LOC IV

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Just ordered one from homedepot and can pick it up tomorrow.
I would have just gone in and picked one out.. you may find it too small, bigger than you thought, or dented, or bent or....

buy a [rattle] can of paint while you are there.. Always buy a can of paint! soon you will have a nice collection of paint to decorate with! you always need primer..
 
Interesting today I ended up receiving one package sent to me by Mach1. Two sent by USPS at the same day and one seems to have hitched a ride on a airplane to get here today in 2 days. The other seems to be riding a donkey cart and still Moving along some where between NV and Virginia. Who can really figure out the post office these days.
 
Got the micromamba from Mach1 this morning. Well is it a new thing to not include any kind of instructions? Looked through everything and not seeing any sort of directions or any on their site.
 
Many of the cottage industries don't include instructions in their kits as it is assumed that the buyer has prior experience and as such has developed their own best-practices/preferred construction sequences/techniques.

Mach 1 Micro Mamba build on You Tube:

They have other build videos on their site as well, under the "Contact/Support" menu tab.
 
Many of the cottage industries don't include instructions in their kits as it is assumed that the buyer has prior experience and as such has developed their own best-practices/preferred construction sequences/techniques.

Mach 1 Micro Mamba build on You Tube:

They have other build videos on their site as well, under the "Contact/Support" menu tab.

I emailed them and will watch this video a bunch more but I think it is missing sections and parts not sure on. The guy just briefly mentions about the two rings going in the tube but so quick not really sure. Also I did not remember anything about motor retention.

I also thought build guide they list under parts was instructions and did not figure out it was a fin guide until I got the kit. For someone who has not built a kit in 20+ years no directions is not a good thing
 
Then build another kit with better instructions. Apogee has a nice selection of mid-power rockets with good instructions and step-by-step videos. As I recall the Aerotech rockets had decent instructions. Other vendors also have some good ones - binder and fusionrocketbiz come to mind. Wildman has general instructions on his site, but not necessarily specific per kit. LOC, Madcow and Composite rockets have anywhere from none to basic/bare bones.
 
It should have a body tube, nose cone, 3 fins, and some type of motor retention. Considering its 18mm its min. diameter for B-C Estes motors, or D composite motors
  • 350 lb recovery harness (6 ft)
  • Top Flight Thin Mill Streamer (2 in x 20 in)
  • (2) Micro rail buttons
  • Launch lug (3/16 in)
 
18 mm fiberglass rocket... Only justified if you are flying these :) Cardboard body, 1/32 plywood fins. Still works well.


18mm motor 06.jpg
 
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Then build another kit with better instructions. Apogee has a nice selection of mid-power rockets with good instructions and step-by-step videos. As I recall the Aerotech rockets had decent instructions. Other vendors also have some good ones - binder and fusionrocketbiz come to mind. Wildman has general instructions on his site, but not necessarily specific per kit. LOC, Madcow and Composite rockets have anywhere from none to basic/bare bones.

Okay I do have a 3 inch binder rocket on the way to me, Guess will start with that rocket then and put the micro mamba off for a bit.
 
Going to try to make it to Battlepark launch on Sunday but not really sure I can. Was going to go tomorrow but weather canceled that.
 
I really like the Mach 1 LPR fiberglass kits. They build like other fiberglass kits, just smaller so tips which you can read in these threads apply too.



I use Rocketpoxy for both the fillets and build and would work just fine for your minimum diameter kit.



The 3D printed build guide makes fin attachment and alignment a breeze.



Motor retention is probably a thrust ring which is epoxied to the body tube using a spent motor as a spacer just like Estes kits. Use tape for friction fit to prevent the motor from shooting out back from the ejection charge.

The trickiest part will be attaching the shock cord. On my Exiter, I just epoxied the shock cord to the inside of the body tube and far enough below the nosecone that the nosecone fit on and the streamer could deploy. If I were to do it again, I'd drill a hole next to a fin before it is built, pass most of the shock cord through the hole, and secure inside one of the fillets. I'm sorry if that sounds confusing.

With fiberglass kits,

First wash all the parts with warm soapy water and dry them.

Wherever parts are joined, the fiberglass needs to be scuffed up with sandpaper before the epoxy is applied.
 
I think something that is easily over looked is the parachute. I believe NAR did a study and something like 80 to 90% of failures were recovery devices. Z fold the chute and tuck the also Z folded shroud lines between 2 folds in the chute. Then roll it up and either attach the JLCR and wrap it in the Nomex blanket or just roll it up in the blanket. Since I started using this method my failure rate that involves the chute have dropped to near zero.
 
Motor retention - build a thrust ring on the motor with 1/4" masking tape (1/2" on my long motors) to the diameter of the body tube. Slide motor in and tape over the body/thrust ring joint to retain the motor. This method works to at least mach 2.
 
