Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Estes Saturn V Build Part 30 Fairings

I didn't trim the sides of the fairings, the 1/16" border edge was sanded off.

220 grit sandpaper was wrapped around the open area of the BT-101 and the fairing was moved up and down over it.

Stay away from the back ledge of the fairing you formed in the last blog entry. It'll get caught and make a snapping sound if it goes over the rough sandpaper.



Here's what the edge will look like when you are getting close to sanding it off.
More of the fairing sides will still be sanded off before it'll fit into the recesses on the body wrap.


Continue sanding on the body tube. You'll have to constantly check it's fit on the rear wrap area.
When you are done, the sides of the fairing will have slight curve.
You can easily see it in the picture when to fairings are set on top of each other.

Don't try to sand this curve into the fairing sides, it'll pretty much happen on it's own when sanding against the body tube.

Again you will sand a little, check the fit. Sand some more, then check the fit. Do this over and over until you get a good edge match on all sides.
You'll have to sand enough of the front of the fairing so it'll slide on from the rear and the ledge (flat rear of the fairing) is flush with the rear of the BT-101 tube.

I'd recommend going back to the Centuri instructions to see the Fairing Trim Guide. The older instructions had you use this as a trimming template. You'll get a better fit sanding against the body tube. But seeing the guide will show you the shape you are working towards.
The Fairing Trim Guide is on page 47 of the Centuri instructions found HERE

Time spent on build: 1:00 Cut and shape fairings
Total time on build so far: 29:30

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