Nice bday present!

[Zonker]

I just got a wicked birthday present from my girlfriend....and AT Tomahawk! She knows me pretty well

This is my first AT kit...I'm looking forward to flying it. Any advice on this kit?

Zonker

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

5 minute epoxy

skip the decals

Big field & a pair of binoculars

G80-7

Have a blast!

 

[KarlD]

Originally posted by Zonker
I just got a wicked birthday present from my girlfriend....and AT Tomahawk! She knows me pretty well

This is my first AT kit...I'm looking forward to flying it. Any advice on this kit?

Zonker

Good commen ts from Hospital about this bird, but I would use 30 min epoxy. I like the extra soak factor.

Plus you should give a BIG HUG and a KISS to your Girlfriend. She sounds like a keeper!

 

[Zonker]

She certainly is! (I'll have to get her to read this...good bouns points!!)

I started on the Tomahawk tonight...very simple constrution. I really like the fins...sanding is really tedious sometimes. The fin lock system seems pretty tuff too. I'm pretty impressed so far.

Zonker

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Don't know how much you are into MPR & HPR

However, I would also leave off the AT motor hook and use a retention system like a Kaplow Clip or some such.

My personal fave is an Aeropack retainer.

A

 

[DynaSoar]

Originally posted by Zonker
I just got a wicked birthday present from my girlfriend....and AT Tomahawk! She knows me pretty well

This is my first AT kit...I'm looking forward to flying it. Any advice on this kit?

Zonker

Extend the shock cord with some non-elastic cord, like tubular nylon. It's pretty long, and Estes Dents unlikely, but when they do, they're devistating. The payload section is heavy and can really smack the body. Mine hit so hard (side-to-side impact, not on the end) that it knocked the paint off the side of both. A nonelastic extension will make it less likely a snap-back will pull the two directly back towards each other. If not something nonelastic, at least stronger elsatic for the extension. Get 1/2" elastic from a sewing or craft store. I got mine at Hobby Lobby.

Use epoxy on the motor mount. It'll give you more time to adjust it into place than CyA does. I suggest JB Weld for anything inside the body tube.

Reinforce the payload section bulkhead inside and out with epoxy fillets.

Epoxy fillets on the fins are not necessary, but believe me they help. My Tommy lost a fin in the bang-back. It had no fillets. Same with my Wart Hog with a tangled chute -- fin came loose from the fin-lock. My Mirage lawn darted from 800 feet. It had fillets. The entire motor section survived so intact that there's now a new rocket on top of it, and it required only cosmetic repair for non-structural shock cracks in the paint at the edges of the fillets.

If you do put on epoxy fillets, they'll need to be nice and even, since you put those rivet panel decals over them.

And, it may seem obvious, but mask and paint the fins before you put those rivet panels on. It seems obvious to me too, now.

Might be a bit tough for a first kit, but consider using a PVC motor retainer instead of the metal hook they supply:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews/scratch/motor_retainer2.html

 

[Elapid]

section of mine
nice rocket!

 

[Zonker]

Thanks for the advice! Has anyone here done a level 1 cert with an Aerotech kit? I really like the looks of the Arcas and the Gforce. I'm thinking of going for HPR this year. In my area, LOC kits are more difficult to find, although they have some great looking kits. BSD also has some cool stuff. Sooo many choices....

Zonker

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Aerotech has a kit that is, supposedly designed for a L1 certificatiom. The Sumo. It rocks with an H165R

You might also sneak in a G-force on an H97J-M with a few mods. You would have to redo the Labyrinth system, or remove it entirely. Alternatively, you could try an Ellis H50.

A