LOC Warlock Build. Rocket for my Level 1

[Back_at_it]

Managed to get a bit more work done. This one really is coming together much faster than I thought it would.

Sanded the entire body tube down with 240 on a DA. Looking back, I really should have done this first. On something this big, doing the bodywork first would have made sense.

Next it was time for the rail buttons. Drilled the holes and cleaned then up with a hobby knife and a little more sanding. The buttons were epoxied in and a smooth coat was placed over the backside so that nothing will get caught on them. It was then time to install the rear centering ring. I had to spend a fair amount of time with a Dremel cleaning up the epoxy I got everywhere. Eventually I got the ring to sit flush and made it permanent with a rather large amount of epoxy.

Finally it was time for primer. A full can of SEM high build went on and let dry for a few hours. The weather has been hot so it has made the cure times very short. Next it was time for some filler work. I used DAP wood filler on the seams, fins, and general rough spots.

Here is where we stand right now. Primer is on, filler has been sanded, a little bit of spot putty here and there and it's ready for the final coat of primer.

 

[tsmith1315]

Sanded the entire body tube down with 240 on a DA

That's the way to do it!

 

[Back_at_it]

Finally back with an update. Was a little under the weather and now I have to stay home for another week Bonus is I get to work on rockets

After letting the primer cure for a couple of days I finally got a chance to get some paint on the Warlock. Started with Krylon Gloss Black. First coat went on ok. Still had some lines and uneven surfaces that I didn't care for so I let the rocket cure in the sun for a couple of days then wet sanded with 400 and 600 grit. After an Alcohol wipe down it was time for the second coat of Gloss Black. All told I used two full cans of black.

While that was curing I turned my attention to the nose cone. I know that some people have had issues with LOC nose cones and having the paint stick. I personally have only had this happen once but on a nose cone this big I decided not to take a chance. The cone was washed with Dawn Dish soap and a green ScotchBrite pad. An alcohol wipe down then two medium coats of Duplicolor Adhesion promotor were applied and let sit for about 10 mins. Next was three coats of Duplicolor Bright White. This was left to dry in the sun.

A couple of days later I masked off the fins and a couple of stripes and sprayed on my second color. Krylon Gloss Banner Red. Three light coats were applied over about 30 mins with about 10 mins between coats.

Here is where we are right now. Still need to add some vinyl for the name, Attach the rail buttons and install the recovery gear. Otherwise this one is almost over the finish line.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

It looks good!

 

[DMehalko]

Nice work!

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Very nice paint!

I spoke with the LOC folks at AirFest. They said what one needs to do is sand (220/320), clean with adhesion promoter, and use etching primer.

 

[Zeta]

can't wait to see the flight !

 

[Back_at_it]

A few goodies for the Warlock and some final steps before getting the rocket inspected for launch.

Drilled 3/4 inch holes in the nosecone for the recovery Kevlar to attach. Still can't wrap my head around the size of this nosecone



Picked up a Shock Cord protector and fire blanket from Apogee.



Installed the rail buttons. Trimmed off the extra molding flash and installed them with a drop of blue Loctite for good measure.




And finally picked up my motor so I can test fit the retainers. Going up on a H550 and it looks like I have a little tweaking to do to get the retainers to sit the way I'd like. Thinking I'm going to place a few washers under the clips and use longer screws to hold things in place.



Last steps will be adding the all the recovery gear and checking CG. Hopefully I don't need to add any nose weight but we should know in a day or so.

 

[bobbyg23]

A few goodies for the Warlock and some final steps before getting the rocket inspected for launch.

Drilled 3/4 inch holes in the nosecone for the recovery Kevlar to attach. Still can't wrap my head around the size of this nosecone

View attachment 482990

Picked up a Shock Cord protector and fire blanket from Apogee.

View attachment 482991

Installed the rail buttons. Trimmed off the extra molding flash and installed them with a drop of blue Loctite for good measure.

View attachment 482992
View attachment 482993

And finally picked up my motor so I can test fit the retainers. Going up on a H550 and it looks like I have a little tweaking to do to get the retainers to sit the way I'd like. Thinking I'm going to place a few washers under the clips and use longer screws to hold things in place.

View attachment 482994

Last steps will be adding the all the recovery gear and checking CG. Hopefully I don't need to add any nose weight but we should know in a day or so.

Looks great.

 

[Back_at_it]

Few more last minute details and a question.

Installed my Shock Cord protector over the shock cord and attached the clasp.



Connected the shock cord to the U-Bolt inside the body tube. I slide the sleeve down the shock cord after taking this pic. Thinking of tying a knot in the shock cord just above the sleeve to keep it from riding up.



Slide the shock cord through the fire blanket and tied a knot to keep the blanket in place.



Finally slid the shock cord through the holes in the nose cone and tied off leaving about 30 inches hanging off the end to attach the parachute.




