Estes Saturn 1B, #7251 Build, Part 31, Gluing On The Fins

Most builders would glue on the fins in order of the instructions, mask and paint afterwards. I thought this would be too difficult especially in the tight fin root areas. This is why I painted the fins before assembly.

In the picture, the glue tab has had the paint scraped off for a better glue bond. The root edges will also have any paint scraped and removed.

It's not shown in the picture, but the root edge contact areas were scraped before the fins were glued in place.

The root edges of the fins are a tapered wedge so there is some careful removal of paint on the lower body.

Some Fabri-Tac glue was pressed into the fin tab recess using a toothpick to apply a small drop. 

After the fins were glued on, some liquid glue was dropped into the rear of the root edge joint and allowed to run inside any gaps. 

Build time:

Scrape and glue on fins: 40 minutes

Total build time so far: 23 hours, 55 minutes