The fins are all on one vacuform sheet. There is enough room between each fin to cut them with a straightedge guide.
I did leave 1/16" around each fin half when cutting them out.
Before sanding and gluing, only the root edge "flash" is cut off.
The 1/16" edge plastic "flange" is sanded against a flat surface until it is about 1/2 of it's original thickness.
There wouldn't be any way to accurately guage this unless you used a micrometer to check the thickness. I just sanded until the "roundness" was removed.
The fin on the bottom has been sanded. Enlarge the picture and you can tell a slight difference between it's flatter edges and the rounder, unsanded fin edges on top.
Time spent on build: 1:00 Cutting Out and Sanding Fins
Total time on build so far: 18:30
Looks like your build is progressing nicely! I'm in the process of masking and painting the roll patterns on mine and hope to launch it Saturday after next.
ReplyDeleteI modded the engine mount to accept an E engine - I'm reluctant to go much higher than that (for now).
Here's a bit of advice on the engine fairings - cut 'em out leaving about a 1/4". Instead of trying to cut it, wrap some 220grit around a 4" BlueTube or Estes BT-101 and sand the crap out of it until the flash falls away. It'll make the cementing much easier.
On the fairings, that's exactly what I did!
ReplyDeleteIt'll all be in upcoming blog posts.
Thanks!