10-02-2016, 11:41 PM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl
Pretty sure both the Centuri Saturn V and Saturn 1b always had plastic, two-piece vacu-formed fins. Each fin consisted of two vacu-formed halves that were joined with cement, allowed to thoroughly dry, then you trimmed away the excess plastic around the outer edge. I've never seen a set of instructions for either kit that had balsa or any other material for the Saturn fins. All instruction sets I've ever seen or have (and I have a number of vintage kits of each Centuri Saturn) show the vacu-formed fin halves. Matter of fact, I have a vintage Saturn 1b about ready for paint now. That fin can, with eight fins built as described above, was pretty tedious, but they turn out pretty nice. Takes work though, no doubt.
Rarl
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Thank you--that makes Centuri's term that they applied to both their Saturn IB and Saturn V kits, "pre-shaped fins," even more sensible, because the kits' fins weren't molded (in a cavity) like other plastic model rocket parts, but were shaped from sheet plastic over an internal "plug," which was then removed. I only had the "poor man's Saturn IB and Saturn V models," the Cox (made by Estes in the 1990s) Ready-To-Fly all-plastic rockets. :-) I'd love it if Estes made a 1:100 scale "Apollo kit set"--a Saturn IB and an Apollo Little Joe II in the same scale as their Saturn V kit.
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