Estes Constellation, Part 4, Fin Tip Pods

I was never happy with the way my fin tip "pods" came out.
Trying to form a teardrop pod at the end of an airfoiled fin is hard enough. Trying to form the pod out of three laminated pieces of balsa makes it even harder.
This time I wanted to make the fin and pods separately. Making the pods from a dowel will make a stronger fin tip assembly.

The widest part of the pod is 3/8". I pulled some 3/8' dowel from the spare parts box.

The taper starts and cut off points were marked around the dowel.

The dowel isn't cut to length yet. Shape the top first.

A center dot was made at the top. This is the point you carve towards.
Chip carve and continually check to be sure you are carving towards the center.

After carving to shape, it was rotated and smoothed on 100 grit on a block.

The front end is done, checked against the original balsa piece profile.