Every time my old Striker touched down, a fin would crack off the plastic tail cone. What glue will adhere to a balsa and plastic joint?
On this fin there are three different root edge angles that have to make contact.
The other problem is, there are four evenly spaced "troughs" in the plastic boat tail used for fin positioning. This leaves a hollow area under the middle of the root edge.
Here's how the fin fit when removed from the laser cut sheet. The two bottom edges "floated" above the tail cone.
On the left is fin #1 after the root edge was trimmed and sanded to fit the complex root edge.
As explained earlier, strips of pressure sensitive paper were stuck around the front and rear shoulders for a better wood glue bond.
Chris, I'm curious how you measured and/or marked the fin root to trim and sand it down to the correct shape. I'd try to eyeball it, but I know I wouldn't get it right like that. Looks like you got the fit perfect.
ReplyDeleteHi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteThe fit isn't perfect, but much better than before.
It' a lot like the old joke: "How do you carve a statue of an elephant? You start with a block of marble and carve away everything that doesn't look like an elephant."
Hold the fin against the transition and body, mark where the transition starts and stops on the side of the fin.
Start sanding the high spots, where the root edge touches the body. Sand very little bringing the open areas closer to the body, check the fit. You repeat this as many times as needed to seat the fin against the body.