Quick Noob question about wood filler

[fashow69]

what would be a perfect utensil i could use to "skewer" the bottom of the fins with so i can hold them up as i apply the filler without having to actually hold it with my fingers. i tried poking straigthend out paper clips into them but it didnt work. any suggestions?

[Leo]

How about glueing them to the rocket first. Works for me every time :)

[barone]

Well, if they are laser cut, just leave them in the balsa sheet. Apply your F-n- F, and then use a block sander. Most of the work will be done and then you only have to worry about the areas you air foil or round, which can be easily done after the fin is glued to the rocket :D

[chanstevens]

Push pins/thumbtacks. Sewing needles. Two-sided tape (though that tends not to work well). A drop or two of CA and stick to a USPS Priority box (my favorite free cutting board/working surface).

Of course, I use all these techniques for painting loose fins, not for FnF, as I don't have any heartburn with a little residue on the fingers. Heck, it tastes better than CA. ;) .

[Solomoriah]

Do one side at a time. Then you can hold the dry side while you work.

Or glue them on first; that's what I did with the big beefy fins on my New Centurion. Worked great.

[fashow69]

the last time i tried to apply it after i glued them to the body it came out horrible and had to quit the project. i just want to find something i can used to poke into the botton of the fin so i can apply the FnF and be able to poke it into some foam or something so it can dry. also i thought if you only do one side at a time it will warp the wood?

[Solomoriah]

Never thought about warping. Hmm.

Why was it such a problem with the fins glued on? You did thin it, didn't you?

I thin it out to a thick paint consistency, then brush it on. After it's thoroughly dry I sand it smooth. Works well for thick and large fins, not so good for small or thin ones.

[Mark II]

I use a liquid balsa filler, like the one shown in the attachment, rather than Fill 'n Finish, for fins. I can do one side at a time without worrying about warping. I always seal my fins before attaching them to the rocket. One thing that you can do is tape over the root edge of the fin, and fold the tape over the edges to cover the area that will eventually be underneath the fin fillet. You can then tape a cardboard "handle" to the taped over fin root. Use clean release or easy release masking tape for this technique.

If you are cutting your own fins, you can leave a tab on the root edge when you cut them out that you can use as a handle when are you finishing the surfaces. When you are done with sealing, filling and sanding the fins, you can then cut the tabs off to give yourself some nice clean root edges that are ready for gluing.

Mark \\.

[ghrocketman]

Fill/seal them once ATTACHED to the body tube like ALL NORMAL rocket builders do !!!!

[chanstevens]

Well, count me in the abnormal group then. I always pre-treat body tubes and fins before assembly, as I find it much easier to sand them and work out the little blemishes before they are attached. Much easier and faster, which is how I can get away with building at a pretty hefty rate.

[JRThro]

Well, count me in the abnormal group then. I always pre-treat body tubes and fins before assembly, as I find it much easier to sand them and work out the little blemishes before they are attached. Much easier and faster, which is how I can get away with building at a pretty hefty rate.
And I don't think anyone can argue with the results you get, either.

[chanstevens]

And I don't think anyone can argue with the results you get, either.

Well, I guess you could argue the results are pretty abnormal too :D . I just learned it's too darned hard to fill/sand tube spirals on BT-20 models with 3 fins when my big fingers can barely work between those fins, much less do a decent job of killing the spirals. Plus, I'd much rather find out my FnF job warped a fin slightly before it gets on the rocket than after , but I'm also anal retentive enough to prefer rockets that fly straight and high without rolling along the way.

I wonder what they used to fill the spirals and grains on the REAL Saturn V :rolleyes: ?

[JRThro]

I wonder what they used to fill the spirals and grains on the REAL Saturn V :rolleyes: ?
I think they sandblasted the high points off rather than filling the low spots.

[Mikus]

Well, count me in the abnormal group then. I always pre-treat body tubes and fins before assembly, as I find it much easier to sand them and work out the little blemishes before they are attached. Much easier and faster, which is how I can get away with building at a pretty hefty rate.


Heck I thought that WAS normal. :confused:

[Mark II]

Fill/seal them once ATTACHED to the body tube like ALL NORMAL rocket builders do !!!!
I prefer the supernatural approach, myself. :D

Mark \\.

[fashow69]

Well, count me in the abnormal group then. I always pre-treat body tubes and fins before assembly, as I find it much easier to sand them and work out the little blemishes before they are attached. Much easier and faster, which is how I can get away with building at a pretty hefty rate.

thats what i like to do... now after experimenting... well thanks for all the input guys i really appreciate it. currently im working on a Estes Wizzard and soo far its coming along flawlessly. ive allready painted it and it looks like its litteraly made of plastic ! lol any who i like the idea of adding a "handle" to the fin when making my own fins but at the moment im only skilled enough to build the lower level rockets with the pre cut fins so thats not really an option but none the less a great idea. for the wizzard i just dipped the fins in the FnF and just smoothed it out with my fingers and layed all three upright next to each other in the bucket i used to mix the FnF it was really messy but with alot of sanding and re filling it worked. but i dont really want to have to do that again hahahaha