Bent Fin

[jcampb81]

I launched my 4in LOC Zeus this past weekend and upon returning home I noticed that one of the fillets on the aft fin was cracked. No big deal, just sand away, re-fillet, and repaint and it will be good as new.

But looking at it more, I noticed that the fin with the crack is now out of alignment with the canard fin straight above it. It’s not bent or warped per se, it just angles towards the right (when looking down the body tube)

Any ideas on how to remedy this? Or would it be fine to fly if I just repair the crack and leave the fin alone? I’ve tried using my own hands to realign it but it won’t budge, I’m afraid of snapping it in half if I put too much pressure on it.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

That's a hefty TTW so wondering if there's internal damage assuming you epoxied the snot out of it. This is a screen grab from their assembly video I found out of curiosity. I'm wondering if the internal epoxy didn't grab and might be more pronounced after removing the external fillet.

 

[jcampb81]

That's a hefty TTW so wondering if there's internal damage assuming you epoxied the snot out of it. This is a screen grab from their assembly video I found out of curiosity. I'm wondering if the internal epoxy didn't grab and might be more pronounced after removing the external fillet.

View attachment 546365

I built the fin can outside of the body tube and then slid the body tube over after doing the internal fillets. So I would think that it grabbed hold pretty well. But who knows. I don’t really know how to check for that though.. any suggestions?

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

Not without some invasive repairs.

 

[David Schwantz]

Drill a hole in the lower CR. You can now look into fin can void and do any repairs needed.

 

[jcampb81]

Is this too much of a misalignment for a safe flight? Aft fin is the blurry part in the foreground. Canard fin is in the background

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

I think misalignment is not as bad as canted fins. Seems fine to me. Probably won’t tumble but might go horizontal. If so, time for reconstructive surgery.