Estes Astrobeam Fins

[chuck5395]

My son launched his Estes Astrobeam for the first time at our club launch on Saturday night. When he went to retrieve his rocket, he found it was missing a fin. After searching awhile in the dark and again for an hour or so the next morning, we have given up on finding it.

Does anyone know where we can find replacement parts
or
thoughts on making our own replacement fin
or
??? :confused2: ???

Thanks
-Chuck

 

[shreadvector]

It may have come off at during the launch (as it got moving fast) or at ejection (from the jolt) if the metallized surface was not scraped away prior to cementing. Or if you used "Non-toxic" plastic cement (which is worthless).

Make another by tracing one of the remaining fins. You can use plastic sheet or balsa wood or thin plywood. Then scrape the mating surface of the plastic and epoxy it in place.

 

[Micromeister]

You should be able to pick up sheet styrene plastic at most any hobby or well stocked craft store.
Use a liquid solvent "Plastic weld" material not tube type cement. Both Evergreen and Plasticstruct have decent Liquid plastic welders, or Tenax-7R, Devcon- MMA or Plain old MC (Methylene Chloride) well all do the job.
Be sure to scrap away the metalic plating before attaching the new fin.

Let the fixed model sit for at least a full day after the repair. Epoxy fillets may help keeping these fins from snapping off on hard landings.

 

[chuck5395]

My thanks to Fred and John for their sage advice. I'm off to the craft store to see what I can find. Might even post pic's of the repair work....

 

[BRS Hobbies]

You can also try contacting Estes for replacement parts.

Best regards,
Brian

 

[brockrwood]

My thanks to Fred and John for their sage advice. I'm off to the craft store to see what I can find. Might even post pic's of the repair work....

Did you ever get that Astrobeam fin glued back on? If so, what glue and/or method worked for you? I have an Astrobeam that my daughter and I love flying at night. The problem is that, half of the time, the parachute does not open up when ejected. Then the Astrobeam lands hard and then a fin beaks. It does not snap off at the root edge: It breaks in the middle of the fin. Weird. Anyway, working with plastic fins is great when you first build the rocket but is a pain when you need to repair it. We have glued two fins back together and are now on broken fin number three. This time we could not find the piece that broke off so we need a replacement material for the lost piece of fin and a suitable glue.