LOC 1-Series : Altitude

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Tractionengines

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Just built one of the1" dia. LOC Hi-Tech's. VERY nice kit, and flew GREAT this past weekend. Twice on Estes B6-4. Ejection right at apogee. (It was a little violent as seen if you slow down the video.) I am going to lengthen the kevlar cord. I did change it from streamer to 9" LOC Nylon parachute, and added 12" elastic cord between kevlar and nose cone. Parachute attached at transition



Here are my question: All of the 1-series have "flights to 2,000ft" printed on the packaging. I ran all of them thru open rocket, and none of them make it to 2,000 with LOC's design files. The LOC-1 makes it closest in the simulations with a Quest D16-6 at ~1750ft.

Are there "bigger impulse" 18mm motors? Did I goof on setting the configuration? (Zero wind, 36"launch rod.) Is it a difference between Rocksim and Open Rocket? Or are they just optimistic, and rounding up for advertising.

I DO plan on building others in the 1-series, just curious what others have seen.
 
Are there "bigger impulse" 18mm motors? Did I goof on setting the configuration? (Zero wind, 36"launch rod.) Is it a difference between Rocksim and Open Rocket? Or are they just optimistic, and rounding up for advertising.

There used to be full impulse D motors in 18mm. The Aerotech D10 and D21. Unfortunately they are no longer made due to a change by their casing supplier.

However, there are the D13 and D24 reloadable motors that are also full D

Edit: Ill also add: did you airfoil your fins and work to get as smooth a surface finish as pssible? Both are non-negligible altitude helpers
 
However, there are the D13 and D24 reloadable motors that are also full D

The D13 is a great little motor, however a 1" rocket is really easy to lose at 2000' (and therefore the motor casing as well). I like to fly the D13 in slightly larger rockets to keep the altitude lower. The White Lightning propellant is quite different then the black powder motors, the first time I launched one the roar and flame really startled me!
 
Yes. I airfoiled them (tapered the leading edge, and rounded the trailing). I did NOT run an altimiter in the rocket, solely looking at open rocket sims data right now for max altitude.
May put an altimeter in next time. I did build it with the payload bay.
 
Yes. Revesed...I don't mind the lower actual flights. I just want to compare SIM data too real life.
I was forgetting about the 18/20 reloads. Thanks. Not sure I would fly that in this unless at a larger field....then again I do push my luck sometimes if having a good day. At 1"x 19" it will disappear easily depending on light and clouds.
 
I always felt the 2000ft claim was a little high...I have a 1" big nuke in the build pile, and I have a QJet D motor to use w it. Il let u know how mine goes.
 
Nice flight. I stumbled on the 1 Series by accident about a year ago. I was searching for a LOC Ultimate and found one on eBay but it was the small 1 Series (now OOP). I didn't know LOC did small rockets at the time. I quickly ordered it and started building it as soon as it arrived.

Love the quality. Compared to other brands the thing feels like it will last forever. Mine has been up on B6-4's and C6-5's a number of times and all have been perfect fights. I don't like flying out of sight if I can help it. As you noted, the shock cord is too short. Mine was replaced with about 4ft of elastic.

I was at LOC one day and decided to pick up their other 1 series rockets. For the price you are getting a great product. I hope they expand their 1.0 and their new 1.9 line up.

As for the 2000' altitude. I don't think it's happening on anything 18mm and I wouldn't want it to go that high. Too easy to lose it.
 

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Flew the 1" Hi-Tech on a Quest C12-8 today... nice flight...delay time was good.
It was there on the pad one second, then GONE the next...recovered about 75 yards from launch pad. Even with moderate wind 7mph, and change to 9" parachute.
(Didn't have an altimeter.)VideoCapture_20201107-202451.jpgVideoCapture_20201107-202548.jpgVideoCapture_20201107-202615.jpg
 
This past Saturday we were having a good time with most recoveries close to the pads. Variable wind direction, but very light.
No photos (so I guess some will claim it didn't happen) but I flew the 1inch LOC Hi-Tech on a Quest 18mm D20-8. It was just a spec against high bright-white clouds, and only 1 young person and I saw deployment. It seemed it was still drifting up at the end of the 8 second delay. When it eventually made it back down it landed about 300ft from the launch pad...
Based on my sim data I think it hit the 2000 ft mark. If I get conditions like this again, I will fly it with the FlightSketch Mini, but the weight of that will knock quite a bit off apogee. (Wind was picking up later in the day, and clouds were gray, not bright white.... So I didn't want to push my luck with another flight that high with such a small rocket.)
 
This past Saturday we were having a good time with most recoveries close to the pads. Variable wind direction, but very light.
No photos (so I guess some will claim it didn't happen) but I flew the 1inch LOC Hi-Tech on a Quest 18mm D20-8. It was just a spec against high bright-white clouds, and only 1 young person and I saw deployment. It seemed it was still drifting up at the end of the 8 second delay. When it eventually made it back down it landed about 300ft from the launch pad...
Based on my sim data I think it hit the 2000 ft mark. If I get conditions like this again, I will fly it with the FlightSketch Mini, but the weight of that will knock quite a bit off apogee. (Wind was picking up later in the day, and clouds were gray, not bright white.... So I didn't want to push my luck with another flight that high with such a small rocket.)

What is the weight? Did you override the sim with the correct mass & CG? You can just check what an extra 2.9g will do. It may actually give you a higher altitude. Even if you're already over the optimum, I doubt you'll lose much.
 
Yes all data is up to date, and overrides for "as-built". One issue is optimal delay is shown at 9 seconds already. So if extra weight gives extra momentum and longer coast, I will have more velocity at ejection since 8seconds is the max delay.
I will fly the FlightSketch Mini, on some lower power flights, and work my way up to see how data matches the sim's. That should let me "tune" the sim to match.
 
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