Just tried a couple new techniques

[KILTED COWBOY]

I just tried doing all the fin finishing while they were still attached to the plank.
Sanded, applied coats of sanding sealer, final sanded,primed and final sanded and painted fins. After paint dried popped out of plank. Then rounded the leading edges and touched up the paint on the edges. Seems like I got a better finish than painting on the rocket.

After watching the video on Space Monkey site on how to build his V2 model.
They got rid of the line on the nose cone where it came out of the mold by scraping an x-acto blade at a 90 degree angle until it disappeared. Worked quicker and cleaner than sanding.
Hope this helps someone

 

[blackjack2564]

Good to see you are working on basic skills needed to successfully build nice quality rockets.
Keep it up and have fun.
I came from building balsa scale airplanes, my favorite was WW1 biplanes.sealing entire sheets at once was first learned.
Once into rockets, using blade to remove mold lines, OR a good fIles ''stroked'' on bias over line, not "filled"works wonders especially when doing larger NC's . [3inch and up]

 

[nabooengineer]

Experimenting with various techniques is a great learning approach. The “scraping” technique is a wonderful way to finish wood. It’s been used in luthier work for numerous centuries. The key, like many approaches, is to keep a sharp edge or blade. It cuts the material differently, which reduces raised grain. It does require practice on each wood type to get the best angle and applied pressures.

I also keep a fret crowning file in my rocketry building tools to make quick work of rounded fin edges, if the design calls for that.

 

[BABAR]

I just tried doing all the fin finishing while they were still attached to the plank.
Sanded, applied coats of sanding sealer, final sanded,primed and final sanded and painted fins. After paint dried popped out of plank. Then rounded the leading edges and touched up the paint on the edges. Seems like I got a better finish than painting on the rocket.

After watching the video on Space Monkey site on how to build his V2 model.
They got rid of the line on the nose cone where it came out of the mold by scraping an x-acto blade at a 90 degree angle until it disappeared. Worked quicker and cleaner than sanding.
Hope this helps someone

Were these laser cut fins?
I remember trying something like this ,except I used CWF. I After the CWF I couldn’t find the edges of the fins anymore to pop them out.

 

[jqavins]

I just tried doing all the fin finishing while they were still attached to the plank.
Sanded, applied coats of sanding sealer, final sanded,primed and final sanded and painted fins. After paint dried popped out of plank. Then rounded the leading edges and touched up the paint on the edges. Seems like I got a better finish than painting on the rocket.

I've been doing the fill and seal then sand part for quite some time, but never thought to go the further steps.

The “scraping” technique is a wonderful way to finish wood. It’s been used in luthier work for numerous centuries.

And in cabinet-making.

Were these laser cut fins? I remember trying something like this ,except I used CWF. I After the CWF I couldn’t find the edges of the fins anymore to pop them out.

I had that problem once with my new favorite filler, the 3M product I've talked about before. I was able to find the edges with a fingernail and then cut the fins free, carefully.