Attatching fins on a rebuilt rocket?

[Screaminhelo]

I was given a well used and poorly built Fat Boy that need a lot of work on the BT. I took the easy way out for the body and primed and painted the whole thing with the fins off and I am now wondering what would be the best way to glue the fins. Since it is a slotted tube, I am considering leaving the finish as is and making a good fillet at the MMT and roughing the paint on the BT for an epoxt fillet on the outside. Do y'all think that this will work, or would I be better off stripping the paint around the slots for the external fillets?

 

[bill2654]

Sounds like you got the right idea. I have a couple rockets with no external fillets. They just have a motor mount fillet and a insde BT fillet.

 

[Nathan]

I once built a CC Express where I painted and finished the fins separately from the body tube. I used a Dremel tool to carefully buff off the paint from the body tube where the fins go and then glued them on with epoxy. It looked nice but it didn't work. On the first launch half the fins broke off.

 

[Screaminhelo]

Sounds like you got the right idea. I have a couple rockets with no external fillets. They just have a motor mount fillet and a insde BT fillet.

I had considered a fillet inside the BT, sounds like I will do that for sure now. Maybe I'll just have a small fillet outside for a finished look.

 

[JeromeK99]

I doubt you'll have any problems. Its a little LPR. 18mm BP motors and through the wall fins.

Go or it!

Jerome

 

[Screaminhelo]

That's kind of what I figured Jerome. Rebuilding rockets is new territory for me and knowing the forum members have my back makes it much easier to venture into new challenges.