I think something that is easily over looked is the parachute. I believe NAR did a study and something like 80 to 90% of failures were recovery devices. Z fold the chute and tuck the also Z folded shroud lines between 2 folds in the chute. Then roll it up and either attach the JLCR and wrap it in the Nomex blanket or just roll it up in the blanket. Since I started using this method my failure rate that involves the chute have dropped to near zero.
+1 I had 4 perfect deployments because I took the time pack my chute properly. I got in a hurry last week and recovery went fine but I call it a near miss because the small chute was packed poorly and things got kind of wadded up. I was wondering why the descent rate was twice the sim.

Snarled Chute.jpg
 
All high power rockets at BattlePark must use rails, either 1010, 1515, or unistrut. We also supply several 1010 rails for Low power fights.
On the webpage under the UPDATED 2021-22 Launch Season there are links to pre-register, a paypal link to pay the dues, and a link to flight cards you can fill out and print to bring along.

You are correct, Tripoli Central Virginia #25 is not listed on the NAR site. We are Tripoli prefecture only. There are plenty of NAR member that can provide NAR L1, L2, and even L3 certification flights.

I see you bought an Estes Doorknob rocket. You can certainly try a L1 certification with the rocket, but I would highly recommend against it. That is a mid powered rocket, not a high power rocket. It is designed to fly on D, E, & F motors. If you put a BABY H motor in that you will exceed 2000 ft and may reach 3000 ft. Your chance of ever seeing it again is greatly reduced.

For L1 flights on the east coast, I recommend a rocket with 38mm MMT, 3" - 4" diameter, and 4 - 6 lbs. for a L1 cert. That will stay low and slow with a baby H motor, but allow you to fly the full range of H & I motors after your cert and not "out-fly" the field.

Look me up when you come out on the 12th. I'm the guy with the Steampunk top hat.

Jeff Boldig TCVA25 Prefect
Was good to meet you today and hopefully any of the others who tried their level 1 today did not end the same way that one guys rocket did. Here are two recent pictures of my Lil Nuke. Need to do the internal fillets for the fins and the outside. I have the internal fire protection that comes with the rocket but the shield is about 5 3/4 across for a 21 inch parachute. Is that big enough? any information on the best way to hook the shock cord up to the parachute and all would be great. Of course I could just let that part sit until the next launch and get some help at the launch.

Andrew

P.S. Not sure who else from the forums was there today at battlepark
 

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Your rocket looks to be coming along fairly well. On the shock cord, I usually include a swivel in-line somewhere just above the top of the booster as boosters have a tendency to spin on the way down. For the parachute, I usually tie a loop in the shock cord about 1/3 of the way back from the nose and then connect the parachute to the loop. I connect it by grouping the shroud lines to make a loop at the end, putting that loop through the shock cord loop and then putting the parachute through the shroud line loop. This lets me switch the parachute between rockets if needed. The parachute protector you have should work for a 2.2" rocket if you pack the parachute tightly and wrap the protector around it.

I was at the BattlePark launch today, but, there were lots of folks there so I'm not sure if we met. I flew a 4" diameter Alpha look-alike and a 7+ foot tall yellow high-power two stage rocket.
 
Your rocket looks to be coming along fairly well. On the shock cord, I usually include a swivel in-line somewhere just above the top of the booster as boosters have a tendency to spin on the way down. For the parachute, I usually tie a loop in the shock cord about 1/3 of the way back from the nose and then connect the parachute to the loop. I connect it by grouping the shroud lines to make a loop at the end, putting that loop through the shock cord loop and then putting the parachute through the shroud line loop. This lets me switch the parachute between rockets if needed. The parachute protector you have should work for a 2.2" rocket if you pack the parachute tightly and wrap the protector around it.

I was at the BattlePark launch today, but, there were lots of folks there so I'm not sure if we met. I flew a 4" diameter Alpha look-alike and a 7+ foot tall yellow high-power two stage rocket.
Good place to get some swivel's and quick releases? Any pictures of how the best way to hook the parachute and all to the shock cord?

Andrew

I saw a bunch of launches today and the one that stood out was the guy trying to do a level 1 and his red rocket went up about 5 feet or less and nearly burned up on the ground.
 
You can get quick links at any decent hardware store. I try to find stainless steel ones, but will take payed if available. Usually you want a load rating 50-100x the weight of the heaviest single part of your rocket (usually the fin can). I do t usually use swivels but look forward to recommendations here.
 
Top flight recovery
Rocketarium
Chris rocket supply
Loc precision

And of course Cabela's etc where they sell high end fishing, especially off shore stuff

And yeah home Depot Menards etc for stainless steel quick links
 
I usually get swivels from Amazon and quick links from the local hardware store. For the swivels, I usually look for ball bearing swivels and then chose a size that is appropriate based on the weight of the rocket. The sites mentioned above are also good and they may also be a good place to see examples of what some folks recommend.
 
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