LOC/Precision Graduator

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Tyler P

Nom-nom-nom...
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During this COVID-19 lockdown, the owners of the hobby company I work for, Great Hobbies, were kind enough to send me home with a couple of LOC demo kits to build! One of them is the LOC Graduator, a really nice mid-power kit with a 29mm motor mount.

This will be a quick little thread on the build and painting of this rocket.

Enjoy!

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This is a 2.63" diameter rocket that builds out to about 40" tall.

The contents of the kit include really nice ply fins and centering rings, along with your typical LOC high-quality, heavy-duty, carboard tubing.

Also in there are eye bolts, kevlar recovery attachment line, a double-ended sewn-loop braided nylon shock cord, nylon parachute, and a nomex blanket for chute protection. All really nice bits for a rocket this size!20200405_162457.jpg
 
I got started on the motor mount, which is super solid. The only thing I added to it was an Estes 29mm screw-on retainer. Nice, inexpensive motor retention that I've started using on almost all my builds.20200405_154948.jpg
 
This version of the Graduator has a payload bay, so you can work on a dual deploy setup later on. I understand that the older version did not, so this a cool upgrade!

The assembly of all the parts is pretty standard, so I didn't take a lot of pics of the process after the motor mount.

One I got the mount in and payload bay constucted, I moved onto tube prep. Someting I do with all cardboard rockets now is spray them with a couple coats of Deluxe Materials EZE-Cote. EZE-Cote is a waterbased polyurethane finishing resin designed for fiberglassing. It just so happens to also work great for giving cardboard a tough outer layer that keeps the paper layers from delaminating when you paint quickly with waterbased acrylics, like I do. It also gives a really nice smooth surface to paint on.20200407_145350.jpg 20200407_144343.jpg 20200407_151227.jpg
 
After I caught back up with the nose cone, I finished off the details. I installed rail buttons instead of the 1/4" launch lugs just because I have a pad that can use a rail. Any of my rockets that use 1/4" lugs get buttons instead.

Quick and dirty build thread. You can probably tell I'm a fan of LOC/Precision kits. This is the fifth one I've built and they all have outstanding materials and come with nice bits to complete them. From their smallest 1-series kits right up to high-power, they're all super solid.

Thanks for looking!

Tyler20200411_082603.jpg 20200411_083226.jpg 20200411_083324.jpg 20200411_090649.jpg
 
Great paint job! Is this kit still able to be used for a level 1 H motor? You have it in the mid-power forum. I only ask because I used the old one for my level 1. Great updated kit-a payload bay is exactly what it needed!
 
The kit can take any high power 29mm motor you want to fly it on. I flew my Graduartor on an I200 to 4061' AGL a couple of months back. Maybe not what you'd want to use for your L1 certification flight but it certainly can handle L1 motors.
 
I got right around 2000' on mine on full G or baby H motors. It weighed 34 oz on the pad with a 29/40-120 G138 installed.
 
I have done 2 loc kits, and found them to be impressive. Materials quality and ease of construction is great. I have a weasel, and an iris park flyer. Now if we can get the weather and field to cooperate, i can fly them.
 
I have one of these for about 12 years (or more), my daughter loved it when she was little (she is 25 now) and I still fly it. A little dinged up but love it.
In fact tomorrow looks like a great day for it here in PA.
LG~
 
Love Graduators...that one looks really nice. They're really sturdy with a bit of maintenance. I have a 30-35 year old one, still flying after 4 paint jobs, 3-4 shock cords, internally charred tube now with a glass patch, several parachutes and a couple of near-loss experiences. High F thru G power works great, though I've used a couple of H97's as well.
 
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