Fully loaded, ready to fly with motor and all recovery gear, the Warlock weights in at 123oz. or 7.7lbs. The Sim file shows CP at 38.9 inches. Currently as the rocket sits my CG is at 37.75 so there is only about an inch between the CG and CP. This give me a stability of .137

I'm familiar with the short stubby rocket theory with base drag but this seems a bit low to me. I'm thinking of adding about 8 to 10oz. of nose weight to get the stability up closer to .800.

For those of you with Warlocks, What is your CG and stability? Since the first flight is going to be my level 1 and there will be people around I'm tempted to play it safe and go a little extra on the nose weight. With the H550 I'm still looking at 56mph off the rail and 900ish feet.

 

[Banzai88]

The 'How to figure stability for Shorties/Stubbies quick reference links'



Stubbies Pt1

Stubbies Pt2

Stubbies Pt3

 

[tim cubbedge]

For those of you with Warlocks, What is your CG and stability? Since the first flight is going to be my level 1 and there will be people around I'm tempted to play it safe and go a little extra on the nose weight. With the H550 I'm still looking at 56mph off the rail and 900ish feet.

I added 8.0 oz to mine but I also wrapped it in a few layers of fiberglass. My stability was 0.477 unlaoded and it always flew fine.

 

[Back_at_it]

I added 8.0 oz to mine but I also wrapped it in a few layers of fiberglass. My stability was 0.477 unlaoded and it always flew fine.

that’s good to know. With 8oz in mine I’m at .80 loaded ready to fly with motor so I should be more than stable enough.

 

[Back_at_it]

It's official. After more than a year of waiting, My schedule and the weather finally aligned such that I could get out with the Fox Valley Rocket Club and fly for my level 1.

Special thanks to Phil for walking me through the process. The flight was absolutely perfect. Winds were reasonably calm around 5-7mph. Final flight weight of the rocket was 133oz.

Flew on an H550 with the delay drilled to 8 sec. Added almost two full vials of black powder for the ejection charge or somewhere around 3 grams.

 

[Adam3836]

Congratulations
Nice flight

 

[Zeta]

Nailed it !


.....rumor has it your L2 rocket is already built !

 

[Back_at_it]

Nailed it !


.....rumor has it your L2 rocket is already built !

It's funny that you say that. After the flight yesterday I was talking to some members and told them I think I'm going to stop at level 1 and stay there for a while. After all it took me 30+ years of flying to get this far and I don't see myself needing to go to level 2 anytime soon.

Now I'm sitting here thinking about Level 2. I'm going to add a 10" payload section to the Warlock to keep the stability in check. I have settled on a J435 for my Level 2 flight and I have downloaded the study guide for level 2. Just need to talk to the club about going for level 2 in the spring.

I think I need counseling

 

[tsmith1315]

I think I need counseling

Sounds like you’ve already been counseled.

Congratulations on the Level 1!

 

[waltr]

Congrats on L1.

I've been thinking the same for L2. I did L1 with a LOC 4" Goblin and thinking 15" extension with DD bay for for L2.
L1 was 956ft, L2 can be about 2500ft.

 

[green dragon]

A Warloc does not need a payload for stability on a J.....


We used to fly ours a lot on the kosdon 54/700 motors with no issue

Payload addition would be good to house an electronics bay... 30: payload esentially makes Warloc into a LOC Bruiser.....

 

[Back_at_it]

A Warloc does not need a payload for stability on a J.....


We used to fly ours a lot on the kosdon 54/700 motors with no issue

Payload addition would be good to house an electronics bay... 30: payload esentially makes Warloc into a LOC Bruiser.....

Agreed on stability. I'm going to add the additional length so I can send up payloads when I feel the need. Also feel like it's an easy way to have something a little different for my level 2.

The weight of the additional 10" tube certainly won't hurt anything as I'm still looking to fly low for my cert flight. Going to stick with simple nose cone ejection. No need for electronics for cert flight.

 

[DMehalko]

I flew a J435 in my warlock for my level 2, at a simulated .4cals, its seen plenty of K motors with .35-.4 cals as well, flies straight as an arrow

 

[Back_at_it]

I flew a J435 in my warlock for my level 2, at a simulated .4cals, its seen plenty of K motors with .35-.4 cals as well, flies straight as an arrow

That is great information. I'm liking this Warlock more and more.

Now I just have to do the learning materials for the test.

 

[StreuB1]

It's official. After more than a year of waiting, My schedule and the weather finally aligned such that I could get out with the Fox Valley Rocket Club and fly for my level 1.

Special thanks to Phil for walking me through the process. The flight was absolutely perfect. Winds were reasonably calm around 5-7mph. Final flight weight of the rocket was 133oz.

Flew on an H550 with the delay drilled to 8 sec. Added almost two full vials of black powder for the ejection charge or somewhere around 3 grams.



View attachment 546238View attachment 546239

What field is that??

 

[Back_at_it]

What field is that??

This is a seed farm that the club I fly with has access to after the crop is removed at the end of the year. It's out by Marengo IL.

