Here's two more of Mark Cole's LOC Precision "Big Nuke" on a 54/2800 K-350 Loki White.
View attachment 185766 View attachment 185767
What's different about the I405?
This is something I explained a lot about for people at the launch this weekend.
The G-80 white, G-69 Spitfire, H-144 white, H-160 blue, H-90 red, H-100 Spitfire, I-210 red, I-316 Spitfire and yes, the I-405 Loki White all have "half grains" of "lifesaver" grains. They are basically the normal length grain cut in half. However, they are cut so that each of these grains contains no more than 30 grams of propellant.
The benefits to doing this are large.
1) NO HAZ_MAT FEES!!! These 9 motors can be shipped through the USPS with NO haz-mat fee. Up to a 25 lb box of these reloads may be shipped by Parcel Post through the US mail without
any Haz-Mat fee. Hopefully by the end of the year there will be 2 more G motors, another H and another I motor added to the list. Next year there will be more. ;-)
2) Propellant geometry.... By cutting the standard length grains in half, the initial propellant burning surface area is increased. This created a regressive thrust profile which produces its peak thrust right at ignition. This ensures that the average rocket has plenty of thrust right of the pad so that the fins can do their job as quickly as possible giving you a strait up boost with very little weather cocking and a close to the pad recovery.
3)
The WOW factor..... The WOW factor of a motor is generally when it lifts off the pad and up to where it's about a hundred feet or so off the pad. This is where a rocket makes the largest amount of visible and audible fire, smoke and noise, and THIS is where Loki Research 38's command peoples attention at the field. Since the largest amount of thrust is at ignition, these motors look, act and sound like motors twice their size of a comparable propellant type. Hence Gary's comment,
"They frighten most J motors." So when thinking 405Ns average thrust, think about 800Ns of initial thrust. The thrust curves can be found on the
front page of the instruction sheets here.
4) Value.... For a pair of G-80's it's $33, ($16.50 each). An H motor retails at $25 and the I motors at $40. The Spitfire equivalents are a few dollars more. Yes, the hardware is more expensive than the competition, but if you fly several of these motors per launch, you will quickly recoup the cost of the hardware as you save money on both the reloads and the shipping.
5) Reliability..... I can honestly say, I think Loki Research motors overall, any of them, are more reliable than my main competitions motors. Why???
I am Loki Research. There is no one else that works here but me to either get it right, or screw it up. There is no one else to pass the buck to. I am responsible for everything, me, personally. Because it is my company and my personal reputation that is on the line, I take everything that I do very seriously, and when it comes to making the propellant, I am in complete control of the entire process. If I have any reason to believe that something isn't going to work the way it was intended too, it doesn't go out the door. If anything, some hardware might go on the specials page depending on what it is. Because of this attention to detail, I am only aware of 3 Loki Research motors that have failed in the past 2 years. A G-80 in which the flyer had a defectively long drill on the DAT tool he used with an XS delay, he suffered a forward blow-by, an M-3000 that did not have the aft retaining ring properly seated in the groove and suffered a very low pressure spit nozzle as a result, and an I-430 Blue which appeared to have a cut o-ring or debris on or around the o-ring. I'd say that's a
very good track record over the past 2 years. Much of this success is due to the switch to convolute liners and better quality casting tubes. The previous brown spiral would liners and mating casting tubes were less than satisfactory, however I didn't completely realize it at the time.
Although I'm sure there are more reasons, I think these are the main ones for why people who fly Loki Research 38mm motors love them so much.
Gary Dukeman's rocket on an I-405.
[video=youtube;NNIORpxSJLQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNIORpxSJLQ&feature=youtu.be[/video]
Here's Bill Koropsak's rocket on an I-405
[video=youtube;cdYE8of5270]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdYE8of5270[/video]
And as for the close recovery, that's up to how well you angle the rod. ;-)
[video=youtube;VY6xKmrAQkY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY6xKmrAQkY[/video]