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Laser/LOC 2.1
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This is one of my favorite rocket kits. It is a minimum
diameter 54mm rocketthat has a fiberboard airframe (my preference to
phenolic),
DADO slotted G10 fins, and a custom turned wood nose cone. I ordered this kit via telephone. As usual, Ron and Deb
were extremely nice in dealing with me and said they would get to work on the
kit right away. This kit obviously was custom because it took three weeks to
get. But when it arrived it was well worth the wait! Every part fit
right together like it was supposed to. Keep reading to see how this
awesome rocket was built and flown.
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| Flight
Log |
Flight
Details |
Construction
and Modifications |
RockSim
File |
Flight Log
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Flight #
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Motor
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Electronics
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Performance
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Comments
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| 1 |
H123W |
N/A |
N/A |
Good boost, slight weathercock, fin cracked on landing. |
| 2 |
I357T |
ALTACC |
N/A |
Repaired fin with new glass job. Lightning boost,
lost data on ALTACC (user error). No damage. |
| 3 |
I435T |
N/A |
N/A |
Placed on close row- GONE. Long walk; no damage. |
| 4 |
I435T |
ALTACC |
7322 ft. |
Good flight. Farther back, easy to track. No
damage. |
| 5 |
I435T |
N/A |
N/A |
Good flight. Front row at ROCtoberfest. Scared
everyone with gunshot motor sound- good flight. No damage. |
| 6 |
J275W |
ALTACC |
10,288 ft. |
Misfire 1st try- reloaded ignitor, good boost, slight
weathercock. Short walk; no damage. Perfect flight. |
| 7 |
J460T |
ALTACC |
11,497 ft. |
Good boost; rocket "glided" after
burn-out. Lost track on way down; almost lost rocket (see
details). No damage. |
| 8 |
I65W |
RRC2 |
Unknown |
Slow, steady boost for 11 sec.
Lost tracking after burn out -- no apogee deployment, ballistic reentry
to 1000 feet, main saved rocket. Zippered payload section. |
| 9 |
J570W |
ARTS |
11,291 ft./1367 fps |
Fast boost through Mach. Late
apogee deployment -- separation. Booster slightly damaged (zipper
and crack in airframe), payload section nearly lost, later recovered
undamaged. |
Flight #9, ROC Launch, January 2004
| Well, I finally found time to repair the Laser/LOC from
its last flight, with one wrap of 6 oz. fiberglass over the kinks in the
tube. With the recent acquisition of a 38/1080 case, I decided to
finally put up the J570W I had been hoarding for three years. We
had it prepped and on the rack in no time, and the count was called out
and then... nothing. The rocket sat around like a fat pig for 4-5
seconds, when WHAM! the J570W came up to pressure and the rocket TORE
off the pad. Guess that old AT propellant takes a little bit to
get it going ;) The (cardboard, mind you) rocket survived the
boost and two seconds of flight over mach. It then coasted
WAAAAAAAAAY up to apogee, which came and went. It looked like we
were having a repeat of flight # 8 when the ARTS finally decided it had
reached apogee and fired the deployment charge. Alas, it was too
late, and the shock cord tore in two, giving the booster a 2"
zipper and leaving the payload section to its own devices on a 28"
parachute. The booster came in flat, aided by the giant shock cord
streamer trailing it, and sustained a kink at the top of the fiberglass
repair job from last time. Oh well, a little more fiberglass and
it'll be all better again. The payload section, on the other hand,
decided to be funny and drift off the lakebed into the bushes. It
took us until 3:30 in the afternoon to find it, all the while being
chased by the Lucerne yokels firing shotguns at us. Scary
stuff. But we finally found the payload section, beeping quietly
behind a bush. This rocket will be ready to go again soon... next
time on a J800T!
Check out the baro altitude spikes (black line) as it passes into
and out of Mach!
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Now you see it...
...now you don't.
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Flight #8, ROC Launch, July 2003
After almost two years in hibernation, the Laser/LOC
made a great showing for its next flight. I had an I65W sitting
around from June of 2001 that just wanted to be burned, and there is no
better rocket for one than a minimum diameter vehicle. So we stuck
it in this rocket. I rigged up the RRC2 for dual deploy, and we
took it out to the pad early. I inserted the QuikBurst igniter and
armed the altimeter. All was good to go and after a couple photos,
we stepped back and let the LCO hit the button. The motor came up
to pressure in about 2 seconds, and then the rocket made a slow
ascent. It kept going and going and going. After burnout, we
lost track of it. I had sent the darn thing into orbit.
However, Rick Magee called out that it was down, and something was
deployed.
We recovered the rocket about a half mile from the
flight line. Apparently, the RRC never fired the apogee charge,
but did fire the main charge. Thanks to strong modular
construction, there was no damage done to the rocket except for a MAJOR
zipper in the replaceable main compartment. Unfortunately, we also
lost the data, and as such we lost the altitude. I think it went
about 10,000 feet. That was COOOOOOL.
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One last picture...
We have liftoff
It's going...
...and going, and going...
Oops. That's not supposed to be there.
