Thursday, December 23, 2021

Estes V2 - Shaping the Fins for "Scale-Like" Look

 

This tool is called a sewing gauge. I find it indispensable for rocket building. Whenever I want to shape fins, whether it's to make a simple beveled edge or a full-on airfoil, I reach for this.

I use the sewing gauge to determine and mark how far from the leading edges (and trailing edges, if I'm doing them too) to sand my bevel.

I make a couple of marks on the fin, and then use a ruler to connect those marks with a pencil line.

The instructions for the V2 say to round the leading edges of the fins. I prefer to make them more elliptical than to give a semicircular cross section. It's been a long time since I've seen a real V-2 missile in person, but I feel this is going to at least give the impression of being more scale accurate.

I'm not going to be a stickler for scale detail here. I think the actual shape of the V-2 fins were tapered and perhaps beveled into some kind of airfoil at the leading and trailing edges. The only reference I have is Peter Alway's Rockets of the World, which is a great book. But some of the finer details are kept simple.

But, even if you don't have all the details, or the skills or knowledge to make a scale project "contest-perfect" in scale detail, doesn't mean you can't make it a little better.

Anyway, once I determined where I wanted the bevel to start, I sand it by eye back to that point. I do not try to get a "knife's edge." I bevel slightly and then round the leading edge.

I like the effect, and don't find it terribly difficult to get a consistent result.

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2 comments:

  1. I think I recognize that measuring device that you're using... my wife uses it to measure seams and calculate how to shorted sleeves, etc. Am I right? Is it a seamstress tool? How do you come by it?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it's for hems and such. I got it at a fabric store or maybe even a drug store. They're pretty cheap.

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