Thursday, April 11, 2024

Estes Mini Bertha Clone, #TK-3, Part 6, Cutting Out The Fins

I had to search to find some 1/16" thick balsa. 1/16" thick balsa is rarely used in rocket kits anymore. You can still see the SIG logo in purple ink on one fin.
Cutting them out by hand makes some small inconsistencies. On the left the four fins are squared up. 
On the right side, the fins have been stacked and the sides sanded even. 
Current laser cut fins are uniform, you don't need to gang sand them. But, you should still sand off the black ash on the fin edges.





Here's another view next to the fin pattern from Jim Z's.






The fins got one coat of CWF and sanding.
Gray filler/primer followed.

On the right side of the picture the fin was sanded with 400 grit. I tend to sand most of the filler/primer off leaving some in any remaining balsa grain.







The printed fin marking guide didn't quite match up after rolling around the tube.

I went to payloadbay.com and printed out one of their fin marking guides: CLICK HERE

2 comments:

  1. I use Payloadbay.com quite often. Helps out a lot.

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  2. I was able to buy a set of fins for this from erockets that they have laser cut. I know, its a pretty simple set to cut out but I was buying a bunch of other stuff and they were cheap. I did my version of this kit in as a mini Broadsword.

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