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Sunday, February 10, 2013

MPC Taurus - 1 Build Part 3 Fin Prep

Newer kits tell you to stack the fins and sand them together. With laser cut fins and there shouldn't be any difference in the fin sizes.
Sure you should sand off the burnt edges but there is no reason to group sand laser cut fins.

This kit has the old style die-cut fins.
Die cutting is done on a press. A block of wood has long razor blades set in the shape of the fin outlines.
The fins are cut (think of a stamp) when the razor block is pressed into the balsa. The quality of the cut was dependant on the blade sharpness and how hard the balsa was.


The upper picture shows the stacked fins,. It's easy to see how different they were.

To the left are the stacked fins after sanding on some 220 grit on a block.
When gang sanding fins, keep the root edges square or at a 90 degree angle to the face of the fins.

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