Estes Xarconian Cruiser Build Part 13 Fin Marking Check

I thought I'd double check the wrap around marking guide against the full size drawing of the fins on the instruction sheet.
Semroc kits have you mark the body tubes by setting it over a marked circle on the instructions. Estes typically gives you a wrap around guide.

I'm not a big fan of the Semroc marking method and wanted to compare the two.




The tube was set on the full size rear view drawing and marked. I tried to be as careful as I could, but the tube tends to roll around on it's end.

After marking on the flat instruction sheet the Estes wrap around was used. The first fin marks were a little off!

This wrap around marking guide gives you two marks so you can line up the root edges with a pencil line on both sides.
I'm old school and will usually just set a root edge down on a single line.

The model has LONG forward strakes that tend to curve down the root edge. The double lines really help keep everything in line.

After the lines were drawn a sanding block took down the primer to the bare tube for better adhesion.

The pencil lines were redrawn.

BUILD TIME
Fin mark twice: 20 minutes
Sand lines: 5 minutes
Total Build Time so far: 6 hours, 35 minutes