Friday, August 17, 2012

Estes V2 Build Part 19 Fin Fillets

The Estes instructions make no mention of fin fillets! You will need them, white glue alone on the TTW fin tabs isn't enough of a bond. In addtion, you'll want to fill the slot gaps.

The V2 fins had a fairing down the root edge that went from thin at the top to wider at the bottom. I thought I'd try it using epoxy.

Masking tape "dams" were set in place, narrow at the top and wider towards the bottom.

The 15 minute epoxy was set down, transferred with a toothpick.

I did my best to smooth out the fillets, letting the epoxy flow wider towards the low side of the root edge.
I haven't tried this before with epoxy. The old Estes V2 has you build up the rear of the fillet with many fillet layers of white glue.

My results weren't all that great.




To help clean up the masking tape ridges, a Q-Tip was dipped into 91% isopropyl alcohol. This was easier to direct and take down any epoxy ridge before it dried.


The front end of the root edge got a fillet of Titebond Molding and Trim Glue, feathering it into the wider (now dried) epoxy fillet towards the rear.

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