Estes Xarconian Cruiser Build Part 6 Wing Edge Rounding

In the third step the instructions tell you to round the leading and trailing edges before the three piece fins are glued together. Gluing the pieced wings occurs in Steps 5, 6, and 7.

Glue the fins together then round the leading and trailing edges. They'll end up much smoother this way.

The Tung wood fins are hard!
Normally you can round balsa fin edges with 400 grit but I had to use 220 to cut through the leading and trailing edges.

The narrow glued pieces stayed together through the sanding. Sometimes glued balsa will break apart when under sanding pressure.

Here's all the wing and rudder assemblies after rounding and before filling.

BUILD TIME
Round leading and trailing edges: 35 minutes
Total build time so far: 2 hours 45 minutes