I know this might be a stupid question but does anybody know what kind of plastic Estes used for their clear plastic fin material and where can i find this stuff today. I have tried several kinds of other plastic like the plastic you get in a dc jewel box but nothing is like the stuff that Estes used back then. Help me if you can. Thanks.

Rob

I wanted to say it was described in the catalog, but sure enough, it just says "clear plastic". It was sold up through 1971. I'm pretty sure it was acetate, as it was similar to what Sig had in their catalog.

__________________
Roy
nar12605

Well, I don't know for sure either - but I always thought that I read somewhere it was cellulose acetate butyrate. This would make some sense because it's pretty easy to solvent bond CAB.

But then again I don't know where I read this, but it goes along with what Roy said.

That would make sense as the instructions for the Gemini Titan, the Thor Agena-B, and the Semi-scale Saturn V all call for using butyrate dope as the glue for the fins. However, in my experience, it wasn't a very good glue.

__________________
Roy
nar12605

I will try to find out and post the answer here later.

Please do, I've got several scale models that can use them right now.....

__________________
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

I bought butyrate sheets when it came time to build a fin unit for my Titan II.

The original used .04" sheets for the fins, and .02" for the wrap.

The hobby shop had .03" and .015" available. The stuff is used in R/C airplanes.

Or maybe it was the other way around?

The dope glue method worked, but the bond was really shabby. I ended up using epoxy to glue on the fins.

A combination of dope thinner and clear dope might work better.

Hoipefully, I will have an answer by the end of the week.

I am sure that clear polystyrene would be an OK replacement. For that I would give Evergreen a try. They deal mainly with trains but they have a pretty decent selection of styrene sheets. I have only ordered from them once so I can't give anything on their shipping swiftness but the white sheets I got from them seemed to be pretty high quality.

Roy is correct, the SIG clear plastic sheets are the equivalent of the old Estes stuff.