Attaching fins - Estes saturn V

Can someone post some photos of how they attached the fins and fairings to their rocket? I'm having mixed emotions on how this should look. The instructions show the tip of the fairings protruding above the bottom wrap but the way I had to cut them out has the 1/16" 'flange' overlapping the ridges which does not allow for adhesion to the flat surface. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

bigone5500 said:

Can someone post some photos of how they attached the fins and fairings to their rocket? I'm having mixed emotions on how this should look. The instructions show the tip of the fairings protruding above the bottom wrap but the way I had to cut them out has the 1/16" 'flange' overlapping the ridges which does not allow for adhesion to the flat surface. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

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Here's a shot of the fins and fairings I did. Basically, the fairings will glue even to the bottom of the tube and should reach barely above the wrap. Once this in place you have to cut away some of the tube between the bottom of the fairings. Of course it's obvious I used resin cast fin assemblies that I made myself. If you line your fairings with the bottom of the rocket, what kind of issue would the fin give you?

Those are very nice casts you made Gary ,I could have used those !

Can you make some of those for the Semroc Saturn 1B and sell them...LOL


Paul T

sodmeister said:

Those are very nice casts you made Gary ,I could have used those !

Can you make some of those for the Semroc Saturn 1B and sell them...LOL Paul T

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Paul, I didn't find the Sat 1b fins to be nearly as hard to deal with as those flimsy cheesy Sat V fins. I kept screwing my Sat V fins up to a point I was driven to make the mold for them. I figured, why waste so much time and taxing my patience to the inth degree on something that's prolly gonna break on 1st landing. I guess if there was enough demand for me to make some I'm sure I could.

Gary Byrum said:

Paul, I didn't find the Sat 1b fins to be nearly as hard to deal with as those flimsy cheesy Sat V fins. I kept screwing my Sat V fins up to a point I was driven to make the mold for them. I figured, why waste so much time and taxing my patience to the inth degree on something that's prolly gonna break on 1st landing. I guess if there was enough demand for me to make some I'm sure I could.

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Well seeing how I have 3 more Estes Sat Vs in the build pile ,I would take 3 sets to get you going !

You are correct about the Sat 1b fins ,as I did the built up versions ,which I found kinda fun.I am now in the process od giving them some extra strength and am building them up.

Cheers

Paul T

I think it was Chris Michielssen's blog which suggested fitting a bit of scrap styrene in there to fill the gap, gluing it all down then cutting away the exposed scrap

OK! I'm %&*@$ing fed up with these fin shrouds on this rocket! No matter how much I sand on them, they will not fit in the V shaped area where they are supposed to go. The bottom of the shroud is supposed to be flush with the aft end of the rocket but if that is to occur, then the edges of the shroud will overlap the ribs on the wrap a LOT!

Can anyone direct me to a source that has replacements that will fit?

Thanks.

You're having the same %@#$*^% problem I had. Those fairings are a poor fit and are flimsy. I don't know why but the ones I made went on without a hitch. Sodmeister just ordered 4 of them from me and I told him that there were some slight imperfections that would need to be addressed. I plan to remedy that in the near future with a new mold. Sirius Rocketry sells the "Moldin Oldies" command module and fin/fairings but I do not know the quality. Maybe someone can weigh in on that note.

I just can't figure out how it is that Estes can sell this kit when the parts are not fitting properly. First it was the transition wrap and now the fairings. Everything else was ok. I may order another set of vac parts from Estes and see if I can come up with a better way of getting them to fit. But at this point, one of them will not fit anymore. I have sanded it too much.

What would be awesome is if they had a video on this kit giving tips on making the parts fit properly and what to do if they don't.

Alas, then there is the benefit of the doubt...maybe my skills suck...:eyeroll:

Estes parts are made in China. They'll replace them for you but you'll be getting the same thing you already had and it takes a few weeks to get them. Those vacuformed parts suck. Bet you had issues with the fit on the upper vacu shroud as well....eh?

