Four Fin Rockets Are just WRONG

Gary Byrum said:

I'll back you up that Woody. Maybe Tom needs to come out of the box a little.

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I only see 2 fins..

Unless someone spiked my drink....


Two fins.. oh my.. I dont even know where to begin.

3 FINS !!!! 3 FINS !!!....

Im going to have nightmares tonight !!!


HAHAHAHA

CPUTommy said:

I only see 2 fins..

Unless someone spiked my drink....


Two fins.. oh my.. I dont even know where to begin.

3 FINS !!!! 3 FINS !!!....

Im going to have nightmares tonight !!!


HAHAHAHA

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It has plenty more. There are to main wings but there are a great many other fins in this build.

Here's a profile shot.

Gary, I see what you mean by your pics, "what a sanding nightmare"!
But what about taping for the paint? Unless those are decals?
That had to be a challange of patients and test of your desire of perfection.
*Hat comes off and crosses over chest as dropped to one knee and bows and dips head*

Gary Byrum said:

They might be. It's a matter of taste. If I told you radishes, turnips, anchovies, pork brains and escargot were delicious, would you believe me?

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The only thing I haven't tried is Pork Brains, but the rest I have and they ARE GREAT!! Yummy yummy yummy!

CPUTommy said:

I want to puke...

Your birds are cool.. But there are 3 "fins" to many...

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CPUTommy said:

Oh this is so true..

Performance is the enemy of a cool-looking rocket

Thats why they make 3 fined rockets..

For the nicer looking rockets..

:kill::kill::kill::kill::kill::kill::kill:




For everyone else.. There is the fourth fin option....

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Then you must hate my Exocet and my Exocet L1 plans. They have 8 fins.

troj said:

BTW, four bucket rockets are just wrong!

When building with buckets, you should always include a fifth...

-Kevin

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Absolutely!

Woody's Workshop said:

Gary, I see what you mean by your pics, "what a sanding nightmare"!
But what about taping for the paint? Unless those are decals?
That had to be a challange of patients and test of your desire of perfection.
*Hat comes off and crosses over chest as dropped to one knee and bows and dips head*

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Sanding this was one thing. Masking for paint was definitely a bear. Building this rocket was enough in itself but finishing it was probably one of my greatest challenges. I sorta bit off more than I wanted to chew but the design left me with no option but to do my best. I guess I sorta threw myself to the wolf, so to speak. What started out as just another build for me turned into using all my abilities. And yes, some of it was masked painting and some of it was with homemade decals. Thanks for the compliments Woody. It was one of my better builds.

Gary Byrum said:

TOUCHE' You rock!.

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Gary,

Speaking of rocking , what's the rocket in your avatar? It looks vaguely familiar, but I can seem to place it.

Cheers,

Well if you scratch-build as I do, three fins is 25% less fin-building to do.

I guess it's true; nobody argues like family. When I saw the header for this thread I figured it would be a short one... :eyeroll:

I like all kindsa fins. Tubes, Rings, 3-fin to 9-fin (2 stage 6-fin to 3-fin), symmetrical, asymmetrical (VF-261), and even (gasp) FINLESS! (X-24/HL-20/X-RV style Cone w/out fins - flies fine).

While I have to agree that a 4-Finned Astron Sprint would look "off", so would a 3-finned Big Bertha.

3-finned is better for altitude performance as it has 25% less fin-induced drag than a 4-finned rocket. Thankfully, some rockets are built just to look cool.

One of my all-time faves is the Starblazer X-20, it has 8 fins (three with end-plates) and a cockpit. Looks pretty slick, flies very nicely, performance is resoundingly "eh".

My scratch designs (many are only simmed after the first flight - I still sit down and do all the math on paper sometimes), have pretty much every number of fins - I have no real fin bias.

To quote one of the Peace Officers in Futurama: "It don't matter, Baby. They're ALL beautiful."

Ironnerd88 said:

"It don't matter, Baby. They're ALL beautiful."

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Love it !!

Tau Zero said:

Gary,

Speaking of rocking , what's the rocket in your avatar? It looks vaguely familiar, but I can seem to place it.

Cheers,

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Estes DOM Starship Excalibur. That design has been around for about 40 years or so. I built one when I was a kid and lost it soon after. 2 years ago I up scaled it to sport a hand turned nosecone for BT 70. The plans can be found on Jim Z's site.

saw a conical party hat fly nice and straight last Saturday.

Here's one to spin your hat. 11 FINS BABY!!!

NICE PICTURE !!

What motor was that flying on ??

Looks BAD A$$$ !!!!!!!!

well..minus the extra fins.. LMAO !!

Seriously.. Very Nice !!!


Tom

I have two with nine fins, two with no fins (five if you count my saucer, satellite, and sputnik), and just about every combination in between including one with big feet and a cape. I love them all.

CPUTommy said:

NICE PICTURE !!

What motor was that flying on ??

Looks BAD A$$$ !!!!!!!!

well..minus the extra fins.. LMAO !!

Seriously.. Very Nice !!!


Tom

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Thanks, Motor was an AT J350. That was my L2 flight. I'll be puting this one up again this comming Friday (weather permiting). Actually it's only 8 fins if you count the "T" fins as one instead of two.:wink:

Here's my Thunderbird missile, with 12 fins total. Too many? No problem, let's drop four of them off.

Incidentally, someone actually built a two-finned rocket. You can read about it here:
https://archive.rocketreviews.com/reviews/all/two_fins_no_kidding.shtml

stantonjtroy said:

Here's one to spin your hat. 11 FINS BABY!!!

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Pffffttt! Here's one with 19 fins!!! :y:
I don't have an actual photo right now, but this one is currently under construction, awaiting attachment of the last 3 fins and the MMT.

I'm attracted to 4 finned rockets, but have built more 3 finned. Different strokes for different folks.

The thread necromancy is strong with this one.

If 4 fin rockets are wrong I don't wanna be right !!

Thousands of Cub Scouts were brought up thinking that five fins is the norm... Estes Viking.

My brother always said,
" Real rockets have 4 fins!" LOL

Four fins are sometimes necessary. This rocket would be marginally stable with three fins and a G-Motor. That is why I designed it with four... looks better anyway with four. Thick fin fillets on this model are there for a reason...cut the fin tabs down, install a 38mm mount instead, fly on an I95...

Nothing like a three finned Saturn 1b to put one off of modeling.

Steven said:

Nothing like a three finned Saturn 1b to put one off of modeling.

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The HORROR . . . The HORROR ! ! !

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/stability-and-number-of-fins.149506

Normally, I prefer 3 fins . . . HOWEVER, my L3 Cert ( own design ) will use 4 fins, for several reasons.

(1) Fins can be smaller ( less prone to damage ).
(2) Less prone to Coning ( vs. 3 fins )
(3) Higher Drag - More stable, less performance ( " low & slow" ).

Dave F.

Ez2cDave said:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/stability-and-number-of-fins.149506

Normally, I prefer 3 fins . . . HOWEVER, my L3 Cert ( own design ) will use 4 fins, for several reasons.

(1) Fins can be smaller ( less prone to damage ).
(2) Less prone to Coning ( vs. 3 fins )
(3) Higher Drag - More stable, less performance ( " low & slow" ).

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Low and slow is good.

Ez2cDave said:

The HORROR . . . The HORROR ! ! !

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There's always door #1, #2 or #3 as backups.

Well, if you want to go the minimalist fin route, here’s one with one fin and three nose cones

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threa...ose-cone-minimotor-cluster.37842/#post-352457