Estes Saturn V Build Part 21 Fins

Sanding these fins is a touchy operation.
You want to remove the glued flanges, but not sand through the thin plastic sheet.

First cut off most of the flanges, leaving a lip to be sanded off. Don't carve the flange off, use a straightedge and take it slow with a few passes of a sharp knife.
Don't try to trim it down with one single cut!

Follow with 220 grit sandpaper on a block. Make a few passes with the sandpaper and check your work.

It's much easier to sand the glued flange off completely on the leading and outside edges of the fins.

From the vacuform process, the trailing and root edges are very thin. I sanded off as much as I could but they are not perfectly flat. If I tried to sand any more off, there would have been holes in the fins!

The picture shows a finished leading and outside edge on the lower left. The upper right fin shows the root and trailing edges not quite sanded flat. Enlarge the picture for better detail.

Time spent on build: 1:00 Trimming and sanding the fins
Total time on build so far: 21:00