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Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Estes Shark #1111, Build, Part 7, Fin Grain Fill





I first cut the thrusters from balsa -

Then I realized the would be a pain to fill and sand being so small. I cut a second set out of basswood.




Two step fill process:
1. The fins, tunnel. thrusters and launch lug got a brushed coat of CWF, then fine sanding with 400 grit.





2. After sanding down all the CWF, all were stuck down to some cardboard for a shot of filler/primer. 






The body tube seams and nose cone got the same two step fill.
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4 comments:

  1. Naoto KimuraMarch 11, 2026 at 3:03 PM

    I noticed the shape of the nosecone in the photo didn't seem to match from what info that I could find on the BNC-50AR (it appears to have been shaped much like the plastic nosecone featured on the Stiletto). I popped over to Balsa Machining Service ( https://www.balsamachining.com/ ) and noticed that the BNC-50AR doesn't seem to be listed there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chris MichielssenMarch 11, 2026 at 4:22 PM

      Hi Naoto,
      The nose cone shown is a "place holder" until I get the correct one. Erockets.biz carries the balsa BNC-50AR nose cone.

      Delete
    2. Naoto KimuraMarch 12, 2026 at 3:02 PM

      Popped over to the erockets.biz website and noticed the BNC-50AR is listed as a Semroc product, which raised a bit of concern (not sure if they're around anymore). Did notice that it showed about 9 items in stock -- so perhaps it's OK (assuming that this is up-to-date*).

      * have run into situations where website was hosted off-site from where the orders were being processed, so the "in stock" figure could be off.

      Delete
    3. Chris MichielssenMarch 12, 2026 at 5:24 PM

      Hi Naoto,
      Semroc is still part of ERockets. Some of the low selling kits have been discontinued.

      Delete