4-29ss

Like all LOC kits, the 4-29SS is a great kit. All of the components are high quality, with the plastic nose only taking about 15 minutes of total work to get ready for paint. This kit in particular is interesting due to its cluster motor mount, which can be built to be interchangable. The kit comes with almost all parts needed for assembly. Like other LOC kits, it has their epoxy and nylon shock cord mount, elastic shock cord, and a 1/2 cardboard launch lug standard. I chose to add rail buttons and kevlar shock cord to mine. Additionally, there is no provision for motor retention included in the kit, so I chose to simply epoxy a 1/4-20 threaded rod in between the motor mount tubes at the bottom to allow for simple motor retention. This (along with a carbon fiber tube for airstart wiring I added) had the added bonus of plugging the gap between the tubes to ensure that motor ejection charges would separate the airframe. The build is fairly straightforward if built stock. However, in its stock configuration, there is no electronics bay for either dual deployment or air-starting motors. The flip side of this coin is that if the 4-29SS is built stock, it should be light enough to loft on a pair of composite E engines (as long as you don't go crazy with epoxy on the motor mount). As I was interested in allowing for both airstarts and dual deployment, I modified mine with the addition of an electronics bay, tube for airstart wiring, and carbon fiber reinforcement of the air frame to allow for ridiculous motor combinations down the road. This resulted in the rocket being too heavy to launch on anything less than a combination of F motors, as well as the rocket being over the weight limit for low-power rockets. Overall, the 4-29SS is a great kit, and I would highly recommend it either as a simple fun 29mm cluster rocket, or for those looking to experiment with electronic deployment and air-starting motors.