake of simplicity on the field, I prefer a motor block. Just slap the motor in, screw on the retainer and go.

For me, the motor block sits far enough forward that it will not interfere with any composite I might want to fly in this rocket.

 

[Back_at_it]

Working from home today has it advantages. I was able to get down to the shop and get the tail installed and another round of fillets on the wing.

 

[DerRedMax]

Coming along very nice.

 

[Back_at_it]

We had a really nice weekend here after the snow melted so I was able to make a lot of progress on the build.

I picked up the build with adding the launch lug. The instructions don't tell you where to attach the lug but they do mention that the scoop that gets added later covers the lug so I looked at the pics on the instructions and face card and determined that the lug must go pretty close to the bottom of the rocket due to the location of the scoop in the pics. The launch lug was sanded as well as the body tube and attached a half inch up from the end of the tube with TBII.




Next up was doing the lower scoop. Here as well the instructions are very vague and don't really tell you what to do with it other than cut the tube in half. I began by marking the tube using my Estes fin marking tool. I put a line on both sides of the body tube.



That line was then extended the length of the tube. A sharp blade in the hobby knife made easy work of cutting the tube.




At this point I had two halves of a body tube. After test fitting I decided I didn't care for the squared off look and wanted a rounded opening. To do this I traced a BT60 centering ringon a piece of blue tape then cut it out and applied to one half of the tube.



After marking the circle I used a hobby knife to cut it out. Tip for you here is to lay the body tube over a 24mm motor case to support it while you cut.



I wanted to add a little rigidity to cut end as I needed to do a little sanding to make it perfect. TO do this I simply dripped a couple of drop of thin CA onto the end of the tube an waited a minute for it to cure. The tube will now sand like plastic without getting fuzzy or tearing.





Continued in the next post.

 

[Back_at_it]

After a little more test fitting I decided that I wanted the scoop to be a bit longer. Since I had two lengths of tube I started messing around with them until I found a length that worked for me. I settled on a total length of 11 inches. Here is how I got there.

I first taped the cut tubes together with blue tape and made sure they were even. Thankfully these LOC tubes are heavy wall and keep their shape even after you cut them in half.



Next I flipped the tube over. I cut a piece of the instruction sheet to fit down inside the tube. This would allow me to join the piece and give the joint some strength so it wasn't moving around later when I'm trying to do filler. With the piece fitted, I dripped thin CA onto the paper and let that soak in and cure.



The scoop was then attached even with the end of the body tube. This completely hides the launch lug. This was attached with TBII and let cure.



Next it was time for everyone favorite activity. Filling and sanding. Using DAP brand wood filler I coated the fins and the joints and let that dry. I love using this stuff and it dries quickly and sands so easily. The down side is that it creates a talc like powder that gets everywhere so sand this OUTSIDE.



After letting the filler cure, I sanded with 120, 320 and 400 grit to get to the stage we are at below. almost all of the filler was removed and the fins are completely smooth. I'm almost tempted to just paint it but I'm going to hold off.

Unfortunately I'm out of primer and it won't be delivered until Tuesday so this project is going to need to stall here for a few days. Below is where the project sit at this time.

 

[neil_w]

Very nice build. I don't think I realized that this rocket had the scoop underneath.

This wing had a very minor bow up near the tip of the wing where it becomes narrow. I used a couple of spare exacto blades stuck in the body to keep the wing straight. The holes will be covered with the fillets.

That's a fantastic idea, noted for the future.

 

[Donnager]

Very nice build. I don't think I realized that this rocket had the scoop underneath.

I didn't know that either, and I have one. Maybe its a change in the kit? Not a big deal, mine flies great, I just don't have the scoop.

 

[KenECoyote]

I love the rounded edge mod on intake scoop!

I'm guessing you're starting to realize why some voted for this kit to be built. In some of my past LOC builds, I was very surprised by how all the instructions were just written out and big parts can be just a sentence and so it can definitely be vague at times.

 

[KenECoyote]

I didn't know that either, and I have one. Maybe its a change in the kit? Not a big deal, mine flies great, I just don't have the scoop.

I have an old kit buried somewhere, so I'll need to check for that as well.

How does yours fly? Maybe the scoop was added to increase drag on the back?

 

[Back_at_it]

During the build I did some research and I found a posting on rocket reviews from 2005. The reviewer posted a pick on his rocket with the scoop.

https://www.rocketreviews.com/locprecision-starfighter-152--by-patrick-corless.html

 

[Back_at_it]

I love the rounded edge mod on intake scoop!

I'm guessing you're starting to realize why some voted for this kit to be built. In some of my past LOC builds, I was very surprised by how all the instructions were just written out and big parts can be just a sentence and so it can definitely be vague at times.

Completely understand. Generally speaking I don't really use the instructions that come with most kits unless I'm building something unusual like a plane design with odd angles or that satellite that will be coming up at some point. I typically change up a few things so the instructions don't really apply but I felt like I should at least look them over for these build threads and point out any discrepancies or areas where things aren't really clear. Maybe I can add something for the next builder or persuade someone that is on the fence about buying a certain kit.

Even with the lack of detail, I still feel like LOC is one of the best Rocket companies out there and the support is better than even the mighty Estes. I'm hoping to see more kits like this out of them. While I am getting into high power, I'd say that 85% of my flying will still be low power with another 10% mid and the last 5% high power. I really enjoy LOC's 1.0, 1.6 and 1.9 kits.

 

[DerRedMax]

Great progress on the rocket!

 

[gdjsky01]

Keep going! Great stuff. BTW: It flies great too!

 

[Donnager]

I have an old kit buried somewhere, so I'll need to check for that as well.

How does yours fly? Maybe the scoop was added to increase drag on the back?

Mine flew better than my other 1.6 LOC rockets this size, and didn't really turn toward the belly or the tail, just went straight. Mine does have a little nose weight because I was concerned about the Cp with a heavier motor and the fin configuration. I'd be willing to put an H238 in it if I wanted some exercise. Mine has gone on an F-67, and (I think) an F-25 or baby G.

Tube is a little small for a chute release.

 

[gdjsky01]

Flies straight. I think the one above was a F26-6.

 

[gdjsky01]

Flies straight. I think the one above was a F26-6.

Mine was an old kit. I added the scoop and 4 wings stabs

 

[Back_at_it]

Primer arrived yesterday and the weather cooperated enough for me to get two coats of SEM high build sprayed on. I let that cure for a few hours before sanding with 400 grit. I'm going to do one more coat using white primer then it's just a matter of deciding what paint job I want do on this one. I'm leaning more toward a tradition spaceship / plane designs. Think of the space ship designs from Estes in the early 80's.

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Mine is the early 2000 version. I do not remember the slotted tabs. I think mine were 4 separate pieces. It did have the scoop but not the curved cut out. And motor is friction fit.

On a G64 mine does a cool slow barrel roll. I think its because mine didnt have slotted tabs. One is slightly crooked. I think thats making it roll. Plus Tim squished it once retrieving it on his snow sled.

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

 

[gdjsky01]

Wow!!! Great looking! Well done.

 

[DerRedMax]

Well done and a fast build.....What brand and color paint did you use. Looks amazing!