Gary Byrum said:

Bet you had issues with the fit on the upper vacu shroud as well....eh?

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It's like the thing is too large. By maybe 2 or 3%.

I had tried the spray adhesive on the two smaller vac parts but after that I learned my lesson. I ended up using some USC 635 thin epoxy without any thickeners. I had plenty of time to get everything to line up and taped off the way I wanted it. Took 4 days to get the three large ones done but they are holding well.

bigone5500 said:

It's like the thing is too large. By maybe 2 or 3%.

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They simply do not fit proper. There's a lot about this kit that is really done wrong. The Semroc Sat 1b has a lot of issues as well. Just a heads up. The Sat V's retail price is a friggin joke honestly. Especially when you have to buy out of the box to get better parts.

So who has the better Saturn kits such as the Saturn V and the 1B? I bought the Estes 1B years ago in the 90s and had almost no experience with building these things so I never finished it and it ended up in the trash a few years ago. But the quality of it seemed pretty good.

bigone5500 said:

So who has the better Saturn kits such as the Saturn V and the 1B? I bought the Estes 1B years ago in the 90s and had almost no experience with building these things so I never finished it and it ended up in the trash a few years ago. But the quality of it seemed pretty good.

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I never got to build the Estes or Centuri version 1B. I did build an Estes Sat V back in the early 70's. It blew up. I've always wanted both in my collection though. Today's "less expensive"versions of both rockets leaves much to be desired. There are better versions on the market if you don't mind shelling out bigger bucks. I can not critique those though. I never built them. Do a search here. There are some great build threads.

It sounds like you put the bottom wrap all the way at the bottom of the 4" tube. That wrap should leave some exposed cardboard at the bottom - the bottoms of the shrouds align to that and then the reamining exposed tube is cut away.

PhlAsh said:

It sounds like you put the bottom wrap all the way at the bottom of the 4" tube. That wrap should leave some exposed cardboard at the bottom - the bottoms of the shrouds align to that and then the reamining exposed tube is cut away.

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Per the instructions, you draw a line 3" from the aft of the tube then apply the top of the wrap to the line. In doing this, The wrap is flush with the base. The part that is cut away is between the fairings.

bigone5500 said:

Per the instructions, you draw a line 3" from the aft of the tube then apply the top of the wrap to the line. In doing this, The wrap is flush with the base. The part that is cut away is between the fairings.

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And you are correct. I just looked at the instructions myself. That 3" line is a redundant part of the instructions in my opinion. Since the wrap has to be flush with the aft end of the tube and is 3" by design....go figure.

Gary Byrum said:

And you are correct. I just looked at the instructions myself. That 3" line is a redundant part of the instructions in my opinion. Since the wrap has to be flush with the aft end of the tube and is 3" by design....go figure.

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So should I have not placed the wrap at the line but insead 1/16" above?

bigone5500 said:

So should I have not placed the wrap at the line but insead 1/16" above?

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If you didn't glue that wrap flush with the aft end of the tube, you'd wind up with a gap between the wrap and the bottom of the fairing. You did right to glue to the line. All I am saying is that the line is redundant because that wrap glued to the line also lines it up with the aft end of the tube. Thus making that line an unnecessary marking. The instructions could have easily said, "Glue wrap flush with aft end of tube."

Gary Byrum said:

If you didn't glue that wrap flush with the aft end of the tube, you'd wind up with a gap between the wrap and the bottom of the fairing. You did right to glue to the line. All I am saying is that the line is redundant because that wrap glued to the line also lines it up with the aft end of the tube. Thus making that line an unnecessary marking. The instructions could have easily said, "Glue wrap flush with aft end of tube."

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HAHA! You're right! It looks cooler with all those lines drawn on it though.

bigone5500 said:

HAHA! You're right! It looks cooler with all those lines drawn on it though.

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