Identify this "garage sale" rocket?

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beantownJPL

Up up and away... Wait! Come back!
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A member of the club I belong to is moving away, decided to downsize his collection of "stuff" he didn't want to haul to his new location and donated it to the club to sell off as "garage sale" items.

My boy became enamored with this rocket, and for $15, I certainly didn't take much convincing for me to dig into my pockets, realize I have no cash, and give the club treasurer an IOU on the spot (now paid in full :cool:). He didn't have any information at all on the rocket, so I'm turning to the eagle-eyed experts here for a little help.

The rocket's rough build is essentially complete, stands at ~42" tall, stoutly constructed of ~2.25" O.D. thick-walled tubing with 3 fins cut from ~1/4" ply . The airframe separates in the middle for recovery ... shock cord is included along with a rather nice Nomex chute protector.

The forward section has a large payload bay, with two ~1/4" holes drilled in it (I'm assuming) for pressure equalization for an altimeter.

The nose cone appears to be molded plastic, quite stout with an ogive profile.

It's got a 29mm motor mount with a rather "old school" looking motor retention system consisting of a couple of bent wires screwed into the aft centering ring. The centering rings themselves also appear to be plywood.

It's got a 1/4" launch lug, no rail guides/buttons.

Dry weight is about 590 grams without a chute or motor.

Compared to what I've been flying to date, this thing is new territory. It looks strong enough to come in ballistic, leave a crater and still be ready to fly again! Definitely built to come down hard, load another motor and fly again 10 minutes later.

So ...
  1. Can anybody identify this as some sort of kit build or is it just another scratch-built 3FNC? If it's an uncompleted kit, I'd like to complete it "as intended". Otherwise I'll just let my imagination go wild.

  2. The nose cone fits very loosely. What's a "nice" way of tightening it up besides just wrapping some tape around the shoulder and calling it a day?

  3. This is the heaviest rocket I've ever considered throwing hundreds of feet in the air ... what are some common pitfalls I should seek to avoid?

  4. Could I use this rocket for my L1 cert., since I could easily load an "H" or even an "I" composite motor in there, or do I literally have to build it "from tubes to paint" to qualify?

Any and all input on how to finish this bird is welcome!

IMG_20190924_185312.jpg IMG_20190924_185252.jpg IMG_20190924_185132.jpg IMG_20190924_185234.jpg
 
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Looks like a Loc Nuke Pro Maxx.
I definitely see the resemblance and I can see why it reminded you of that rocket, but unless it's been modified, it's not quite a match.

The Pro Maxx is about 1.5" longer and has a 38mm motor tube, while this one is definitely 29mm (measured with calipers).

It seems unlikely that you'd down-size the motor tube when it's easy enough to just use an adapter if you wanted to fly 29mm. I also don't see why you'd take 1.5" out of the airframe barring a goof or a crash. This model doesn't look like it ever made it to the launch pad yet, as it's clearly not launch ready for a couple of fit and finish reasons. (Recovery section is too tight, nose cone is too loose, only in primer, etc.)
 
Ok. Two votes in favor of a Pro Maxx. Interesting bit if trivia about the older kits and the motor mount change. Might also explain the length difference. I really have no idea how old this thing is, but based upon the cobwebs, it's been sitting for a while.

Maybe I should see if I can track down the older version's decals... Perhaps I'll shoot an email to LOC and see if they offer any guidance.

RE: L1 - yeah, I figured as much. This kind of build is totally in my skill set, so maybe I'll gain some experience flying this one, then build its younger brother for L1.
 
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Looking at the "rear end" looks like it has been flown. Got that bit of propellant residue on the fin roots even.
 
Looking at the "rear end" looks like it has been flown. Got that bit of propellant residue on the fin roots even.

I can't discount that. It also might just be "cellar crud". Other than the cobwebs, the inside of the body tube is pretty clean. And given that the nose cone is "fall out on motor burnout loose", and the recovery section is "ballistic recovery" tight ... I'm a little skeptical that it's ever been launched. I can't rule out that perhaps the tubes swelled a bit to make the recovery section tight, but the nose cone clearly needs something to keep it in place, or it won't be coming home on the same trajectory as the rest of the rocket.
 
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