If you want to fly with the club. Check out https://www.foxvalleyrocketeers.org/

 

[Back_at_it]

Time for an update to the Warlock. After successfully flying for my level 1, I've decided that I want to go for my level 2 this fall. I've been studying the for the level 2 exam and I figure it's time to change up the Warlock a little bit and fly it for the level 2. The Warlock needs no changes at all to fly for level 2. Simply stick a J motor in it, check CG and go. That said I wanted something a little different and I want to use additional weight to kill some altitude as I'm still somewhat limited on space to recover a J motor.

On my last visit to LOC I picked up a section of 7.5" tubing, a coupler and a bulk head. The plan here is to add 15" of length to the Warlock by adding a payload bay. This will allow me to launch stuff into the air as well as give me a starting point to start playing around with duel deployment sometime after the cert.

Step one was to cut the body tube. The tube was cut to 15". Learn form my mistake and have LOC cut the tube to length. Cutting this thing by hand was not fun and I used three blades to get through it.

In this pic you can see I got a little ahead of myself and have already assembled the U-Bolt into the bulkhead.



I recently had a bulkhead that was epoxied into a 4in coupler pull out on ejection so I'm not taking any chances with something this heavy. I wanted a little more of a secure attachment point for my bulkhead within the coupler so I cut two, 1 inch strips from the coupler. These were then trimmed down so they would fit inside the coupler. One will be placed above and below the bulkhead.



Next step was to measure the location of the upper ring. Each strip is 1 inch and the bulkhead is .25 so I marked the inside of the coupler 1.25" in several locations.



Next step was to epoxy the upper strip into place. For this project I'm trying something new and using T-88 Epoxy. It has come highly recommended by some people in the wood working and lite aircraft manufacturers groups. I figure if it's good enough to hold a lite aircraft together it should work for me I also like that it has a 45 mins working time so I can take my time.

Epoxy was spread around the inside to the coupler and the upper strip was set in place. A little heat from a heat gun was applied to thin the epoxy and allow it to soak in.



Next up came the bulkhead. After rounding the edges and applying more epoxy, the bulkhead was inserted flush with upper ring. More epoxy was added then the lower ring was put in place. Additional Epoxy was added for a fillet around the bottom part of the bulkhead.



Here is a pic looking down the inside. Here we see a fillet around the inside of the bulkhead.



Going to let that cure for a day before continuing.

 

[T-Rex]

Did you lock the nuts on the u-bolt? (Loctite?, mangle the threads?, epoxy?)

I like the idea of the 'locking rings' on the bulkhead. I have been thinking along similar lines since an energetic ejection pulled the forward bulkhead out a 4" Patriot. (Couldn't have been due to me adding extra BP to the stock charge. Must have been not glued in properly.)

 

[Back_at_it]

Did you lock the nuts on the u-bolt? (Loctite?, mangle the threads?, epoxy?)

I like the idea of the 'locking rings' on the bulkhead. I have been thinking along similar lines since an energetic ejection pulled the forward bulkhead out a 4" Patriot. (Couldn't have been due to me adding extra BP to the stock charge. Must have been not glued in properly.)

Yes. Red Loctite used on nuts.

I was flying a 4" Bertha that has a 12" payload bay with a 1/4" bulkhead, 15' of nylon strap for recovery. The bulkhead was epoxied in place and fillets were added to both sides.

Flown on a G76 and the ejection completely ripped the bulkhead out of the rocket. It tore the epoxy off the walls of the coupler. I did add a bit of extra powder to the ejection charge but it was pressurizing 30 inches of 4 inch tube and had flown a half dozen times before.

 

[Handeman]

Flown on a G76 and the ejection completely ripped the bulkhead out of the rocket. It tore the epoxy off the walls of the coupler. I did add a bit of extra powder to the ejection charge but it was pressurizing 30 inches of 4 inch tube and had flown a half dozen times before.

If it tore the epoxy off, the weak point wasn't the epoxy joint, it was the structural material of the coupler.
If you are using a cardboard coupler you need the epoxy to grip deeper than one or two layers of paper in the coupler. You might want to use a needle point tracing wheel to put lots of small holes in the coupler where the joint is going to go. Then coat with a 60-120 minute laminating epoxy so it soaks into all the holes and really grabs deep into the whole wall of the coupler. Once that is dry, then epoxy the bulkhead into place.

 

[Back_at_it]

If it tore the epoxy off, the weak point wasn't the epoxy joint, it was the structural material of the coupler.
If you are using a cardboard coupler you need the epoxy to grip deeper than one or two layers of paper in the coupler. You might want to use a needle point tracing wheel to put lots of small holes in the coupler where the joint is going to go. Then coat with a 60-120 minute laminating epoxy so it soaks into all the holes and really grabs deep into the whole wall of the coupler. Once that is dry, then epoxy the bulkhead into place.

When attaching any two items I'll sand both surfaces being joined. Depending on the materials the sanding can be with anything from a 36 grit cartridge roll to a 220 grit paper. While I don't recall what paper was used I can say that I'm a creature of habit and it was most likely 100 grit as that is what I typically use on tubes before bonding. I also ensure that the epoxy is warm so that it soaks into the materials being bonded and doesn't just sit on top.

While it was more than likely a fluke, I don't want to take chance with this something this heavy on a cert. flight.