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Flight #7, LDRS XX, July 2001
At LDRS XX, hosted by ROC and LTR, I
decided to fly the J460 in this rocket. We were on the lakebed at 6:00,
prepped this rocket, and stuck it on the pad around 7:00. After a 5 count,
Rick DuVall punched the button. A brief delay ensued as the motor came up
to pressure, then BAM! it was gone. I managed to catch one glimpse
of the rocket on the way up, and that stop frame is embedded in my mind
forever. It is of the rocket up around 7,000 feet with a blue flame as
long as it, screaming upwards. After burnout, we followed the delay trail
and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally,
the trail terminated in a puff, signaling deployment of the parachute. Out
came the orange dot, and away we went. We followed it all the way down
(through the national anthem) and lost it in a haze layer above the
lakebed. Great. Now what? We waited for the rocket to touch
down, and then began our search for it. After hiking out to the radio
towers (~3 miles), we headed back in for some water and replanning. I went
up to the LCO table to have them announce if anyone found our rocket, and
described it to them. Then the lady (I don't remember who) held up the
rocket and said "This one?" Well, yeah. Someone found it
and brought it back. Thanks a lot, but it's not nice to do that for
someone. What if the motor kicked out or the rocket broke or
something? We like to see how our rockets land to diagnose the
damage. So please, if you see someone's rocket laying on the ground, DON'T
PICK IT UP!!! Of course, if the rocket has been pronounced lost or if it's
your rocket, go right ahead, but leave the rocket there as a courtesy to other
fliers. All that we lost was about 2 hours of flying time. We were
lucky.
Back to the flight, we downloaded the ALTACC data and got our
highest reading ever: 11,487 feet! Woo hoo! We also busted mach
(~1500 ft/sec). What a great flight.
Flight #6, ROCStock 12
At ROCStock 12, I decided to go for broke with a J275 in this
rocket. The 54mm baby J whipped
the rocket off the pad to an ALTACC recorded altitude of 10,288 feet! This
was my first flight ever over 10K high. I had ignition troubles in the
beginning (Daveyfire with pyrogen didn't light it) but then my friend Ken
Finwall of CHPMR gave me a piece of Thermolite. That lit the rocket right
up after a 5 count. The Laser streaked off the pad and held together
through the entire burn. It even came down close, landing perhaps 1/2 mile
away. The medusa nozzle filling up the entire back end of the rocket with
flame was
spectacular. What's next? There is this little voice in my head that
is saying "J460! J460!" Sounds good to me...
Flight #5, ROCtoberfest, October 2000
Very cool flight. On the first row. The LCO counted
down and touched the button and BAM! the rocket was gone. This is
the coolest combo ever. We were lazy on this flight and didn't stick in
electronics, but previous flights of the same combination said around 7000 feet
and just below mach.
Flight #2, ROC August 2000
Yet another great boost off the pad like a bullet. Blue
thunder motors rock in this rocket. Everything went as planned except for
the ALTACC- being its first flight, I had no idea how to use it and get the data
off of it. I got impatient and said "screw the data, I wanna fly some
more!" so I stuck it in another rocket and lost the data from this
flight. Oh well. If only I knew how easy it was...
Flight #1, ROCStock 11
Good Boost; somewhat boring (a-hem). Stability was great;
slight weathercock off pad. Ejection was right at apogee and the orange
chute with the purple TN came out perfectly. It hit hard on one fin and
cracked it off. Darn. Somewhat disappointing considering this was my
first 'glassed rocket and it decided to die. Oh well, no matter, a little
bit of sanding, filling, glassing, and painting, and it was good as new.
Design and Construction
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Construction
I pretty much built this kit stock with no major modifications
to the design itself, except for a glass job on the fin can. This helps to
keep it together under high speed flights (I435, J460, J450) and high speed
flights are my favorite flights with this rocket.
The payload section is built stock with the custom turned
wood nose cone!!! I was impressed with this. Anyways, the
payload section is drilled for an ALTACC and also has a board to mount my
MissileWorks RRC2.
The rocket at the moment is designed for single deployment. We are
working on a dual deploy package for upcoming flights.
The three 0.093" thick G10 fins were beveled on the edges
and epoxied into the dado slots on the airframe. Two layers of 4 oz. glass
were then placed over the fins and onto the airframe.
Instead of using the 1/2" thick walled cardboard lugs that
came with this rocket, I used thin walled 3/8" brass tubing. These
lugs are less imposing and function to support the rocket just as well as the
1/2" lugs.
For motor retention, I developed a technique that I now use on
all of my minimum diameter rockets. A piece of West
Marine's KevCord (1/8" tubular Kevlar braid sheathed in nylon) is
attached to the shock cord mount point. This cord is then run down through
the motor mount tube and tied to the neck of the ejection cup on Aerotech
reloads. For Kosdon reloads, I use an altimeter for deployment
instead of motor ejection. I then screw an eyebolt into the threads on the
forward bulkhead of the motor and tie a cord to that. Sometimes, that also
functions as my recovery attachment point.
Finally, I am using fifteen feet of 1/2" tubular nylon and
the stock chute. This stock parachute is 28" diameter neon orange
with eight lines and seems to bring it down reasonably fast for close landings
but not fast enough to break anything.
Conclusion
Yet another spectacular
performance by LOC on this kit. It's another one of those that you
should run and get as fast as possible. The Laser/LOC 3.1 looks
cool too. I think that this is a great kit for really hot motors,
like the I435T (just cause those "don't blink" flights are so
fun). So what's next for this performer? I have an I65
sitting in the garage that needs a home... heh heh heh...
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