Estes Little Joe 1, #7255, Build Part 5, Skinning The Fins

The leading edge fold was sharpened with a burnisher.

It doesn't have to be razor sharp, it still has to roll over the front of the fin assembly.





The instructions say to put glue on the folded card stock skin. I didn't do it this way, I was concerned that wet card stock might distort.

Instead I applied glue to one side of the balsa frame being sure to get good coverage on all the contact areas.

This was smoothed out and excess removed with a Q-tip. Be sure there isn't any drops of glue pooled up in the corners. Heavy glue can shrink and distort the flat card stock skin.

Set the fold over the sharp leading edge. Glue down only one side  and burnish the card stock over the sides.
TIP: It's hard to see in the picture, but I set the skin to overhang a very slight amount at the root edge to better fit the curvature of the body tube.
The card stock is a little larger than the balsa frame and will overhang at the outside and trailing edges.